one last YIM post

Hello all,

Today is our last full day in El Paso. We are going to a local water park (which is actually on the border with New Mexico) with some of the youth from First church, some of the Tooley and Carney families, our friend Fabiola and her family from Juarez, and our friend Luis from Juarez.

VBS at Trinity Church went well. We had maybe 10 kids altogether, and I usually had 4 in my 7 and up age group. The first night I only had Allison and Krystal, and Krystal didn't want to do the motions for the songs. I tried to get her to do them, but she refused, so I relented as long as she sang. The next night, she was doing the motions. :D

Wednesday we volunteered at the Rescue Mission again, and it was nice to see familiar faces again, and to say hi to people that we remembered.

Thursday during the day we went to the Juarez Market with the Tooley family to buy souvenirs. As we drove around and I looked out the window, I tried to take it all in again. I'll definitely miss being there (I already do), even though being there was tough at times.

Friday morning we went to the little El Paso Zoo with the Tooleys and Sanchez family. That evening was our last night of VBS at Trinity, and boy were those kids wired.

On Saturday we spent some time with Pastor Charlie and his daughter Lanee, and Stephanie from Trinity Church. In the afternoon we went to Norlyn and Bobbie Brough's house. Norlyn and Bobbie had actually been missionaries in Nicaragua and Mexico too I think.

In the evening we went to the church softball games. Rachel and Angela played on the women's team, and scored two runs altogether. It was fun to watch the games and talk to our friends, since we hadn't been to any of their softball games. Betty told Rachel and Angela that we weren't leaving, that we had to stay and play softball (the
team isn't the greatest but they have fun). Afterwards, we went out to IHOP with Sara, Daniela, Esmeralda, and 3 of Esme's friends from school.

Sunday we attended service at Trinity Church. It had maybe 20 people there, including ourselves. There was a family of 3 there, and the daughter had been at VBS. I hear that her parents had been looking for someplace to go to church, and if that's the case, that's really cool that they came on Sunday. In the evening, we had the VBS closing, including the kids singing the songs, a brinca-brinca (moon bounce), facepainting, balloon animal-making, and food. When Barb (Charlie's wife) presented all the leaders with thank-you gifts, she said that we had really been a blessing and encouragement to them.

That evening the Tooley family presented our team with gifts, including sombreros for each of us. We have no choice but to wear them during our flights to Kansas City and home, because there's no way we can pack them. :D

Monday we went with Pastor Fred to the New Mexico district campground, Bonita Park. It is located near Ruidoso, NM, about 2 hours north of El Paso. It was awesome up there...we hiked, went swimming, and walked around the campground a bit. It was a lot different climate-wise from El Paso; I'd say it was 80 something degrees out,
and there were lots of pine trees, and we were in the mountains more. Pastor Fred took us to Bonito Lake, just around the corner, so we walked around there, took pictures, skipped rocks, and climbed on some of the rocks.

Tuesday Norlyn and Bobbie Brough took us to White Sands, NM, and the sand dunes that are there. We had a great time with them, sledding down the dunes and sometimes attempting to surf down them. At times it reminded me of the time I went sledding in Maine. :)

I will definitely miss being here, as these people and this place have become my home for the past two months. We have felt very welcome, and have felt the "Mi casa es su casa" hospitality.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. This trip was great, and slowly but surely I will process all that it has meant for me. :)