Thursday

 Thursday Day 5

, or maybe its God relieving us from those distractions, so we have the strength and stamina to keep working hard to serve our sisters and brothers at Ministerio de Vida. Either way, we’re grateful for the seemingly regained youthfulness our bodies are enjoying. 

As she has every day, Omega began our day by nourishing our bodies with fresh papaya, mango, coconut yogurt, and a delicious dish that tasted like chicken enchiladas. We could not have guessed it was a dish to use up leftover tortilla chips. Yum! We arrived at the mission at our regular 9 am start time and marveled at how nicely the first section of concrete turned out. After we had left on Wednesday, the mason put his final touches on the concrete, removing all the blemishes, and leaving it with a perfectly finished surface. With only a day and a half day to wrap up our week’s work, a sense of urgency began to creep in as we all wanted to finish the remaining two sections of concrete and painting on the 2nd floor. But alas, we are on “Mexican time” and as we’ve had to do all week, we are reminded to trust in the slow work of God as we waited for truck to come with the additional rock and sand needed to finish the concrete work. In the meantime, instead of waiting for the truck, we convinced Toby to get more paint so we could continue working on the unfinished section of the 2nd floor. Of course, as Kelly accurately predicted would happen as soon as we started painting, the sand and rock arrived. Kelly and Lacey finished getting a second coat on the south wall, and the rest of the team happily got back to hand mixing cement. We had great faith much could be accomplished and were so happy that, because of the great leadership, abundance of water, strength, and God’s grace, we finished the second and largest section of concrete. With the end in sight, we left the worksite with excitement for the work we accomplished and hopeful confidence in our ability to finish the third and final section concrete the next morning. 

We enjoyed a light dinner of chicken, steak, and cheese quesadillas before we headed out for a glimpse of the “other” side of Cancun…the hotel zone. With six of us, we always have to travel in two vehicles. The second driver who planned to go with us had to cancel, so Louis, our translator, offered to drive Toby’s truck, which has a manual transmission. In addition to being a pastor, Louis works three days at the Wyndham teaching the hotel workers English and leads AA meetings. Although Louis also claimed to know how to drive stick shift, this was obviously not the case the moment he tried starting out in third gear. With many head jerks, stalls, and smells of an unhappy clutch, we made it to the hotel zone, and enjoyed an evening stop at the beach. This glitzy, towering, densely populated part of the city is an extreme contrast to the Cancun we’ve been living in for the past 5 days. While the softly lit palm tree lined streets and glamourous architecture is quite beautiful, this relatively small part of the city of 1 million felt out of place and disconnected from the reality, life, and culture of the “real” Cancun community. If nothing else, the contract makes us realize how much more there is to a city beyond the tourist sections. 

On our way home, we stopped at one of Omega & Jacobo’s favorite street vendor stands and enjoyed marquesitas. These tubular bites of deliciousness are like very thin rolled up waffle cones served warm and filled with any combination of goodness such as Nutella, bananas, strawberries, chocolate, Oreos, caramel, cream cheese, peanut butter, etc.  

As this day comes to an end, we look back and praise God for the ability to do His work in such a tangible, impactful, and memorable way. Today’s Examen sites “Be still and know that I am God.” This is a perfect reminder to put our human desires and expectations aside and put our full faith and trust in Him. I imagine our expectations, needs for clarity or to know the plan, and our idea of what needs to be done likely gives God a good laugh. This trip has given me the peace and freedom to let go of all of that and just be here with a willing heart and open mind to truly be a faithful servant, whatever that may be.