Friday, June 21, 2013

Mexico Trip, June 25 – July 2, 2013, Pre-trip message…

Dear friends and family…

It has been a little over a year since many of you have heard about one of my trips. And for some of you this is the first time. As with all of my other trips…if you would rather not receive my daily updates please let me know and I will remove your name from my distribution list. Also, if you have a different email address that you would like me to use let me know that as well.

What have I been up to?

For the last year I have been working at LexisNexis as a Sr. Project Manager. It has been a great opportunity to work with a great team and on some very interesting projects. Laura and I have been pretty busy with our church and family activities and adjusting back into the corporate life. Life has been good, I hit the 60 year mark this year, and two more grandchildren are on the way this late summer and early fall.

Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage


About a year ago I found about Project Mexico. Project Mexico performs works of mercy and helps others do works of mercy in the name of Jesus Christ, transcending cultural barriers by building homes for the poor in Mexico and by providing a home for orphaned boys through St. Innocent Orphanage. This will be their 25th year of operation.

St. Innocent Orphanage is located near Rosarito, Mexico on a beautiful 16-acre ranch. In 1996, they were very fortunate to obtain an old horse ranch, which through the generous help of many volunteers has been turned into a home for abandoned and abused boys. St. Innocent Orphanage seeks to surpass the basic needs of their youngsters and provide them with spiritual direction, public education enhanced by private tutoring, athletics, extra-curricular activities and most importantly, tremendous amounts of love from all of the staff and volunteers. Providing such a supportive and well-rounded program allows the boys to develop bright futures out of difficult pasts.

All of the boys are truly orphaned which means that their parents died, they were removed from their home by social services or they ran away from home due to abuse. Without a program like St. Innocent Orphanage dedicated to providing for teenage boys, the boys would likely be involved in some of the worst aspects of Tijuana’s society including child prostitution and trafficking, theft, drug abuse, and illegal border crossing.

Upcoming Trip

For those of you who know me, I cannot pass up an opportunity to serve with an organization like this one. I started working within our church and we have been able to build a team of 8 that will be leaving on Tuesday to spend a week helping build homes and spend time with these precious boys. We will be joining up with about another 150 people from across the country and are hoping to build 9 homes while there. We will be camping on the orphanage grounds and traveling back and forth to the work sites. Our church was awesome and helped us to raise all of our support.

What now?

As with all of my other trips I will be attempting to send out daily updates. We want each of you to be a part of our team in Mexico. If you will send your prayers and thoughts our way it will do wonders for us while working in this different environment. We have spent a lot of time preparing and training and now we have the opportunity to roll up our sleeves and put it all to work.

What our trip will look like

Arrival Day...



Welcome to St. Innocent Orphanage!  At the "ranch" everyone will set up a tent and get acquainted with our boys.

Build Day 1...

  
Let construction orientation begin! Today, each group will meet the family they will be building for and pour the foundation of the house.

Build Day 2...

  
Grab a hammer! Today is framing day and the house will begin to take shape. Then head back to the ranch and take a bucket shower. Although rustic, getting cleaned up has never felt so good!

Build Day 3...

  
Today the house will be wrapped and readied for stuccoing. The roof, windows, and door will also be installed. Some stucco may be mixed as well!

Build Day 4...



Stucco, house blessing, and good byes make for a beautiful, bittersweet day. The keys are handed over to a very happy and grateful family.

Sunday at St. Innocent's...

  
Experience the Divine Liturgy in Spanish!  Recently, a pavilion was built on the grounds of the orphanage so that participants and the boys could have enough room to worship together. Afterwards, join in for a Sports Extravaganza with the boys!

Conclusion

If you would like to get more information on Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage you can check them out at http://projectmexico.org/Home.aspx.

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. 

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