Thursday thoughts

This is Phil Starr typing with a few thoughts after Thursday's work.

It is hard to believe how amazing this trip is.  Our experience has been that once you go on this mission trip you look at life a lot different.

First thought:  Families

From the very first day you get a sense of family and community.  Arturo and Luce's family, friends and neighbors are at the site working with us and cooking amazing lunches.  We have fun talking to their children.  So far there have not been too many neighborhood children.

Second - Work and have fun at the same time

Our work days are physically challenging. Especially for those of us who sit behind a desk and come from 20-30 degree days - having us work in the 75-85 sunlight.  We use the old phrase - Work hard and play hard.  We joke around with all the workers making the days fly by.

Third - The family:  Arturo and Luce - children April and Melanie -

I took a couple minutes today after lunch and talked to Luce.  The family has been in Tijuana for six years.  Before that they lived in Oregon.  Neither Arturo or Luce had USA papers and had been living in the USA for at least 6 years (we are not how long ).  Both girls were born in the USA and are USA citizens.  One night Arturo was stopped going to work and they asked him for his papers.  Since he didn't have them - he was arrested - he was able to call Luce and let her know that he was arrested.  He had been deported once before so he was jailed two years.  Once he was out of jail - the family moved to Tijuana in this neighborhood near Arturo's mother - who was at the site each day helping to make lunch. Arturo's mother lives very close to where we are working.  All of Luce's family is back in the USA.  She hopes to eventually get the necessary paperwork so she can go back to visit.  The girls had a hard time moving to Tijuana as they knew very little Spanish before they moved here.  This is the struggle with the deportation process - here is an example of a family torn apart and forced to move to keep the family together.  Most importantly these are humans with families not just a statistic.

Final thoughts - Thank you to the college students

I want to say a quick thank-you to our three college students:  Hannah (4th trip), Emily (2nd trip) and Mo (3rd trip).  This is the 8th joint trip with the College of Wooster and Trinity.  They are hard workers and make the trip fun!!!  They have chosen to take one of their spring break weeks and spend it with us working and having fun.

Phil