And so we head home....

Well Mexico is out of the World Cup.

We screamed our lungs out for them, and they played their hearts out for us.

But after a tough game between Argentina, and a somewhat unfair goal scored by them, Mexico is heading home. Dreams of progressing further shattered.

It was a very sombre mood as the final whistle blew and we knew that it was over. The entire nation was gutted.

Well done boys, and here's to next time!

Watching the game. Brilliant atmosphere and time

Homes of Hope - Day 2

Day 2. And it was a scorcher in the sun. We sweated. Like majorly. My shirt was wet, I was wet. I touched my chest at one point, and my hand came away dripping. Gross. I know. But I want you to get a sense of how hot it was and how much we sweated.

Anyway, I'll just put the pics up so you can see for yourselves the day's work.

Putting the dry walling up on the side

Drywalling

The day's work. It was so hot doing this because the sun just bounced off the wall!!

The song Steven wrote for me. The team is trying to get me to say 'Holy Spirit' because they love how it sounds with my accent, but I'm refusing to say it, so Steven wrote a song filled with 'Holy Spirit' so I could sing it!! haha

Homes of Hope - Day 1

Today was the first day of the build. It was super awesome!! Had an amazing day with the team, and it was super cool to be building with Amber and Edgar again. Not only is it awesome being able to build again, but to be able to build with the team that I built with last year, is a real blessing as we share so many memories from last time and it is great reliving them!! It really was God's timing how this all worked out!! These are people who I never thought I would see again, and then wham! here I am with them again :-)

I'm really not going to write a lot, as in this case the pictures will speak a lot louder than words!!

P.S. Not too sure why this writing insisted on being underlined, but I can't fix it, and it is driving me absolutely insane!!!!!!!!!!!! Grrrr

The current house, infested with ticks

Ikea, Amber & Edgar's Border Collie (with paint on her nose)

Me (obviously)

Brian, one of the new team members

Amanda, one of the old team members

Steven, one of the new team members. He loved his tool apron!

The foundation

Building the framework

Completed framework for the walls

Standing the walls up

3 walls up!

A completed framework house

Unloading the siding

Putting up the siding

Siding very nearly completed

Lunch

Amber. Love this girl.

Edgar. Love this guy.

One of the local kids helping with the drilling

He was so pleased when he got the hang of it

Riding in the back of the truck

The boys

Camp de Fútbol

So to start this blog off, I will give an explanation of Camp de Fútbol. Basically this big team of about 60 or 70 people come down from Washington to stay at the base, and they put on this soccer camp for the local kids. It's really, really big, and churches from the area get involved. Last year the base wasn't involved but this year we are, which is really cool because it gives us a different ministry to do and we're getting to know the team.

The camp is being run for 4 evenings (we've just finished the 2nd) and the kids (about 600-800) are split into groups. We do a bit of worship with them, small group stuff, and then play soccer!!

We've got a pretty awesome group of boys. Yesterday all they wanted to do was play soccer and didn't pay attention to any of the other stuff, but today they were quite happy to settle down and have a small group time, which was so awesome. I even spoke a little bit of Spanish to them, and then did a little bit of translation (Spanish to English) for one of the American guys. Which I'm pretty pleased about. I can now understand a fair amount. Just not speak it. :-(

So yeah, small group time was really good. Then we did some different fun drills with them, and played soccer. We had a really small group, so it was great playing. And then we played 8 kids against us 4 leaders. Was absolutely brill. So, so much fun!! We were playing beneath this amazing sunset sky, and darkening thunder clouds, and a lightning storm!! It was absolutely beautiful!! Such an awesome time. It is so much fun and so rewarding and just oh man, awesome lol.

I didn't take my camera as it's kinda a situation of take pictures and just watch what is going on, or not take pictures and be involved. And I would rather be involved now.

One of the teams I worked with last year with Homes of Hope are back down this year, and I'm gonna get to build with them again!! It's gonna be super fun! :-)

Did I mention how awesome today has been? Just so much cool stuff has happened, too much to write down!!

Humid and sticky...

So, a quick update.

Last week was the DTS and WISE school graduation, which was great to be apart of because I have got to know some of the students while I've been here. They're awesome!

Saturday I went to this 'secret' secluded beach with some friends. It was pretty awesome. Loads of palm trees everywhere. We sat in the shade of palm trees, went in the ocean, caught the sun, played cards, watched fishermen, and I played with my friend's young Border Collie and threw driftwood into the ocean for her. She loved it.

It was a great day all in all.

Sunday went to church (twice lol). The church I went to in the evening was a 6.30 service which made me think of home. Kinda different to our own service, but good. The sermon was about do we really know God? And how we need to ask for a revelation of who He really is and have blind folds removed from our eyes so that we truly see Him.

Monday (today) has been a busy day, although I did manage to find time to pop down to the Looney Bean :-)

This week will be busy with teams and everything, but great fun! :-)

A girl from one of the teams got stung today by a jelly fish, and for me, just knowing what to do and being able to respond to it quickly has proven to me that I really want to paramedics so bad, whether now or at a later stage, I'm not sure, but definitely sometime!

It's heating up now. Getting more humid and sticky now!

Secret beach

Secret beach

Jude (4) doing his dance. He's awesome

At graduation

DTS and WISE graduation

Mazatlan, here I am

So this is just a quick update of Mexico so far. It will probably be more pics than writing, as can't be bothered to write a lot! It has been very surreal being back, but is soooooo good! There have been many exciting hellos, good fun and laughs. I love seeing everyone again!! And being in Mexico feels like being home!!

I've been very busy at the mo with painting and other jobs, but it is so good to be apart of base life again. Tomorrow (Friday) we have a team of 50 arriving, so the next coming weeks are going to be manic but awesome!! :-)

Watching Mexico v France. They went insane when a goal was scored!!

One of my fellow DTS students, now on staff. Love the girl

My room

The lounge