top of page

Working with Juntos Servimos

Pictoral journey through our mission trip.
Sunday, July 14

We got most of our stuff packed on Saturday night at our packing party, but not all of it.  When we arrived on Sunday (at 7am), we had to rearrange some of the packing, finalize a few details with "stuff", and rethink our voyage due to the rain that began coming down just as we got to church.  We finally left church at 8:18am (only 18 minutes behind).

 

The rain that wasn't suppose to follow us did indeed follow us.  We finally escaped its clutches just south of Waco.  We had overcast, but dry driving the rest of the way to Los Fresnos.

 

We were greeted at Los Fresnos UMC by David Lipes' parents, who let us in and showed us our temporary home - fully equipped kitchen, 2 showers in each bathroom, and plenty of floor space in the Fellowship center.  The Lipes even have a room named in honor of them.

Monday, July 15

Destruction and Construction at Iglesia Cristiana Ebenezer.  The pictures of the covered walkway illustrate our destructive nature.  This walkway kept people dry, until they got to the left side (the yellow building) where all the water was deposited.  We also are building benches to be used in a Matamoros facility which cares for people who are disabled and abandoned. Once finished with the demolition project, we began replacing the facing on the roof eaves to help prevent further rotting from exposure to rain runoff.  We were also able to paint some old pews that had been recovered from an aging church.  Keaton injured himself requiring 5 stitches in his leg.  He got out of work, but also out of the trip to the Schlitterbahn on Friday.

Tuesday, July 16

Larry Cox let the girls who are building the first bench pick out its color.  They made me proud and picked purple.  We continued our work on the eaves and the bench.  We stripped away a section of rotten siding that we will replace during our stay.  We have been getting a lot of help from a several local youth.  One of the pictures in the series is of Alfredo and Cesar.

 

We spend our evenings back at our host church, Los Fresnos UMC.  In the "It's a Small World" category, this the the home church for our own Dr. David Lipe's mother and father.  The Lipe family even has a room named in their honor.  Our evening pastimes are sleeping and cards.

Wednesday, July 17

Woke up to heavy rain.  We got over to the church and decided that we would be better off waiting until after lunch to try to work.  Back at the LFUMC, we lazed around, ate lunch, and got the brisket smoking.

 

After lunch, we returned to the work site and continued work on the bench, as well as beginning  some work on painting medallions that will be used at a fund raising walk next year.  Our crew with Tony, John, and Luke also continued work on the eaves.

 

After our traditional smoked brisket dinner, we went to South Padre Island to visit the beach.  It was a wonderful evening, cool and breezy.  The youth and Kevin went out into the ocean while the other adults and Keaton gathered shells and wandered along the beach.

Thursday, July 18

This is our last work day with Juntos Servimos, and the weather is holding for us so far.  We hope to be able to put in a complete day and not be interrupted by the rain.

 

Work is much the same today as yesterday.  Still making benches, still working on the eaves, and continuing painting work on the medallions.

 

Real pictures will be coming later, but for now enjoy these beautiful pictures of plants.  :-) 

bottom of page