July 18, 2005 – Monclova, Mexico
-Wow, today was our first day of work and it was long and hard. I enjoyed it very much though. Once we arrived at the worksite we sang a few songs and then had breakfast, it consisted of Cereal and fruit. Once we were done we started out by moving a couple hundred cinder blocks (heavy cement bricks) up a wooden ramp to the roof of the church so we could build walls for a second story. We created a line and passed the blocks one by one but I was a place where I had to toss the bricks. Spencer, a 19 yr old college student from Las Cruces, had to catch them. It was hard on both of us. I was almost completely drenched in sweat within an hour. I liked having a hard job though. For most of the day I worked with Spencer, he’s a hard worker and the two of us worked well together. I was able to do almost everything there was to do, just not for the whole day. The last thing I did was lay cinder block with a Hispanic man named Won, (not sure if that’s how you spell it). I was also able to interact with 2 younger children who seemed to like me of think I was funny looking or something because everything I came around they smiled widely at me as if anticipating something. Once on top of the first story I could see a good distance because very few buildings in Monclova are above 2 stories. Most of the houses are made of these big cement bricks we were using and the houses are built out of the hard working hands that live in them. The local women made lunch for us. Everyone put 25$ on a pot that covered our breakfast and lunch. Our breakfast was in every way American but the lunch we had was nothing short of good, original Mexican food which I enjoyed very much, I just didn’t want to know what was in it. After we were done working at the end of the day the little Mexican children were singing in the church. I leaned my dirty sweaty self up against a doorway and listened to them, the whole situation was so surreal and for that brief little while I felt good about whom I was. Sadly the writing I do can never do my experiences justice. Children are so innocent and some of the greatest blessing we’ll ever have. The only thing that lingers in my mind when I’m alone is that I wish we could help everyone, not just people who have the same belief as we. The way I see it, whether or not you believe in something shouldn’t determine how much you are helped. Then again, I’m sure I’m a pretty arrogant person and what we are building is a church and a church can help people in a way that I never can. My alarm is set for 5:45am so I’m out.
|
