Here you see Becky and I in the little Huichol town we went to on the missions trip. This was the kitchen of the house we were at. As you can probably figure out from the picture, we fit right in.
Anyways, now that we have established that I am using this new blog and everyone is happy, I'll get on with it.
You may have noticed that I called this post "Four Weeks of Spring Break." That would be because we had four straight weeks of groups coming to Agua Viva on their spring breaks.
Back in March I worked with a group from Reno, Nevada. I got to go with a small contingent of them to work on the new house of missionaries from my church. It was really fun for me to get to hang with my church community during the week, since mostly I am only there on Sundays. There was a lot of manual labor involved, digging, pouring cement. And I got to watch a cement block wall being built. And the new skill that I came away with: cutting tiles (for the bathroom). I only had one tile crack on me, which I think is pretty good for a first time.
The week leading up to Easter, known in these parts as Semana Santa (Holy Week) was the week of our bi-annual youth camp (and also the week of Potter's Clay). For the second time, I got to be on the game staff and help put on morning, afternoon and night games for the campers, and help run various free time activities like a volleyball tournament and a sidewalk art/graffiti contest. It was a busy week, I was mostly on my feet, but so much fun. I think all of the campers (about 250 of them) had a great time. I had invited one shy 16 year old, Mariana, from my church to come to the camp. She is extremely quiet and hardly talks to any of her peers. I was nervous for her all week and tried to sit with her at meals and get her more involved. By the end of the week I had convinced myself that there was no way she could have enjoyed herself, but when I saw her at church on Sunday she told me right away that she couldn't wait to go back to Agua Viva. You never know what God is up to.
During the last week of March we switched back to American groups, and we had three in the camp at once. I got to coordinate for a group from Twin Cities Church in Grass Valley, California. It was a pretty large group, 44 people, mostly high schoolers. They worked at a chruch in town and did VBS, sports minsitry, and construction projects. I got to do a little bit of everything, but mostly I helped translate details for the construction work and painted. I did play a little bit of soccer though, I even headed the ball once! They were a really fun group, I had a blast being with them all week.
And finally, last week I was coordinating for another youth group, this time from Walnut Creek, California. We did a work project here at Agua Viva in the morning and a VBS at a church in Ensenada in the afternoons. During the work project I mostly helped put down a cement board floor (new skill=proficiency with a caulking gun). The VBS was especially fun because their church has been working with the church in Ensenada since 1998 and have a great relationship with them. It was fun to see how the kids remembered them and asked about people that didn't come this year. I had also worked with this group last year, so it was fun for me to be working with people for the second time and already have a bit of a relationship with them.
So that is how I spent my four weeks of spring break. Now I am enoying a few more weeks of calm before the craziness of summer begins. There is a lot to get in order and what not.
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