Monday, 3/23 pictures at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2020239&id=1296262065
The morning was so bright that the team was up before 6:30 am a
nd ready to go by 7:00! After breakfast, worship and team meeting, people dove into their various projects. Candace led the church trim painters – Libby, Wyatt, Luis, Ruth and Mitchell, and th
ey made great progress. Jason worked on a variety of handyman projects including pulling a sock out of a sink drain. Jane, Tyler, Karen, Kelly and an armada of others worked on the outside of the parsonage. Jimmy (with a “y”, not an “ie”) worked on installing a back door that leads to the new playground. Brandon, Brady, Andrew and Robert worked on creating a sandbox, fixing the fence and digging holes for the gate posts for the playground. Robin worked on touching up the sanctuary paint and focused on fixing ceiling patches. Her work ma.JPG)
de a huge difference!
Pastor Martin and I set out to rent scaffolding for painting the steeple of the church and to reach the higher walls of the parsonage. Mexico seems to be a country made up of many micro businesses. There are literally thousands of small mom and pop, one room shops, extremely niched and with very little inventory. There doesn’t seem to be an organized system of tracking or locating various stores. Yesterday I asked a few people including the folks at Home Depot and another hardware store, where we could rent scaffolding and no one seemed to know if it was possible. Pastor Martin stopped by a construction store this morning and they gave him “directions” to a place not too far away. We headed in search of the place around 8:30. When we got to the vicinity, we asked someone else for directions and followed those instructions. When we got there we asked someone again and then again. After our 5th or 6th stop we found a rental place that directed us to the branch of their company that handles scaffolding.
Renting the scaffolding was a little like buying a car. The rental company was 2 rooms in an remodeled house and apparently only rented scaffolding. We were ushered into an office and sat in comfortable chairs in front of a desk. The lady proceeded to ask a battery of questions and fill out multiple forms. We had to drive back to the parsonage to get some additional ID and paperwork that the rental company needed from Pastor Martin and change American money to pesos. (Everywhere here accepts dollars but the exchange rate offered at the rental company was not very good.) When we returned to the rental company, Pastor Martin had to sign 3 copies of a multiple page contract and initial numerous other forms. 45 minutes and dozens of pieces of paper later we left. The company delivered the scaffolding later.
We stopped to look at carpet for the main aisle of the sanctuary. (It’s quite worn and has numerous holes.) Again, we found a tiny place with one desk and one or two employees. They had 3 books of carpet samples to show us. If we picked one, they’d go to the carpet warehouse, buy the carpet and deliver and install it for us. We thought the price - $320, for one strip 48 inches wide and 42 feet long, was high so we didn’t order any. The carpet is just going to be glued down and we can do it ourselves if we can find a store that will sell it to us. We’ll keep looking.
We didn’t have time for our usual siesta after lunch. Most of the team went out in the neighborhood around the church to deliver flyers advertising the Vacation Bible School that we’ll hold here on Wednesday. Pastor Martin and the skit team stayed behind to practice the David and Goliath skit starring Tyler and Wyatt with Pastor Martin narrating. We discovered that we left the cd with the vocalization f
or our puppet shows in the church cd player in Keizer so we recruited Ruth, Luis and Mitchell to translate and read the scripts, written in English to Spanish, while the puppeteers did their thing at VBS. It worked quite well although we missed having the background music.
We had a good size group
of kids at VBS. We set up crafts for the first hour, did some singing, then had a puppet show and skit and concluded with a short message from Pastor Martin. The weather was terrific – not too windy or too cold. There were around 8 people from the chapel including the pastor who also helped us plus a contingent from Bethel - Pastor Martin’s church.
After VBS, Luis and I took Dolly to Home Depot to hang out with other big trucks for a while. Karen was afraid that with all of the girls who’ve been riding in her this week, she might be feeling a little too prissy. We picked up a few needed supplies and lumber while we were there and made it back to the church just in time for dinner. Spirits are high this evening. After worship and team meeting, the team had an hour of hang out and personal time until lights out. Brandon, Brady, Andrew and Robert have discovered 4 part harmony and spent part of the time standing in a circle singing classic rock and roll songs. Very entertaining! Brandon sings the high parts.
I haven’t been able to find a strong enough internet connection to upload pictures so I’m afraid your stuck with text only for now. Hopefully the link at the top of this will give you access to pictures on Facebook.
The morning was so bright that the team was up before 6:30 am a
nd ready to go by 7:00! After breakfast, worship and team meeting, people dove into their various projects. Candace led the church trim painters – Libby, Wyatt, Luis, Ruth and Mitchell, and th
ey made great progress. Jason worked on a variety of handyman projects including pulling a sock out of a sink drain. Jane, Tyler, Karen, Kelly and an armada of others worked on the outside of the parsonage. Jimmy (with a “y”, not an “ie”) worked on installing a back door that leads to the new playground. Brandon, Brady, Andrew and Robert worked on creating a sandbox, fixing the fence and digging holes for the gate posts for the playground. Robin worked on touching up the sanctuary paint and focused on fixing ceiling patches. Her work ma.JPG)
de a huge difference!Pastor Martin and I set out to rent scaffolding for painting the steeple of the church and to reach the higher walls of the parsonage. Mexico seems to be a country made up of many micro businesses. There are literally thousands of small mom and pop, one room shops, extremely niched and with very little inventory. There doesn’t seem to be an organized system of tracking or locating various stores. Yesterday I asked a few people including the folks at Home Depot and another hardware store, where we could rent scaffolding and no one seemed to know if it was possible. Pastor Martin stopped by a construction store this morning and they gave him “directions” to a place not too far away. We headed in search of the place around 8:30. When we got to the vicinity, we asked someone else for directions and followed those instructions. When we got there we asked someone again and then again. After our 5th or 6th stop we found a rental place that directed us to the branch of their company that handles scaffolding.
Renting the scaffolding was a little like buying a car. The rental company was 2 rooms in an remodeled house and apparently only rented scaffolding. We were ushered into an office and sat in comfortable chairs in front of a desk. The lady proceeded to ask a battery of questions and fill out multiple forms. We had to drive back to the parsonage to get some additional ID and paperwork that the rental company needed from Pastor Martin and change American money to pesos. (Everywhere here accepts dollars but the exchange rate offered at the rental company was not very good.) When we returned to the rental company, Pastor Martin had to sign 3 copies of a multiple page contract and initial numerous other forms. 45 minutes and dozens of pieces of paper later we left. The company delivered the scaffolding later.
We stopped to look at carpet for the main aisle of the sanctuary. (It’s quite worn and has numerous holes.) Again, we found a tiny place with one desk and one or two employees. They had 3 books of carpet samples to show us. If we picked one, they’d go to the carpet warehouse, buy the carpet and deliver and install it for us. We thought the price - $320, for one strip 48 inches wide and 42 feet long, was high so we didn’t order any. The carpet is just going to be glued down and we can do it ourselves if we can find a store that will sell it to us. We’ll keep looking.
We didn’t have time for our usual siesta after lunch. Most of the team went out in the neighborhood around the church to deliver flyers advertising the Vacation Bible School that we’ll hold here on Wednesday. Pastor Martin and the skit team stayed behind to practice the David and Goliath skit starring Tyler and Wyatt with Pastor Martin narrating. We discovered that we left the cd with the vocalization f
or our puppet shows in the church cd player in Keizer so we recruited Ruth, Luis and Mitchell to translate and read the scripts, written in English to Spanish, while the puppeteers did their thing at VBS. It worked quite well although we missed having the background music.We had a good size group
of kids at VBS. We set up crafts for the first hour, did some singing, then had a puppet show and skit and concluded with a short message from Pastor Martin. The weather was terrific – not too windy or too cold. There were around 8 people from the chapel including the pastor who also helped us plus a contingent from Bethel - Pastor Martin’s church.After VBS, Luis and I took Dolly to Home Depot to hang out with other big trucks for a while. Karen was afraid that with all of the girls who’ve been riding in her this week, she might be feeling a little too prissy. We picked up a few needed supplies and lumber while we were there and made it back to the church just in time for dinner. Spirits are high this evening. After worship and team meeting, the team had an hour of hang out and personal time until lights out. Brandon, Brady, Andrew and Robert have discovered 4 part harmony and spent part of the time standing in a circle singing classic rock and roll songs. Very entertaining! Brandon sings the high parts.
I haven’t been able to find a strong enough internet connection to upload pictures so I’m afraid your stuck with text only for now. Hopefully the link at the top of this will give you access to pictures on Facebook.
i'm praying for all of you!! :)
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