Day 9: (07.15.10)

Early this morning about half the group went hiking early this morning to a nearby mountain, while the other half of the group stayed back to do some more work.


Today was just another continuation of making fence posts and working on the chicken coop.



Again some of the neighborhood children came over for us to play with them.



Later tonight we went out to eat at a restaurant in downtown Oaxaca.

After dinner we took a walk around downtown looking at all the sites to see.


(yes… that is two clowns, and Ed joined in the circle.)

Check out the downtown square...


When we got back our group had a team meeting, for there was a tension building between different groups in the group, and between people as well. Thankfully all was worked out.
After our meeting a couple of the students had a bond fire going, and we were just all singing songs together and having a great time, and we prepare for our last day tomorrow.

Day 8: (07.14.10)

Today was a continuation of working on fence posts for the boundaries of the property, and doing some finishing touches on the bunk beds by adding drawers to the bottom of the of bottom bunk.



We also continued to work on the chicken coop, hoping to get the main part of it done before we leave.


While we were working we had some kids come over from the neighborhood to sing songs with us.


At night we sang songs that the AIMS students would know in Spanish, so we were able to sing along with them in English. They also taught us songs as well that definitely had motion to them.



Oh… and if you ever wanted to know what you get to “eat” when you’re sick here, this is it…

Day 7: (07.13.10)

Just another day of work… (No pictures due to camera problems…)

Also we taught some of the students some dance songs, like the Macarena, Electric Slide, Thriller, and some other ones too.









Just a quiet day today… but some kids came over today too.

Day 6: (07.12.10)

Today we took a 4 hour bus ride to the mountains to visit five students’ old houses and families.

(Check out the huge boulder that was blocking the road that we had to move.)

At each place we ate a special food that the family cooked for us.


Afterwards we had shoes ready for the women and children to get a pair of shoes.


Here’s some of the families that we visited…



It was an extreme cross cultural experience for all of us. The food, family relationships, housing, and how they lived is extremely different to the way United States people live.

Day 5: (07.11.10)

Today we took it easy since it was Sunday. In the morning we went to a church that Saul was invited to speak at, which was actually the same one that some of us visited last time we were here.


Then headed back to the house that we were staying at to watch the finals of the World Cup, then hanged out for the rest of the day.


We had some kids from the neighborhood come over to play with our students, plus the AIMS students.


That night we were able to bless the first year AIMS students by having all the shoes that we brought with us, spread out for them to pic a pair to have. It was definitely a moving experience to watch them be excited to get a new pair of shoes (definitely the girls too!)





It was a late night, but a great experience. We packed up the rest of the shoes to bring with us the next day, since we were going to visit a village where a couple of the student came from. (Note: this is a different village that from first plan, we thought we were going to be hiking 2 hours to get there and spend the night, but since it's been raining here so much the bus wasn't going to be able to take us to that one, so we switched to a different village where there was going to be a lot less hiking.)

Day 4: (07.10.10)

Today before we would start working, we got to Skype with a friend of the Cruz’s who was running for Armonia in England. She told us about the race and what that could do for Armonia.

Next we headed to the pyramids, which gave more of a history of Mexico, Oaxaca, and all of the many different tribes that make up the indigenous indians of Mexico.




When we came back we had some lunch, then got the last of the World Cup, then back to work.
Some of the bunk beds we made…

We got to visit the neighbors behind us again, this time bring a beach ball with us. They sure had a blast with it.






Also some kids came over later and we played with bubbles and jump roped…


During dinner a random huge lizard came around and Caleb and Tyler were able to catch the lizard, but accidentally broke the tail…

After every meal two of us help out with the dishes, and tonight was Daniel and Trey’s turn. Here’s proof that they know how to wash dishes…

Then late night soccer and cards, then off to bed for church in the morning.