Now that we are home, the project manager in me wants to share a status report:
Boys' Dorm: the team helped mix and pour 33 meters of concrete support beams, and helped cut, bend, set, and tie 100 re-bar rings in preparation for the next pour. This represents support for the ceiling for almost half of the first floor.
Irrigation Trenches: the youth team dug 40 meters of trenches in preparation for an irrigation system for the kids playground; not only will this give the kids a safe surface to play games and soccer, but it will also help reduce the dust flying around campus!
Dorm Bathroom Storage: the team replaced slider rails, refaced, and reinforced 112 drawers in six kids' bathrooms (18 drawers per bathroom).
Window Bars: our team cut, fabricated, and painted 760 bars to make nineteen grates to be mounted on the windows of the current kids' dorm. This will protect kids from accidental falls!
Director's apartment: Part of the construction plan is building a one-bedroom apartment for Marcella, the Director of Dulce Refugio, who currently lives in a room in the Girls' dorm. Our team helped build and trim out the two custom closet organizers (from scratch....no running down to Lowe's around here!!) for her beautiful and well-deserved new home.
Kid Lovin': every day, our team invested in 54 kids' lives here at Dulce Refugio through playing soccer, pushing swings, giving piggy-back rides and sharing in their daily activites. Our youth ran four days of VBS lessons and crafts, and showed these kids that while they may feel forgotten by their own culture, God has not forgotten them. Even with all the work that our team has contributed, the relationships and the transformation of our own hearts is the most incredible part of this experience.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Day 10 - The Long Road Home
4:30 AM is for the birds. Actually, the birds aren't even up at 4:30! But we were awake and beginning our long journey home. We scrambled for last minute showers and packing, finalized the huge donation piles in our dorms, and shuffled out to the vans at 5:00 for the 30-minute ride to the airport.
Upon check-in, we learned that our flight from Aguascalientes to Dallas was delayed by about an hour. Thankful that we had a long layover in Dallas, we weren't too worried about this turn of events. We settled into the little waiting area, and many of the youth grabbed a quick nap on the floor.
The flight to Dallas was uneventful, and we passed through immigration and customs quickly and smoothly....so far, so good. Because of time and routing considerations, we were scheduled to fly next to Chicago O'Hare, and then connect on home to Fort Wayne. We all got lunch, found our gate to Chicago, boarded the plane and thought we were good to go............but it was not to be. The plane had a mechanical issue with the engine that needed to be fixed before the plane could fly. By the time the maintenance crew got a lift over to the plane, the winds were too gusty to open the engine cover to repair the problem.
When they told us to all get off the plane and return to the terminal, we knew there would be no chance of making our connecting flight to Fort Wayne, so Mike started scrambling. Because all of the flights into Fort Wayne are small (between 35 and 50 seats each), our group made up nearly half a planeload. Twenty-one open seats on the next flight? Ha. We found nine seats on a later direct flight from Dallas for Fort Wayne, and grabbed them for Brad (whose wife was showing signs of starting labor) and eight other team members. The remaining twelve of us took our chances with catching a later flight in Chicago. As the flight to O'Hare boarded, we waved goodbye and prayed for our luggage!
Upon arrival in Chicago our fears were realized, as we learned the earliest flight into Fort Wayne that American Airlines had ANY seats on would be tomorrow morning....getting us home at about 10:30. Mike negotiated at length with the supervisor on duty, but learned that American could not rent us a van to drive home because of liability issues, so we were pretty much out of luck. After great debate, the team (with input from parents) decided to go ahead and rent a van and head for home. We hit the road by 9PM Eastern time, and cruised past downtown Chicago just before sunset.
The nine team members on the direct flight to Fort Wayne arrived home around 10:15PM, and the rest of us pulled in about 12:30 AM. We are thankful that everyone returned safely, and we are all looking forward to getting back together again to celebrate the trip, remembering how God blessed Dulce Refugio through us, and how blessed we were by them in return!
Upon check-in, we learned that our flight from Aguascalientes to Dallas was delayed by about an hour. Thankful that we had a long layover in Dallas, we weren't too worried about this turn of events. We settled into the little waiting area, and many of the youth grabbed a quick nap on the floor.
The flight to Dallas was uneventful, and we passed through immigration and customs quickly and smoothly....so far, so good. Because of time and routing considerations, we were scheduled to fly next to Chicago O'Hare, and then connect on home to Fort Wayne. We all got lunch, found our gate to Chicago, boarded the plane and thought we were good to go............but it was not to be. The plane had a mechanical issue with the engine that needed to be fixed before the plane could fly. By the time the maintenance crew got a lift over to the plane, the winds were too gusty to open the engine cover to repair the problem.
When they told us to all get off the plane and return to the terminal, we knew there would be no chance of making our connecting flight to Fort Wayne, so Mike started scrambling. Because all of the flights into Fort Wayne are small (between 35 and 50 seats each), our group made up nearly half a planeload. Twenty-one open seats on the next flight? Ha. We found nine seats on a later direct flight from Dallas for Fort Wayne, and grabbed them for Brad (whose wife was showing signs of starting labor) and eight other team members. The remaining twelve of us took our chances with catching a later flight in Chicago. As the flight to O'Hare boarded, we waved goodbye and prayed for our luggage!
Upon arrival in Chicago our fears were realized, as we learned the earliest flight into Fort Wayne that American Airlines had ANY seats on would be tomorrow morning....getting us home at about 10:30. Mike negotiated at length with the supervisor on duty, but learned that American could not rent us a van to drive home because of liability issues, so we were pretty much out of luck. After great debate, the team (with input from parents) decided to go ahead and rent a van and head for home. We hit the road by 9PM Eastern time, and cruised past downtown Chicago just before sunset.
The nine team members on the direct flight to Fort Wayne arrived home around 10:15PM, and the rest of us pulled in about 12:30 AM. We are thankful that everyone returned safely, and we are all looking forward to getting back together again to celebrate the trip, remembering how God blessed Dulce Refugio through us, and how blessed we were by them in return!
Ken at The Grill
As the oldest father on site, Ken Batt got the honor of running the grill and flipping nearly 150 burgers!
Day 9 - Now It's Time To Say Goodbye...
The intensity of this trip has been surprising, at least to a newcomer like me. We worked hard, we played hard, but most importantly, we invested a lot of emotions in a very short time. And because of that, today was filled with laughter and tears.
We began the day with a late breakfast and quiet time before the worship service in the upstairs rec room. Worship today was centered around praise songs and some amazing testimonies of how God has worked in the lives of the Dulce Refugio kids as well as some of our team and other volunteers in Aguascalientes.
We heard the story of a teenager rescued from drugs and the streets; we heard the story of a girl whose mother was murdered by her step-father; we heard the story of a young woman whose family was destroyed by abuse.
Many of the people we have met this week have experienced such heartbreak that it's sometimes difficult to find the hand of God, but it's through our faith in His mercy that we are able to trust that He is with us in every situation. While every story is unique, the common thread of God's grace and mercy is woven through each one, reminding me of Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
With this perspective, we focused the afternoon on connections with the kids at the park, and then on a very emotional "farewell" cookout. It so happened that it's Father's Day , which is celebrated in Mexico as well as the US. The kids sang a special song to honor the men who volunteer at Dulce Refugio, all the fathers on our team, and most of all, our heavenly Father who will always love us and be beside us.
With many, many tears, we said our goodbyes, held our team debrief meeting and went to sleep one last time under the Mexican moon.
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