West Vancouver United Church In Mexico: Adios amigos!!!

Another beautiful day. People are feeling a little weary today with a few upset stomachs, a bit of car sickness with those bumpy dirt roads, etc. We're just generally pretty pooped after a GREAT week, but all feeling so so satisfied.

The day started off with a trip to La Bufadora, the marine geyser we've made a habit of visiting. The sun came out in full force as we arrived. We spent the next few hours watching the ocean flow in and out of a small rock crevice, creating explosions of water everywhere, shopping for little trinkets to bring back to family and friends, and enjoying a nice team lunch. This year, I think we overprepared the kids for the bartering experience, because at first, no one dared go into the shops - a far cry from the year we underprepared the kids! Haha.

One of the highlights was some of the girls deciding to get temporary (ie. not real) tattoos (let me say that again, dear parents - TEMPORARY - NOT REAL! haha) to commemorate their experience. A few of them got one or 2 small birds spray painted. Ben and Ryan, not to be outdone, went all out, with Ben getting a slightly larger cross, and Ryan going for the full-on sleeve. Toni, if you're reading this, be happy Ryan didn't go for the Mike Tyson face tattoo he saw when he was done! Hahaha. And again, just for good measure - TEMPORARY - NOT REAL! Hahaha. All of these will be faded and gone within the next week or 2.

After leaving La Bufadora was yet another highlight of this week: seeing the houses we'd built previously. Unfortunately, the people from our first house (2011), were away, but the house still looked beautiful! The house from last year....oh wow. We arrived and parked our vehicle a ways away. The boys must have seen us come out of the van because they came RUNNING down the hill to greet us with HUGE smiles. Marta, the mother, was hanging clothes on their new clothes line. She was just BEAMING, waving her arms frantically at us as we walked towards her. Mateo, the husband, was also just overjoyed and was SO excited to show us the new retention walls they had built. They also planted new lime trees, an apple tree, a tree for shade, avocados, and a few other things we couldn't quite understand. The great miracle and major Holy Spirit moment was that we actually seemed to be able to understand one another even though none of us spoke Spanish (though Wes faithfully pulled out his Spanish dictionary all week, which was great!), and they don't speak English. It was amazing.

Marta got a job, the boys have all grown up and look much healthier. Mateo was the biggest change: last year, he was silent most of the week, rarely cracking a smile. Today? He was looking healthy, laughing, smiling, running around showing us everything. The moment we got inside, they pulled out our group photo to show us they still think about us every day.

Anyway, we're just about wrapped up here. We leave tomorrow to head back home. Please pray for our ongoing health (we found out our first year that waiting at the border with an upset stomach is definitely not enjoyable). Please also pray for our travels, for safety, easy crossing with no troubles, catching our connecting flights on time, etc.

Some of us will hopefully be with you in worship on Sunday. See you then! And thank you for reading, praying, and every other way you have made us feel loved and encouraged to do the work we set out to do: building, but most of all, loving.