Youth Mission Trip 2008
links to information and forms are at the bottom of this page If you have any questions, please contact Kevin McGill at 214.552.6042 (The Internet was down until Tuesday night, sorry for the delay!)
Saturday, July 26  7:00pm -- Packing Party
	Pack all that you can possible get into one (1) suitcase.  Bring it to church with any remaining paperwork.  If you can, buy toiletries for Mexico so that you can pack everything.  You may bring your backpack, pillow, and small blankie with you on the van.
Sunday, July 27 -- Travel Day, 1st night in Mexico
	Day begins at BUMC at 7am (but we won't leave 'til 7:30am)!   Actual departure time: 8:12am Pictures: MissionGroup Breakfast: Pop Tarts (cherry, strawberry, chocolate, or blueberry), Tampico citrus beverage, milk Lunch: Ham, turkey, cheese (or any combination of those) or peanut butter/jelly sandwiches, chips, Oreos, and pink lemonade to drink. Dinner: Pizza Hut pizza We made our first rest stop on Loop 820 due to an accident. The police came to shut down the highway; unfortunately, it was shut down about 100 yards behind us. We put the vehicles in reverse, backed up to the exit ramp, and quickly began searching the internet for an alternate route to I-30. Pastor John was the quickest at mobile mapping, and we found ourselves back on track after just a few more turns and a pleasant drive through North Richland Hills. We made a breakfast/snack stop at the Palo Pinto County rest area. After a brief gasoline stop at the Flying J of Abilene (technically in Tye, TX), we continued our trek towards El Paso. We stopped at the rest area just west of Abilene for lunch, then made the uneventful drive to Pecos. Did you know that Doug’s truck can drive from Abilene to Pecos while towing the trailer and get there with some 50 miles left before he runs out of gas? In Pecos, we filled up at the Flying J and headed to El Paso once again. Once in El Paso, we went to our favorite Pizza Hut and ate a lovely dinner. Since I forgot several things, we then headed to WalMart in El Paso to pick them up. We managed to get across the border around 9:30pm (Mountain Time). It was an adventure making it from the border to the Proyecto Abrigo compound in Tierra Nueva. They had received 5 inches of rain from the hurricane, and several of the streets were still under water. Once in Tierra Nueva, we had to avoid arroyos that filled many of the streets. (If you check out the link, you’ll see the one right outside the driveway into Proyecto Abrigo’s compound.) Fortunately, Jose Luis knew where they were and how to avoid them. We got to the compound and unpacked and got ready for bed. Arrival time: 10:23pm (MDT)
Monday, July 28
	Breakfast: 7:30am Scrambled eggs with ham, donuts, corn tortillas, fresh salsa, milk, Tampico Citrus Punch, coffee. Lunch: 1:00pm Burritos with refried beans (homemade), potato, and steak in flour tortillas with fresh salsa. Iced tea to drink. Dinner: 6:00pm Enchiladas with rice and refried beans. Iced tea to drink. We split into 2 teams for the week. One team would be at the church area, and the other team would work on building a new house. One team included Doug Cook, Connie Lopez, David Bailey, Alec Lopez, Lauren Goode, Josh Goode, Marisa Harrison, Kiernan McGill, Ryan Burrage, and Matt Madrid. The other team included Kevin McGill, Pastor John Fleming, Ashley Maloney, Mike Madrid, Tori Crowe, Christa Marusak, Matthew Maloney, Sarah Applegate, Ricky Harrison, T.J. Lopez, and Carisa Lopez. After dinner, we sat around playing Apples-to-Apples, Sorry, and Knock-out (a basketball-like game). Work pictures: SiftingSand MoreSifting Volcano Blocks Blocks2 Cement Cement2
Tuesday, July 29
	Breakfast: Pancakes and bacon. Drinks are the same each day. Lunch: Ham and cheese sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips. Dinner: Chicken w/veggies in foil, mashed potatoes, and corn. For the second day of work, the teams switched locations. The team at the church again mixed concrete to help reinforce the fence around the church, but they also got a new task: distribute a load of sand from a dump truck to the canyon created by last week’s flooding. In the morning, they shoveled sand directly into the canyon, then later into a bucket to dump into the canyon. After lunch, the whole team loaded wheelbarrows to move the pile of sand to fill in the canyon. The team working on the house mixed a lot of mortar and concrete to get the walls and crown finished. After dinner, we attended worship at the church, Nuevo Pacto. Ricky Harrison got to read scripture (in English), Kevin McGill introduced the group, the entire group sang “Holiness” accompanied on guitar by Pastor John, and then Pastor John gave the pastoral prayer following the sermon. We had a great time at worship which was this year again inspirational and energy-filled. Pictures: MovingBlocks LayingBlock1 LayingBlock2 LayingBlock3 MovingSand1 MovingSand2 MovingSand3 MovingSand4
Wednesday, July 30
	Breakfast: Potatoes with queso, scrambled eggs, and corn tortillas. As always, fresh salsa. Lunch: Chicken empenadas with fresh salsa Dinner: Spaghetti and meatballs with fresh salsa and chips We had a minor emergency this morning. We had 5 of our youth get a case of diarrhea. Josh and Lauren Goode, T.J. and Carisa Lopez, and Kiernan McGill. They all stayed home from work today (Connie Lopez also stayed behind to tend to the walking wounded. They mostly stayed in bed (and the bathroom) and slept all morning while Connie did calisthenics to make up for not getting to come to the work site. Since we were down to 15 healthy workers, we bypassed the church and all banded together to finish the house. We constructed the largest volcano of the week (13 wheelbarrows of sand) for concrete to pour the floor. David Bailey set the BUMCY record by wheeling every single wheelbarrowful of concrete into the house for Maestro Martin to smooth into a floor. In addition to finishing the floor, we did some minor work on the roof, then started the fire under the tar for the finishing of the roof. By the time we took a Coke break at 11:00am, the tar had liquefied, and we had nothing left to do. We said goodbye to the shade (given to us by the pair of 6 year old trees in the front yard) and returned to the Proyecto Abrigo compound. We got to laze about the rest of the day and were happy to find that our sick workers were mostly back to normal. They were all a little worn out still. We will dedicate the house tomorrow morning, then tour the medical clinic on the church grounds and then drive out to see the location of Proyecto Abrigo’s annex. This new location is appropriately in a neighborhood named John Wesley. We will eat lunch at noon, then Pastor Jose Luis will lead us back to the bridge as we say “goodbye” for another year. Pictures: Roof1 Roof2 Cement1 Cement2 Cement3 Cement4 Cement5 Cement6 Cement7 Cement8 Cement9 Cement9A Knockout1 Knockout2 Knockout3 Knockout4 Apples Sorry
Thursday, July 31
	Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: Off to Lydia Patterson Institute (El Paso) Dedication pictures: <links to pictures>
Friday, August 1 - Drive to Schertz UMC
	Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: Travel/Schertz Pictures: <links to pictures>
Saturday, August 2 - Schlitterbahn - New Braunfels
	Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: <links to pictures>
Sunday, August 3 - Church, then home to BUMC
	Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner:

Packing List Medical Release Form (adult) Medical Release Form (minor)