Dan, seen above, with Scott interpreting, is one of the next to last team here for the summer. There are just five men on the team from Pennsylvania - two men have their teen age sons with them, and one other young man is along. Sorry I haven't gotten any snapshots of them.

They've been a bit frustrated this week, because the construction permits for the community center are still not in, so they can't do a whole lot of construction, and to top it off, Scott is today in the hospital where he underwent kidney stone surgery this afternoon! So, we're all trying to help out with transport, meals, etc.

Ivonne, who I work with, thought maybe the Lord made Scott sick to tell him he shouldn't leave Mexico (tongue in cheek of course!). But I had another take on it, thinking like a gringo who knows how the health care prices are in the States: God has let this happen now, in Mexico, so Scott and his family can AFFORD the surgery and hospital stay!

Some of you know know Christy O'Brien will recognize this young man, the leader of last week's team. Any guesses?? When I first saw him, I knew without a doubt that he was Christy's youngest brother, Andrew! Amazing likeness!

Andrew had a nice team - they did really well singing in Spanish! They had some rough days though, as several of them came down with "something" - flu? Virus? And were pretty miserable. (NO, IT WAS NOT AMOEBAS!! OR PARASITES!!) But in spite of that, they took off last Saturday for Queretaro where they have ministered this week with Emilio and Christy at Milagrito. We haven't heard from them, but are hoping they're all A-OK now and enjoying their week.

IT CAN´T BE DONE

My late hubby was famous for doing what COULDN´T be done. Just try challenging him, and he´d go right ahead and do it. I remember one occasion when he wanted to print and distribute 10,000 tracts, which were going to cost $4000. "$4000!!! No way! We don´t have that kind of money! We can´t do it!" So, he went ahead and did it! One of our CAMers (I forget his name, but not him or his fantastic "radio" voice) helped Ken develop 4 or 5 "spots" to put on radio programs in the States. We went to the U.S. for a few weeks and distributed these spots. The money came in, we printed the tracts, we distributed the tracts. OF COURSE it could be done!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT CAN'T BE DONE??? And that's just ONE occasion! There are so many!

He probably got his IT CAN BE DONE from both his parents, who did all kinds of "COULDN'T BE DONE" projects. Remember the Doodle Bug? An invented and amazingly put together car/truck/tractor/whatever that Grandpa put together and served well on the cherry farm in Traverse City? Remember the cherry shaker? He invented it before anyone else had even thought of it. "Dad, you should patten this. It's fantastic." "Naw, who'd want my old stuff?" SOMEONE, and it wasn't Grandpa, raked in millions for the invention of the cherry shaker. But THAT's another story!

It Couldn't Be Done

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't" but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, as he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one we know has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That cannot be done, and you'll do it.

Reading, reading, reading

Now that my team from Traverse City is back home, I have a little more time to read. In fact, while they were here, I didn´t have a minute to even breathe! Not that I´m complaining! They were great! So, now that I have time to breathe - and read - I've enjoyed some books!

First was El Bargueño, by Keila Ochoa Harris, a book about broken dreams and how the "bargueño", a small beautifully carved box, brought people together from different centuries! Fascinating! I plan to read more of Keila´s books!

Next, I found a wonderful little book that described what Tamar´s life might have been like. Remember Tamar? Check out Genesis!

Then I spent some suspenseful hours with the "queen of suspense", Mary Higgins Clark, reading TWO of her books! Kept me guessing and lovin´ every minute of it!

No little stinkers to worry about

Today my daughter Kris wrote about whining - and about little stinkers - one in particular - in her house. (Check out enanoslivos there at the right). Well, I can't complain about that, but around 5 this afternoon, my tummy started to complain big time! Today I was alone ALL DAY at the office, Ivonne's home with BOTH her daughters down sick! Rosy hurt her knee at camp, so is home for the next month. Gaby, who is expecting Baby #3 started bleeding, so is on bed rest. And Ivonne is BUSY taking care of Gaby's two toddlers, plus meals, plus cleaning, plus waiting on the "sickies", plus..... So, I tended the office. No one on the phone wants to talk to me, their first question is, "Is Ivonne in?" "No she's not in today, but can I help you?" I usually can't!

I didn't even take a snack to the office, not realizing I'd be there all day without a break, so was pretty HUNGRY by 6 PM! I went home to "lunch" (yes, at 6 PM!), then ate a quesa just a few minutes ago! I drank lots of water today - I guess a little fast now and then never hurt anyone!

13 teens and 4 adults - a GREAT TEAM

This morning we said good bye to our 13 plus 4 team of teens and adults from East Bay Calvary Church in Traverse City, Michigan. They left for the airport on the 4:30 AM bus, way too early, but it's the only bus directly to the airport until 1 PM. By now they should be traveling in the air towards Detroit, where they'll stay overnight and drive home tomorrow.

Pictures are worth 1000 words, so here are some pictures of all our activities!

Sunday at church the team shared a song.

They did a great job.

Pastor Reist (PR) preached and Scott interpreted for him.

It was great.

Each afternoon the team held an "English camp", teaching English in a variety of ways.

Part of "learning English" was through songs, very silly songs, which the kiddos - and adults!! - enjoyed!

"I don't want to be a bear,

I don't want to be an elephant,

So I dance around."

Silly, but fun. The children loved the stuffed animals that accompanied the song.

"I put my right foot in,

"I put my right food out..."

A highlight of the "English Camp" was handwork. The children did a variety of illustrations of the creation of the world. They, of course, loved it!
The little blondies are Tim and Michelle O'Brien's children.
They enjoyed it just as much, if not more, than the Mexican children!

Ivan (orange cap) is from a troubled home near where I live, so I would stop by for him each day. At first he felt very shy, but that didn't last long! He got into the singing, handwork and games, and was sorely disappointed that he had to miss one day of camp! He's a very sweet, polite boy and needs all the encouragement we can give him!

FOOD, FUN, FELLOWSHIP

Tacos! Barbacoa tacos!

We did learn something new on this round.

DON'T invite U.S. teams out for barbacoa tacos!

What are they?

Goat meat!

The Mexicans go crazy over them.

The Americans don't.

(Actually, I thought they were pretty good!)

There was some leftover, so I took it to our church dinner on Sunday!

That barbacoa disappeared like magic within seconds! No, miliseconds.

Why do Mexicans go crazy for them, and Americans don't??

¡Quién sabe!

But pork tacos??

YEEESSS!

With lots of coke and Boing (a mango drink)!

Our trip to Tequisquiapan was a great success!

But we didn't give some of the girls NEAR enough time to shop!

They were a LOOONG way from dropping, when we said, "It's time to go!"

Here's the whole gang, standing at the center of Mexico (at least that's what they tell us)

The team worked very hard on special projects at our Community Center, called Nueva Imagen (New Image). The hardest job was upstairs in an unfinished room. They had to remove some of the cement in order for the next workers to finish the floor. Those boys developed some serious first blisters, then scabs on their hands! Ouch!

OK Bob, back to work!

The rest of the team sanded, sealed and varnished the many posts in the center.
They look really nice now and now we don't get brick "dirt" on our clothes when we lean up against them!

Cameron thoroughly enjoyed being with the team each day.
He was a very willing worker!

A very creative and fun FAIR

Saturday afternoon the team held a FUN FAIR with about 32 children excitedly enjoying the fun and games. The booths were very creative! First, get a glimpse of PR (that's Pastor Reist) helping a little boy aim for the circles on the wall. Prizes were given, no matter where anything landed!

How creative (and simple) can you get?? A chair with five plastic glasses to aim at!
The kiddos loved it!
Actually I saw some adults enjoying it too!

Very creative hole-in-one golf game! The box is left over after all the cookies were consumed, the duct tape came directly from the trunk of my car!
And the children loved it!

Lollipop with a black spot on the end of the stick wins a small prize, lollipop with a red spot wins a stuffed animal, lollipop with no spot - you get to keep it! You win no matter what, but of course everyone wanted a stuffed animal!

The duct tape I've been carrying in my trunk since 2001 came in very handy when setting up these fun games! Thanks, Kenny! I knew I'd use that up eventually. Eventually hasn't come yet, but it it will someday!

Let's go fishing! Depending on the number on the back of the fish, the prize was little or big! The littlest children delighted in this game.

Note the creativity! The hole-in-one box is a peanut box, the brick holds it up, a piece of leftover board is the lift, all held together with duct tape, of course! They even used a piece of duct tape to set the golf ball on!

Happy birthday, Olivia, sweet 16!!

Yesterday, the last day the team was here, we had a birthday party, because Olivia's birthday is the 14th! Bethie made a luscious cake and we filled a Minne Mouse piñata with WAY too much candy! As you can tell, the teens enjoyed it!

When it was Cameron's turn, he whacked that piñata so hard and so fast,
I didn't even get a chance to take a picture!
But he didn't bring it down
and everyone who wanted a turn got one!

Olivia, the birthday girl, got first chance at it.

Dayton takes a turn.

Can you tell who finally broke it?? Joash didn't even take time to remove that lovely silk scarf before grabbing his share of the goodies!

I SHALL NOT MIND

I almost forgot it was Wednesday (it's been a BUSY, BUSY 9 days with a team of 13 teens and 4 adults here!! More about that later.) until I checked Kris' blog and found a poem, just right for me! And now I found another one I'll share with you:

I SHALL NOT MIND
By Author Unknown

I shall not mind
The whiteness of my hair
Or that slow steps falter
On the stair,
Or what strange image
Greets me in the glass
If I can feel,
As roots feel in the sod,
That I am growing old to bloom
Before the face of God.

July 4th Fun

July 4th about 35 of us, missionaries, MKs, just ordinary people, and even some Mexicans, got together at Amealco to celebrate Independence Day. It was a super fun day with lots of good food, games, visiting, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, a special poem by Rolly Smith, lots of patriotic songs, and just plain good ol' fellowship.

The pictures aren't in any particular order, I just stuck them in here! It definitely will show you we know how to have fun!





Even a watermelon seed spitting contest! Here's Tara spitting as hard as she can, but she couldn't beat her sister Kendra (on the right), who was the prize-winner! Yay Kendra!