Puebla Update #3

This morning's report from Ryan:

Wednesday was another good day here in Puebla and one characterized by weather that you might expect in Mexico. The sun was up early and the day was hot. The big project of the day was getting after the big wall. Most of the group was employed either painting or scraping parts of the wall. Now you should know that painting this wall was a project most of the El Pozo staff (as well as most of our leaders) did not expect to get done this week. However, by the end of the day today, most of the wall was covered with one coat. Work will continue as a second coat is required, but things are progressing nicely.

Work has halted on the driveway project, however, as there has been a delay in the delivery of the bricks. Nathan and Heath (another staff member) have a phrase for episodes like the one surrounding the delivery (or lack thereof) of the bricks. "TIM" they'll say; "this is Mexico". We are,however, hopeful of picking up that project tomorrow.

Today was the day for my group to go the orphanage so I can say a little more about that. It's a state run orphanage kept in a nice facility near downtown Puebla. The children, of course do not speak English which presents an interesting challenge for gringos and gringas like us. It was a pure delight though to interact with them and see our own students work through the language barrier to play with and love on the kids. You had Meghan carrying on a conversation with a four year old on the swing, Sydney playing house with two little girls (playing house by the way entailed Sydney being locked in a playhouse and forbidden to exit. She was a good sport), Logan and Jeremy with little boys on their shoulders all day, Xander playing frisbee and Josh changing his first diaper in the nursery. Logan also took the time to convince the little boys that my name was "Careful" which made for some interesting exchanges throughout the day. All the students did a great job and really enjoyed our time there.

Tonight we all went out to eat. Half the group went to a restaurant called "Las Flautas" while the other half went to "Munchis". My group was at Flautas and the food was amazing. Tomorrow we'll try Munchis while the other group will try Las Flautas. It's been a lot of fun to interact in the Mexican culture.

One thing the kids keep talking about is how wonderful it's been to interact with the Mexican students who attend El Poza and are around this week. There's Betty, Carlos, Yuyo, Steph, Mario and others. They are all kind and outgoing and our students are really developing friendships with them that will make a difference any time the McDades are mentioned at Grandview in a pastoral prayer or otherwise. El Pozo is no longer just an idea but a place with faces that we know. We'll look forward to sharing their pictures and stories with you when we return so you too might know El Pozo not just as a place but as a group of people striving to follow the same God we follow at Grandview.

Contine to pray for us. God is at work

Ryan