Wednesday: More Work and a Return to Cholul

Wednesday it was the hottest day yet. Over 100 degrees and 100% humidity. And it was back to work.

As the day dawned, Pastor Tim got sick. Shirley decided it was dehydration and not
baterial sickness. However, he still felt bad and rested most of the day.

All the paint teams were out. There was still a lot to paint. It looks like we might not finish, but we will get very far. This morning, Sam Gomez joined us. Enrique and Febe Gomez have family in Compeche, which is close to Merida. They are visiting family and Sam will be helping us for a couple of days.



After lunch, we had a long siesta for the afternoon. It was hot, even with ceiling fans going and lots of water drinking. Most people switched to Gatorade today.

In the evening, we participated in a church service in Cholul. We sang as a group, Megan sang a solo, Jenna and Shane sang, and we did our drama. Pastor Tim felt well enough to preach, but Jake took his place in the drama (he plays the devil). We were at the same church in Cholul that we worked on in 2002. We found the signature that we placed there back in 2002 and met a few of the same people we met back then.



Please pray for health. We have a few people on the edge of illnessm -- mostly from the heat. Also pray for efficiency as we finish the last day of work tomorrow.

Note: This may be the last entry for a while. No Internet connection tomorrow or Friday. I might be able to post Saturday.

Tuesday: Still Working But It's Getting Hotter

Tuesday was the second day of work, which meant more painting and more computer work. It was HOT (high 90's) and 100% humidity. Pastor Tim's crew was joined by several kids of people at the church. A little less efficient, but the saying here is "Relationships
before Task".

By lunch, we were hot and sweaty. Lunch was all Yucatacan dishes: spaghetti made the Yucatacan way, grilled chicken, and chicken with chilis.

After a brief siesta, we visited an old people's home. These people are the poorest of poor. They stay at this facility for free. A family runs the home with donations. The facility is open air -- no screens on windows, common areas are outside -- and houses about 20 people. We sang, did our drama, and Ellery and Jenna gave testimonies. As we left, we gave a donation of food.



The evening was a stop in downtown Merida for some shopping.

Please continue to pray for good health (everyone is good so far) and for the ability to handle the heat.

Monday: Our first day at work!

Monday morning was our first day at work. We had several work crews. Three crews painted in the morning at different locations -- two different spots at the girl's school where we are staying and one at a church several blocks away. Mike was asked to work on computers -- getting them to work...and then work better.


We worked until lunch --about 1:00PM -- then ate lunch and had a brief siesta. At 3:30 pm, we went out to a very poor section of Merida, to a playground and field where Pastor Victor ministers to poor children. We did our drama for them and played games with the various age groups: very young, elementary, and middle school age.


Afterwards, we stopped by a supermarket and the Winds' house. We saw a DVD about their family ministry. We then went back to the girls' school, ate dinner (at 8:00) and laid around the rest of the night.

Pray for the weather and how we are handling it. It's hot: 91 degrees on Monday with 100% humidity. The rest of the week is going to steadily get hotter (100 degrees today (Tuesday)). Also pray for health. We have already had one kinda-ill person (Amy Brace) who was much better this morning. Thanks for your prayers up to now.

Sundy: Our First Day in Merida

Sunday morning came quickly. We hopped into our COLD show (one knob = one temperature = COLD). After breakfast and devotions, We walked 3 blocks to Antiquochia Prebyterian Church and attended Sunday School.

The bathroom mirror is not meant for tall,
skinny men

Lunch was supposed to be pizza we baked ourselves, but one of the refrigerators died (the one with the pizza) and we had moldy pepperoni. So a change in plans found us eating roasted chicken. After a Sunday afternoon nap and some drama practice, we were ready to head to Cholul for a Sunday evening service.


But...0ur rides did not show. We waited for an hour for different transportation and the church waited for us. We joined a START (a Spanish training team made up of high school students) for the church service. Pastor Tim preached, John Wind translated, Jenna and Ellery gave their testimonies, and Jenna and Shane sang for the church.



After the service, the church fed us "Panuchos" -- amll tortillas piled high with vegetables, cheese, abd chicken.

Because we were late to church, we did not give out drama. But we decided to do it after dinner anyway to anyone who was left. And there were quite a few.

Saturday: We Finally Arrived!

Our time at the mall was a bit long, but it ended and we hopped our shuttle to the airport. Once we were there, everything went smoothly. Our plane left late, but as long as we were on it, we didn't care.

We made it to Merida, navigated customs, found our bags (praise the Lord, none were lost) and found John and Shirley Wind. After that, we got on a bus to the Escuela Biblica Presbitiriana Pricila: a girls' school in central Merida. We were all tired and the hammocks looked great!

The hammocks did take a bit of getting used to. We finally got to bed quite late (almost 1:00 am).

Saturday: Killing Time

Since we missed the Friday flight, we had to catch the Saturday flight at 7:00 pm. Which meant we had a lot of time to kill. BUT..We found a mall!!! We better not miss our flight again!

Friday - A Day of Delays

The day started at 10:00 am with everyone gathering at church
to board the bus for Chicago. By 10:30 we were on
the road and by 10:45 we were headed back to Holland.
Mike had forgotten a CD the music to the drama we would
be doing.

So by11;15 we were back on the road. We made it to
O'hare airport in plenty of time thanks to Pat Rietveld,
our patient driver.

We got to the airport only to discover that our flight
was delayed...and delayed. We boarded 4O minutes late and
sat on the runway for another 4O minutes. When
we arrived in Houston, we missed our connecting
flight to Merida.

So we spent the night in a hotel. This morning we will
endure a trip to the local mall and try to get to Merida
again.

Everyone is in great spirits and having a great adventure!
Pray for no more bumps on our way tonight!