March 24, 2016  Thursday

At 5:15am, the queue of cars going from Tecate to California reached all the way to the Cervantes' home.

April and Hanna made an oatmeal breakfast, improvising for lack of some ingredients. It was very good. Sam, after having breakfast at the orphanage, had breakfast again when he arrived at the Cervantes. Did I mention he likes to eat?

We had a later start, got to sister Concha's house at about 9:15. Continuation of shingling and sheeting took place. The hip in the rafters for the addition on the house slowed progress. We also ran out of 2x6's and sheeting due to the unknown house addition.

The girls joined us for the day, lending their painting skills.

This week continues to be full sun all day. Temperatures are close to 80F (26.7C for you Canadian folks). Most of us put on the 50 SPF to prevent us from sunburning further.

Across the street from sister Concha's the people keep (among others things) a horse. The property is in no way conducive to having a horse. Brad (who is in college) observed the horse eating grass that had grown from inside a toilet laying in the yard. Today, we watched the horse escape outside the insecure chain link fencing and make his way down the street.

Lunch again was inside sister Concha's home. Many church people came again and help provide the lunch. Today the menu included fried fish tacos. A substitute to the fish (in case someone didn't like fish) was stingray. I attest that both were good. Two types of salsa were available - hot and steaming hot. Someone from the kitchen found an ice cube in the salsa the other day. They made the comment to each other that the Americans were probably just trying to cool the spiciness.

Progress on the roof was at a slower pace today. We also had to leave a little early (much to Dushan's dismay) to get ready for church. Rick, Dushan and Sam had to help out driving because we had two trucks and the van. They were a terror to the Mexican drivers.

There were a total of 12 guests from America and Canada in church tonight. We had singing for a half hour. Sam lent his gift of leading, even singing in Spanish. Then a message on the surrendered life in Christ was shared, brother Alex providing translation into English.

Lazar Stefko from San Diego came for services and will be staying through the weekend. Crystal Cervantes also came from San Diego for services.

After church the group went out for popsicles.

Most of us guys have muscle sores and sunburns. We walk as if we've aged 15 years.

March 23, 2016  Wednesday

Breakfast was at 7:15. At 8:00, we loaded the tools and headed to sister Concha's house. She lives on a steep dirt road. To gain access to the roof, a section of metal fencing was cut and removed. We set up a scaffold between the house and the neighbor's driveway at the removed section of fence as the access point to the roof. The team was excited to get started.

It was a beautiful, sunny day from sun up to sun down. Most of us got a good (or is it bad?) sunburn.

We cut the eves of the roof off all around the house. Rick and Dushan designed and laid out the new rafters. No major issues came up so progress was going at a good pace. Lunch was at 1:15, there was enough chicken, rice, beans and other sides to feed an army. And of course there was salsa, there's always salsa. It was all very good. Many from the church helped in the food preparations. Brother Jose says that sister Concha is like a mother to many in the church, always giving and sharing good advice. Some brothers from the church who were not working today also came to help on the roof. By the end of the day, most of the rafters were installed and plywood sheeting placed on one side of the roof. Dushan wanted to keep working but we convinced him at 6:30pm that we should probably call it a day. It was a productive day.

For dinner we went "out" to eat. Out, as in, an outdoor patio. Tacos kept coming and kept coming. Spending a week together as a team, you get to learn much about each other. One thing we learned about Sam is that he can eat! :)  Ronnie Nemanyi and Vanessa Huszti met us for dinner there.

March 22, 2016  Tuesday

An early start for the team. The group from Ohio left the Akron/Canton airport at 5:30am. Dushan, April and Andrew barely made it on the flight due to the security line. Brother Jose picked up the 5 of us from Ohio from the San Diego and took us to the harbor. There we met with Mary & Rachel Gavrilovic, Hanna Savin and Tom & Nancy Huszti. Nancy was returning to Ohio that day and Tom and Hanna were coming to Tecate with us. We returned to the airport to pick up the Canadians - Rick, Sid and Sam. So the 11 of us with all our luggage (along with supplies from Home Depot) began the trip to Tecate.

The trip from Sand Diego to Tecate included many stops - lunch at In-n-Out, gas, bank and a fruit stand. The conversation on the way down produced the word of the day - endorphins. It was comical how much it came up throughout the day. The border crossing into Mexico was underwhelmingly uneventful. Apparently the Mexican government isn't too concerned with what/who comes into the country.

We first went to the Cervantes' home and visited. We then went to sister Concha's home where the project was to take place. Others had previously stripped the roof of the old shingles. A plan was put in place to carry out the project. We returned to the Cervantes home for a pizza casserole dinner. At 7:00pm, the group, with the exception of Rick and John, went to the Little Hands orphanage for a campfire.

Dushan, April, Hanna, Andrew, Rick and John slept at the Cervantes. Tom, Sid, Sam and Brad slept at the orphanage.

Arrival in San Diego - At the Harbor