MTI!

So picking up where the last blog entry left off...I spent the last week of the summer doing work on the new MTI building in the hopes of getting it in (more or less) working order for the start of classes. There were several moments I wish I had pictures of to share with you, for example: sitting on a toilet and painting the walls of stalls next me, up on a ladder sanding a metal beam wearing a dust mask and sunglasses to protect myself from the rust, and laying down on scaffolding to paint the underside of ceiling beams, to name a few. We were able to get two downstairs classrooms and the bathrooms in working order. We finished the office area as well, but the exterior windows haven't been installed yet, so no one can move in. We are continuing to work on the large classroom upstairs a few days per week...it still has a ways to go, so I'm not sure when it will be ready for students.

But at the end of August the students arrived and we have a record number of 57 students. The vast majority are from Baja, but there are others from Sonora, Jalisco, Morelos, and Chiapas. Some have returned from last year, but many are newly beginning the first year. I have had a lot of fun getting to know them at meal times and around the ranch. This is what my typical day looks like during MTI:

6AM: Wake up and go for a run around the ranch (ok so this doesn't happen every day but I'm trying to make it at least an every other day event)

7AM: Shower and get dressed, while hearing the students singing in their morning devotional

8:30AM: Go to breakfast in the dining hall, sell coffee and snacks as a fundraiser for the staff mission trip

9:30AM: Report to work in the office, download emails, check petty cash reports, go to meetings, etc, etc...

11AM-11:30AM: Go to the "bodega" a storage room, where students can come during their break and get stuff they need from me (paper, pens, notebooks, highliters, soap, shampoo, etc.)

11:30-1:00PM: back to the office

1:00PM: Lunch in the dining hall, get to sit and eat with different students

2:00PM: In the office

4:50PM: Leave to pick up seminary student's children's from school, Alejandra (MTI director's assistant who I am teaching to drive) drives there. We pick up four kids at one school, and then another one a few miles away.

6PM: Return to RAV and hang out for a bit

7PM: Dinner in the dining hall, set up snack shop and sell for missions trip again while the kids play their favorite game of pretending to steal snacks from me

8PM: Play volleyball with students or relax at home, depending on my energy level

10PM: Bedtime :)