Work Day #1 Monday

Friends and followers of the Trinity UCC and College of Wooster Mission trip,

Our first day of work took us out near Rosarito, which is a resort town on the Pacific Ocean.  We were in a rural area just east of the active part of the city.  From the hill where our work began, we could see the Ocean.  We began as we always do when working with Esperanza, by meeting the family and making introductions.  The woman who is to own the house was not there but many people from the organization were there to help.  Many of them already had houses built and were there to help other members of the colonia build theirs.

Our task for the day was to dig footer for the house.  We began by moving a large stack of pre-made cinder blocks from the site to a place at the back of the lot where they can be retrieved when they get to that part of the process.  As is the case with many of the home that we build, there was a house on the lot at one point before.  As we began to dig, we pulled out many items from the old house including cement footer with rebar in it and wooden posts that were cemented in fairly deeply.  The soil was the same as many other places in this area, with many large rocks that needed to be jackhammered by one of our crew members.

All of our workers jumped in and worked until 1 pm before a meal was served which had been prepared by the Colonia crew.  They prepared a beef mole' with beans and rice.  Beans.  Not re-fried beans.  They also offered a vegetarian option with a mix of garbanzo beans, hominy and yellow peppers.  It was a good lunch.

The Jackhammer crew spent most of the day breaking up a cement floor and large rocks that were uncovered as the shovel and pick crews uncovered them.  We lacked buckets on the site, so we had to use a wheelbarrow and others had to carry large rocks over to a discard pile in the neighboring yard.  Several dogs watched these activities with interest.  It seems as though most homeowners all have one or two dogs.

After we called it a day of work, we returned to the Posada to freshen up before having our dinner at the local La Gloria Taco Stand which is a mission trip favorite.  Our plan is to have an educational experience after each work day, but Monday is our day off.  On Tuesday after work, we are going to cook and serve a meal for a local poverty shelter.

We closed out the day with a circle process where we shared how we are doing, what was our best discovery of the day and when was the first time that we can remember being involved in service,  We discovered that we all had someone who invited us and led us in an activity that gave us a different perspective on life.

Thank you for following our blog and remember to check back daily for updates on our trip!

Rev. Dr. Kevan S. Franklin
Pastor, Trinity UCC