Pan De Vida Mission Trip – Home

Well truth be told it is Sunday so really day four but I ended up

driving us home so i did not get a chance to write last night.  More on

that in a minute.  I honestly believe that was meant to happen and i

needed to be at vhurch this AM for my trip to crystalize. It did. It was

not the message but a single song i think written by our worship team.

But first a bus ride and a toilet.  

 

We got up early again before the sun and made some breakfast for the

kids. Again cereal. It was the one thing they wanted cereal and milk a

huge treat for them. Then it was time to take the trash to the dump so

of course i started cleanning out Darrell’s truck bed so wecould put it

in the back but little did I know we had a SCHOOL BUS. The perfect trash

deleivery vehicle I mean you know pop open the emergeny door and it is

just like a truck except for the obviouse part about loading kids in it

later.  Oh well when in Mexico I try and do as they do so we loaded it

up. The my favorite part of the day Rolando handed me the keys and said

aomething in spanishb which i am sure was not dont wreck it. This thing

was at least 20 years old. They called it Lazarus because it had already

been raised from the dead. So we load up about 8 of the boys and head

bumping along the roads.  Boys hanging out the back out the door it was

a classic guy moment.  Wegot to the dump and pitched everything out the

back and to the small fire burning there waived at the dump keeper and

off for another load. The buys ran about a quarter mile ahead and we

picked them up on the road.  The bus ride was so much fun I just loved

getting the see these boys in true guy fashion turing everything into

something dangerous or destructive. Either putting oranges under the

tires and waiting for the bus to move forward and smash them and also

hanging out the door picking up rocks as we drove along slowly. Could

not handle the last part and made Daniel get back in.  

 

The funniest and more disappointing things was something Doug discovered

while painting one of the bathrooms. When he flushed the toilet he got a

rush of hot air????  He pondered this for a moment then realized

Uuuuuhhh there is HOT water in the toilet. Just one of the many things

we discovered about the construction of a building that no doubt was

designed and laid out in the dirt. Unless this is some kind new mexican

rump treatment they probably could have done that a little better. 

 

You know there were so many great moments and the bus ride home was no

exception the ride home is always more fun than the one down.  The ride

down is fun but there is something about sharing the experience and

maybe being delirious that make the ride home very special.  We

literally laughed the whole time. 

 

All weekend there were special moments and i would get that “chills”

feeling.  Each time that happened i felt as though that was a God

moment. Like when I was almost brought to tears over 8 toothbrushes in a

drawer. Each time i felt as though that was a hug from God. One that i

should take notice of and cherish. Next time you get that chill think

about it.  Was that a hug? God loves us all just as children. 

 

Each morning Z would come up and say Estoy Bendecido!  It means “i am

blessed” he would say “i woke up this morning and I am blessed for each

day.” You know I have always heard that saying and when Z would say that

i would smile and say yes just as always. But you know this morning in

church we were singing and one of the songs we were singing brought

Estoy Bendecido into a new light for me. Not sure i can explain via this

letter but you know when you thank God for the things we have, the

people in our lives, or even the weird things my kids pray for like

rockets, the dog or leaves the is one thing we all have in common.  It

is the fact that we do wake up every morning and we get to live the day.

I mean every single second if we choose we can squeeze so much out of

every day. And live it to its fullest or til we hurt. We laugh. We cry.

Man those words “Estoy bendecido” today they mean so much more to me.

And when the day comes we do not wake we go to a place that makes one

day just plain silly. My uncle’s father recently passed and I can

imagine him now with fresh legs and ready to start a new day with a

mighty “I am blessed”. In English because you know he lived in North

carolina and they do not speak much spanish out there. 

Another great trip and i leave you with some final words which i hope

you will translate and ponder. Tu eres bendecido!

Jiame

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