June 3, 2004
Thursday morning came early, and most of us slept in. We dressed in old work clothes, as we had been instructed, but after we’d picked up Jeff, Jim, and Alyssa, we came back for some of us to put on jeans. They warned us that there would be scorpions, fire ants, other insects, and rough work where we’d be. Most of us hadn’t brought old jeans, like myself, but put on what we had anyhow. We would later be glad of it.
We went to the Semenario de la Cruz in Reynosa. We were shown around, explained to about the sewer systems (like Honduras’ if you’ve ever been there), and introduced to a few of the people that work there. We put on sunscreen (some of us, at least) grabbed a bottle of water, and went to work. We were picking up where another team had left off, digging a footer for a duplex for two married couples. The seminary only has dorm rooms, so married couples had been turned away. After standing around for a while, most of the girls started carting dirt off the piles around the footer so that it wouldn’t be in the way later. Chris and KC used pickaxes to dig and I shoveled on our side. The rest of the guys and Alyssa worked on the other side. Chase cut into a water line (it was already broken elsewhere) and it sprayed muddy water all over him. Almost all of the guys got blisters on their hands and wore tape the rest of the week. We took lots of breaks and went through two or three cases of water. It was very hot and Jeff and Jim warned of dehydration often. Many of our group thought they were “tough enough” but I’d already seen signs of it earlier in the week in some of the group, so I didn’t mind taking the breaks.
Just before noon, the rain began to pour. It only lasted a couple of minutes, but got us all soaked. That wasn’t too bad, because it cooled us off. We were served a very appetizing Mexican lunch: chicken in some type of red sauce, rice with bacon and corn in it, mashed potatoes (just so we would feel “at home”), and a homemade pineapple drink. In fact, it was all homemade. Quite a few of us went back for seconds.
After lunch, we went out looking for scorpions. We only found one and only a couple of us saw that one. We did see two baby lambs and watched them for a while. Then we saw a nest of ants, which Ben told everyone were fire ants. (I knew better, as we have them at my house) Jim let them believe that and told Autumn that they were on her sock. After she completely flipped out, he told them the truth, that fire ants build mounds and aren’t that big. It was quite comical. We went inside the chapel and asked Gabriel to come play for us. He plays by ear, so we sang old hymns and contemporary praise songs. We sang for probably an hour or so, while Jeff met with some of the men there. We were supposed to work for a little while longer, but they let us off, so we just hung out there.
We had five hours of nothing to do at the motel, since we were going out with Jeff and Jim and their families for dinner, and we had to wait for the men’s meeting to let out at the church at 8:00. I took an extra long nap, so I’m not really sure what all happened this afternoon. I know the kids swam for a while, and then vegged out. Most of us dressed up a little for dinner, just because, not that the restaurant was fine dining or anything (however, it was very good). The three girls went to get us a table, since we would need 20 seats. We went to Ciro’s, a Mexican/Seafood place. The adults ordered a botana for six, but could have fed ten with it. I ordered the same thing, for one, and could have fed another two or three. Everyone had so much food that we took leftovers home and had them again the next night. We got a large group picture while we were all together for one last time.
The kids were told they could stay up as long as they wanted, so they stayed in the pool until after 11:00. Tonya was tired, and soon went to bed. Ben hung out in his room for a while. The kids slowly began to drift into my room. Ashley wanted to go to bed, so she and KC went to her room (with Tonya in there). Chris stayed in his room for a while, and Chad and Laura sat outside talking. The rest of them piled up in my room; the three girls on one bed, Chase, Michael, and me on the other bed, and Billy in the chair. Around 2:00, Ben came to tell them to go to bed that they were keeping me up. I told him that I didn’t mind, since I’d slept for three or four hours that afternoon. The boys finally did go to their room around 3:30, but stayed up to prank Chris.
Day 7, Friday
