Day 7 - Our Last Work Day

From Christian Smith -

Our last day! I cannot believe that our week in Oaxaca is already at an end after working, eating, worshipping, and laughing with the Oaxacan students at Casa Margarita. At 8:00, we awoke once again to a muy delicioso breakfast, cooked and served entirely by the students, which would fuel us for one more day of hard work. After all of the dishes were cleaned, we jumped straight into work – literally, we jumped into the ditches and continued to dig the foundations for a basketball court and a traditional Mexican dancing area. Throughout the day, many more deep holes were dug into the modeling clay-like dirt and more HEAVY cement posts were formed in order to surround the property with a fence. A man from Michigan named Bob, along with the help of his close friends Stan and Yolanda, designed and constructed a chicken coop in order to eventually provide the students at Casa Margarita with eggs. It came along quite well, as did everything else. For about an hour, I worked alone with a few of the Mexican students who were working the ditch-digging shift; it was quite enjoyable working alongside them, trying to overcome the language barrier in order to have conversations with them while getting copious amounts of work done at the same time! All of them were very eager to learn a little English and to hear about the place where I come from. In the late afternoon, we finally completed our week’s task and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Our team walked a mile or so with Lupe (LOO-pay) to get a couple treats including a much-desired Coke (Ahhhhhh!). In the evening, we had our final meeting with Señor Cruz and spent several final hours laughing and playing (some even crying) with the students. Every student gave a big hug to every member of the team, and we headed up stairs to pack and get some sleep for our big day of travel.

It was such a blessing to go on this trip. Yes, it was exhausting – in the words of John Seligson, “I wish I could work as fast as my heart is beating!” – But it was fulfilling and so very productive, and I would have loved to stay longer. We worked with some wonderful people from St. Paul’s, serving and hopefully changing the lives of some outstanding high schoolers from Oaxaca, Mexico. When the opportunity arises, I will return to this place in a heartbeat.

Closing Thoughts

I asked members of the team to give me a brief summary of the trip. Here are the comments I received:

Meredith - In Oaxaca, I have learned so much from the students, my peers, and Jesus Christ. The Lord has done a great deed down here. I have enjoyed following His plan.

Angela – For me, this trip has been a beneficial change of pace. It’s helped me so much to see my life from a different perspective, and I am thankful for the opportunity to return and apply what I have learned. The six girls have been a delight to be with, and I am continually thankful for the love and unity I see among the group. I believe the Lord has been faithful in causing us all to grow up this week, [and become] increasingly aware of the world and our place in it.

Mollie – I have had so much fun serving here in Oaxaca. The Lord has been doing great things through the Armonia Ministry. The students have been great and even through it has been hard to communicate with them, I have greatly enjoyed getting to know them. I pray that someday I’ll be able to return and maybe play basketball with the students on the court we helped build.

Miriam – I love Mexico, and all the people here! They are all so kind and generous. Whether I’m washing dishes, digging a trench or eating dinner, they are happy to share or help. I pray that God will bring me back to Oaxaca someday soon. If not, this was an experience I will not soon forget.

John Michael – Well, I was expecting to go to Mexico and build a dorm with possible interaction with the students, but ended up building fences and a basketball court and playing with the students a lot. It was a very special time that I am very grateful for and pray that God will open up another opportunity to go.

John S. – I am so glad that God sent me on this mission trip because through it, I was reminded about a very important thing: being content. Many people in the United State of America live with several luxuries and conveniences. However, most live unhappy lives and are not satisfied with what they have. Every now and then we need to be reminded about how fortunate we are. We also need to be happy with whatever God provides. The students I met in Oaxaca are the perfect example of how we must live. For example, as I went to fill my water bottle, I noticed that the students were laughing and playing. These students have close to nothing. They barely get to see their family. Yet they have one important thing: the body of Christ. This makes them perfectly content with whatever they have. Overall, the trip was a humbling experience for me. I wish that I could have stayed longer.

LesLeigh - I have had a great time in Oaxaca this week. It was great being able to interact with all of the students even though we had a huge language barrier. I have been able to become closer to my friends, make new ones, and strengthen my relationship with God. The work was sometimes difficult, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the cold showers, but the overall experience is something I will remember forever.

Matty – This year’s trip to Oaxaca has offered a great time of growth and learning. It has been great including the time set apart for devotions and discussions. I really feel God blessed this trip, or interactions and relations with the students, each other and God. I can’t believe how prevalent and visible God’s hand has been/is in the ministry spread and graciously continued by Dr. and Mrs. Cruz. It was such a blessing to be able to stay in the dorms we built last year, and I can’t wait to see what happens until we return!

Lily – Before going on this trip, I had no idea what to expect. But, what it turned out to be was so much better than I ever thought it would be. I loved staying with the students and being able to interact with them every day. I loved working, eating and playing games with them. Although I barely knew any Spanish, I still managed to form friendships with the Mexican students, friendships that can hopefully resume to grow when I see them next. One thing I especially loved [was] being able to sing with the Mexicans and do devotions every night. I learned a lot of new things about missions and I feel that God really showed me His love through the Mexicans. I am looking forward to hopefully coming back one day and seeing what else God is doing in Mexico.

Lucy – This was my first missions trip, so I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like. It was amazing! My favorite thing about the entire trip was that we got to meet and interact with the Mexican students. Even with the language barrier, I was able to form friendships with them and communicate with them. They were all so sweet, friendly, and hard working. Saying good-bye to them last night was so sad. I’m so happy that we got to be a witness of Christ to them. I also loved singing Spanish praise songs with them. It was so neat to be able to worship God in another language with people who don’t speak English. I will never forget this trip or the Mexican students and I am so thankful that I was able to go.

We're Home!

We made it home! By God's work and plan we made it home all together. The day started out early as we had to be ready to board the bus at 5:45. We were all ready but the bus was not. It got there about 6:00 a.m. We loaded it and got to the airport about 6:40. We checked in without much issue and made it through the security checkpoint and got to the gate. We hung out there until the time that the plane should be boarded, but we were told that there would be a 30 minute delay due to fog. Well we only had an hour layover in Houston to get through Immigration and Customs, recheck our bags and head to our next plane. So it would be tight even if the plane was on time. Needless to say, we started sending out the warning messages back home and to the Continental folks that we were not going to make our scheduled connection to Orlando. The Customer Service representative in Oaxaca said they would do all that they could and that there was still a chance we could make it.

In Oaxaca, the security system is much different than in the US. Both domestic and international passengers go through the same security checkpoint and then the international passengers have to go through additional screenings at the gate. We did not realize this, and several folks tried to use some of their remaining pesos on drinks and snacks for the plane trip. However, this was before we realized that we have to be searched at the gate and this search was for liquids. Therefore, all the drinks purchased had to be consumed or disposed of. Most tried to finish their drinks before being screened,otherwise they had to dispose of the drink. Donny disposed of mine by giving it to someone sitting next us.

When we finally were screened and loaded we were over 30 minutes late. We had everyone we could talk to trying to get the Orlando flight delayed for us. Donny, who was close to the front of the plane from Oaxaca, got all the details of where we had to go, what was the best way to approach the transition from one plane to the other with the close time line from the flight attendant during the flight. Once we landed in Houston we were greeted with a long line at Immigration. Donny was leading the pack, and he found a Continental Customer Service Representative and tried to get us some priority through Immigration. As the minutes clicked by, I had these thoughts of the entire team being broken up to find a few seats here and there on different flights to get back to Orlando which would mean the team would be staggered throughout the day and that perhaps some might not even make it back today.

As the team members made it through Immigration, they were sent ahead in small groups to get their luggage and head through Customs and to recheck their bags and head to the gate. Our thought process was that if a couple of the team members could make it to the gate, Continental might hold the plane until the rest of the team could catch up. This worked for Angela, John Michael, Meredith and Lily. The rest of us were stopped when trying to recheck our luggage. We were rerouted to the Continental Departures desk. The bulk of the pack was stuck in the queue trying to get in contact with Angela and her group to let her know we would not be able to catch up. Our efforts were complicated by the fact that Meredith had Mollie's passport and Mollie had Meredith’s boarding pass so Meredith could not get through security. Angela had to leave her behind to go back to the pack. When the pack finally made it through the queue we found out that the entire group had been rescheduled for the next flight at 1:30. Angela was able to contact us because when she made it to gate, she learned that she had missed the flight. She and her group were rebooked for the new flight at the gate while the rest of us headed up to security.

Even with being booked for the 1:30 flight we still had to hustle to get everyone to the plane with potty stops and food purchases. It was 1:00 now and we had been up since 5:00 without a good meal and there was not any food scheduled for the flight. Alas, all made it on the plane and the plane took off on time and it was a smooth flight from Houston to Orlando.

We were greeted by family and friends at the airport. It was great to see everyone there to meet us. I must say it is a great feeling to know that those that met us were as anxious to see us as we were to see them. It was quite the scene with a sea of green shirts intermixed with others hugging, kissing and shaking hands. Thank you all who came out to greet the team.

It was a wonderful trip. I had team members give a sentence or two of what the trip meant to them. I will post these tomorrow. I would imagine that John Tassos will begin to start posting the trip pictures up on Facebook so watch for pictures. Christian Smith was in the process of writing the blog entry for our last full day. I will have him complete it and I will post that as well once it is completed.
Thank you all again for your prayers and encouragement. Your prayers for safety were answered as no one was hurt and travel mercies were also answered since we all made it home together. Praise God!

Day 6. Back to work. From Chuck.

After a great day of sightseeing and enjoying the culture of Oaxaca, it was back to work. We got started earlier today because Saul was at home trying to prepare for his Doctoral dissertation defense on Friday. Saul has had a tough week, he has us in

town as well as some others, he is trying to prepare for his defense and his mother is having some sort to surgical procedure on Friday. Please pray for all of these things.

Getting started earlier helped us to progress further but we still have some work to do. There are the three projects that we have been involved with, the basketball court, the chicken coop and the fence to surround the property. The chicken coop is being handled mostly by another team that came down a little after us. It was really their project and they are using it to train some of the Mexican students in carpentry. The basketball court has been just digging through hard or wet clay depending on the location. It has been very hard work. I assume that our team will not get to see if finished. There are footers to pour and I think more trenches to big for additional support across the court for support. We will find out on Friday. The fence, unless more supplies are purchased, more posts will be made. They are concrete and made on site at a rate of 8 a day. The fencing material comes in rolls of 8 feet and has to be cut in half to make two 4 foot sections. We did two rolls today only because that is all they had for us to use.

It is somewhat difficult for us Americans to have to deal with frustration of knowing different ways to do things that can progress the projects must faster. A little bobcat with a back hoe attachment would have had the basketball court ready to pour in less than two days. A power posthole digger would have dug all the holes in a day. But those tools are not considered because of cost, availability, and the number of students both theirs and ours that need work to do. If you have 40+ kids with idle time, you will run into issues. So they keep it simple so there is work to do. That is why they still wash all the dishes by hand, make their own tortillas, farm the plot of land (as well as working to make themselves self sufficient).

We tasked-oriented Americans also have a tough time letting go of the fact that we will not complete any task with which we have been involved. We want to leave with everything complete and pretty. That is usually the case with this type of trip. We still way out perform what the plans are for our group which is a testimony to the work ethic of our group. We have been told many times that we have great, hardworking kids. They are well mannered and willing to do any work. Their comments make me believe that other teams are not the same. One example is lunch. The Mexicans would fix two lunches, one for our team members and one for the Mexicans. I told Saul not to do this. We will eat whatever the Mexicans eat. It is ridiculous to cook two meals because other teams refused to eat what the Mexicans ate. This was wasteful of money for the food and resources who had to cook twice.

We were reminded again today that much of the folks around the site still believe in much mysticism. Last trip and this trip we have heard these firework type explosions that just shoot up a mortar that just makes a boom. They are random and scattered across the area. We kept asking what they were for but no one knew. Today we were given an explanation that the locals would shoot these off in hopes to ward off the rain. Now remember, we are in rainy season.


One of the highlights of our cultural experience was partaking in an Oaxacan delicacy of eating grasshoppers. They are sold in mounds at the market. Dave Seligson purchased a bottle of them and shared them with us at breakfast. Bon Appetit!

Day 5. Day of Culture

Hello from Oaxaca! This is Lucy Candeto. I want to tell you readers about our day here in Oaxaca. We started the day with a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and watermelon. After that we got ready, piled into the vans, and headed to the mountains! It was really neat to see Oaxaca City as we drove past it. Winding our way up the mountains was exciting! We arrived at the mountains and began our tour. Our tour guide knew so many things about the ruins. Did you know that “Yucatan” means “I don’t know” in some language? We saw an arena where ball games were played many years ago, climbed up the steepest steps I’ve ever seen, and got a magnificent view of Oaxaca from the mountain. After our tour, we ate our lunch, looked at the jewelry and other souvenirs that people were selling, and then headed to the market.

What a fun experience that was! I bartered with a lady in Spanish for the first time! Since she knew little English and I hardly know any Spanish at all, it wasn’t your typical bartering experience. I had no idea what price she named, so she wrote it on her hand. Then I started to walk away, but she motioned to me and pointed to a “100” that was written on her hand. I still thought that was too high, so she told me to name my price. I grabbed a pen and wrote “70” (Pesos) on my hand. We finally settled on 80 Pesos. It was exciting and confusing! We continued on through the market. My group didn’t realize this at the time, but we took a turn that caused us to walk right past some whole dead chickens (feet and all!). I tried not to breathe as I walked past.

About an hour after arriving at the market, we headed to a chocolate shop. We tasted Mexican chocolate and learned a little bit about it. The chocolate that had vanilla in it was my favorite. It was so delicious and most definitely the best chocolate I have ever tasted!

Once we finished at the chocolate shop, we went to dinner at a Mexican buffet. I’d never seen so much food that I couldn’t identify in my life (all of the signs were in Spanish!). I had a delicious flauta, cucumbers, watermelon, bread, and potatoes with Mexican sausage. After eating I headed to the dessert table where I had some amazing jello and some other wonderful treats. When dinner was over, we headed out of the restaurant where there was an old plane that you could go in. We played in that for a little bit and then explored the rest of the property. After a while we piled 16 people into a van and rode back to Armonia. The ride was VERY bumpy and VERY fun!

When we got back to Armonia some of the students were playing guitar. John Seligson went and joined them with his drum, John Youderian came with his guitar, and soon there was a group of Armonia students and St. Paul’s students gathered in a circle singing praise songs in English. We then switched to singing Spanish songs. They had hand motions and it was really fun to be able to sing praise songs in a different language with people who don’t speak your language. Just a few minutes ago we had to say goodbye to the three girls who were here from England. They were sad to leave and we were sad to see them go. Right now some people are playing cards and others are playing soccer (or “futbol”) with some of the Armonia students. That’s what we did today! It was a wonderful day! Thanks for reading! Adios!

Sorry for the delay. There were some difficulties getting the blog posted.

Back to work! We all got up this morning, ate some breakfast, and went straight to work. Worn out from working the previous day, we had a hard time getting started. However, I was very impressed with how diligent ad and hard working the team was, especially when it came to building a fence. Yesterday, we were instructed to continue the work another team had begun by digging holes and setting fence posts. Having made good progress on this, we had to do the unthinkable today. The posts were not in the correct location, so we had to remove them and re-do the post installation. (Keep in mind these are concrete posts that weigh about 150 lbs.) Any normal person would have sighed, put his face in his palms, and yelled, “Not again!” This was not the case for our team. We understood what had to be done, and we did it diligently. I have been blessed with a hard working team that has a great, positive attitude.

To encourage the teammates, the Affirmation Team continues a St. Paul’s mission trip tradition: “Tres Elefantes.” Every day, during lunch and dinner, one teammate is recognized for their hard work and team effort. This is done by awarding a trophy of a bundle of three stuffed elephants. It is awarded to another teammate at the next meal. But on this trip we are using a golden cup blow-up toy with “Champion” on it because the three elephants trophy could not be found. Donny and I were the “champions” today!

I’m thankful to God that this trip has been so successful. I’m also thankful that tomorrow will be a day of rest and touring with the Mexican students.

John Seligson, Tuesday, August, 2, 2010

Day 3: First workday

Monday, August 2nd according to John B. H. Tassos

This morning we worshiped with Saul Cruz, singing many songs, and received a testimony from Saul on how he and his wife Pilar began Armonia 27 years. Afterwards he showed us the architectural drawings for the school that Armonia plans to open in the next year or so. The projects that we would be working on today were clearing the land for a basketball court, building a chicken coop, and digging holes for fence posts surrounding the property. We also hammered the mold casts together, wired the rebar, and mixed and poured the cement for the fence posts. It was real neat to be able to see the architect’s rendering of what he envisioned the final product to be with property that Armonia now occupies in Oaxaca. Saul says he believes he needs about $240,000 for the entire project, and so far he has raised $160,000.

Before our worship this morning we were introduced to Stan, a cherry farmer from Michigan, and Bob and Yolanda. Bob is retired from General Motors. Stan has been working with Armonia for the past 13 years. Both Bob and Yolanda grew up speaking Spanish in the home due to having Mexican parents. Stan has first-hand knowledge of raising chickens to lay eggs. Growing up his family had 300 chickens on their farm. He says his sisters would go get the eggs the chickens had laid each morning. This year he came to Oaxaca specifically to assist Armonia with the construction of this chicken coop. The chicken coop will serve to teach the students the skills required to care for the chickens, how to run a small business, and give Armonia another revenue stream. They are already growing corn, which they use to make tortillas.

The first half of the day under the direction of Dave Seligson we measured the dimensions of the basketball court marking it with the string. The second half of the day all hands were on deck for the leveling of the basketball court which entailed moving the black moist soil out which is good for growing crops, and the red hard clay in which is good for building a foundation, in preparation for pouring cement later this week. This was done with pick axes, shovels and wheel barrows. We worked until 8:00 PM when the sun began to set. The students had prepared a meal of beef stew for us, which was very tasty. We helped by cleaning all the dishes, silverware, pots and pans.

Today’s devotional came from Psalms 46: 1-11. And the questions were generated from The Great Commission, Matthew 28: 18-20. “And Jesus came and said to them. ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” The questions were: 1. List all the verbs in verses 19 & 20 and define them in your own words. 2. From this list, what conclusions can you draw about the work of missions, that is, what did Jesus command his disciples to do? 3. What words are repeated? What is the purpose or meaning of this repetition? 4. How does this affect the way you view missions?

Hello from Oaxaca. Day 2 was Sunday and the Lord’s Day. We woke up to a glorious day in the 60s. The sky was clear and the humidity very low. I just wish to share that so maybe some more folks will join the trip next time with the thought of getting out of the hot and sticky weather of Florida. But it was a beautiful day. We gathered for breakfast. Saul, a few other students and three early 20s girls from the England joined us for breakfast. The fare was usual breakfast food, eggs, pancakes, fruit (watermelon) and what I think was oatmeal. It was very watery. I only took a little and ate it because the students here don’t understand throwing away food. They also take it as not appreciating their effort in preparing the food.

After breakfast, Saul gathered everyone together to share a bit and to say goodbye to a couple of students who were leaving Sunday to go to Mexico City to start at the University. They had finished High School and spent a year working at the house. Every student that wishes to pursue studies at the university level are required to spend a year serving the younger students as tutors, and housekeepers. They have the tasks of coordinating and policing the chores and the students. Saul also introduced the new house leaders. After the presentation, Saul gathered the St. Paul’s team and explained the sermon his was to give at church that morning. There was not going to be an interpreter at the service so he wanted us to understand the concepts he was presenting.

Afterwards, we loaded up on the bus and in vans and headed to the central part of the city to the church we went to two years ago. Saul had been asked to preach and he is preaching once every couple of months and has a series he is sharing about trying to open our view of helping. He holds that culture and personal preferences and fears tend to narrow our view serving and loving. He used Proverbs 31 and the Virtuous Women.

After church we were given the chance to enjoy Oaxaca. We walked to a square, or park,

wondered around and talking with the students while we waited for Saul and some others to arrive with 140 hamburgers from McDonalds. We ate and enjoyed. In Mexico you are given jalapeño verde sauce as a condiment. We gathered all of us for a group shot.

After eating we went to a pedestrian mall area to wander around, there are museums, shops and two main Catholic churches to wander through and observe how the locals observe their religion. There were a large number of people there due to a weekend fiesta in the square. We did not do much shopping at this point as we will be going back on Wednesday.

The day closed with dinner and a bible study.

Oaxaca 10 Day 1

Praise God, we have made it safely to Oaxaca. The flights were blessedly uneventful plus all our bags made the trip with us. There were no issues checking in and going through customs in Mexico. Miriam and I were one of the few folks that were selected by Customs to have our bags inspected. The way people are selected is by going through a line and pressing a button. If the light turns green you and your bags get to leave the Customs area and head out of the airport terminal. However, if you press the button and it turns red you and your bags are escorted over to an inspection station where Customs agent rifles through the contents of your bags. I am not sure what they are looking for since they just looked around the edges of the bags. I was a little concerned because we were carrying several things that might have caused suspicion. Miriam was carrying all her diabetes supplies and I was carrying 5 one gallon zip-lock bags full of eye glasses that will be used for an eye clinic later this year. Plus we had two duffle bags of school and other supplies for the students here. I did not know what the attendant would think of me carrying such a collection of large quantities of items, but there were no issues. I think that 3 of us were tagged by the red light and were required to go through the process but there were no problems or big delays.

The weather in Oaxaca has been very pleasant thus far. We were greeted with 74 degrees when we landed. It is like spring in Florida. The fact that we have left Florida during record heat makes the temperature change even more delightful.

It was planned for us to stay at the house in town, however as with most things here, the plans changed. We are now staying in the dormitory out at the site. When we drove up all the students came out to greet us. It was somewhat humbling to have 40 plus high school aged kids excited to greet the folks that are on the bus. It was like we were celebrities. The bus drove up and all the students came outside and swarmed the bus. After we unloaded I pulled out my computer and showed the pictures from our trip 2 years ago. The students found great delight in seeing friends that have completed their stay or who were still here. It was a source of great amusement and distraction while our team took advantage of some sandwiches they provided. Peanut butter and Nuttela on white bread, ah, I haven’t had that since last time I was here.

Staying on the site will have many advantages and yet some disadvantages. The largest disadvantage is no internet. They do not have it at the site yet. Providing regular updates will be more difficult. The advantage is more students can be housed in the dorm so we have more students to interact with. School has not started yet so we will be able to work side by side with all the students. It will be interesting to see how they will coordinate nearly 60 people on the site. Plus with many hands, we should be able to get much accomplished.

Tomorrow is Sunday and all of us, the Mexicans and the Yanks, will be headed to Church in the morning. I am not sure how it all will happen but God is good and will provide a way for us all to fit on the bus and make it to Church. It should be an interesting service. If I understood the conversation correctly, Saul is coming from Mexico City and is to preach at the service we will be attending. Signing off for day 1.