After breakfast, we heated to Nations Church. We participated in worship and went to a room for the sermon and had someone translate for us. After church, Ivana gave us a tour of the church and classroom.
We came back to Esperanza Viva for pictures, changed clothes, and headed to Cholula. We stopped and had lunch outdoors at a restaurant. Afterwards, we visited a landmark church, located a top a steep hill. On our way down we stopped by a square and saw some performers “voladores de Papantla”. At one point four men with rope tied to one ankle were swinging upside down from a platform over 30 feet in the air!
We ended the day with a devotional back at Esperanza Viva.
Day Four: Monday Jan. 14
After breakfast and devotional, our work projects kicked off today. Dean, Juan and Tim started the process of reupholstering bus seat. Paul, Brook, Kris, Ann, Andrew, and Carl removed donated items from storage so that Gail, Craig and Jon could take detailed inventory. Esperanza Viva will soon be building a new community center and they need to know what they have on hand.
After work projects, we were able to have lunch and spend the rest of the day with the children. We all played volleyball as a large group. Later, we split into smaller groups and the ladies painted nails and taught the older girls hoe to knit scarves. At the same time, the guys played basketball and led by Jon learned how to play hacky sack.
Day Five: Tuesday Jan 15
Our work projects resumed following breakfast and devotional. Half of the group took items out of the warehouses to inventory them, while the other half continued to work on reupholstering the bus seats.
In the afternoon, we had craft time with the kids (huge thanks to Kris for planning them!) the girls made butterflies while the boys made paper airplanes. Some girls made an airplane after they were finished with their butterflies. Once all the airplanes were finished, the kids lined up outside for a contest to see whose plane flew the farthest.
After crafts, we had a powerful worship service with the staff. We were able to pray for staff and have staff pray for us. It was memorable how passionate the staff are in prayer and worship.
We ended the night with a familiar dinner – hot dogs – and a meeting about partnering with E.V. whether it is child sponsorship, missionary sponsorship, educational sponsorship, or the building fund, there are many ways to support the mission of E.V.
Day Six: Wednesday Jan 16
Our group decided to have breakfast and devotional an hour early today in order to get more work done.
After work projects and lunch, we had a “sport day” with the children. We played soccer with a large group and played basketball and hacky sack with smaller groups.
After our dinner we had a staff devotional with David and Sandra. David preached on the Martha and Mary story in the Gospels.
Day Seven: Thursday Jan 17
Today we wrapped up our work projects. The inventory project was completed and we had time to clean out and organize the maintenance room. The reupholstery project for the bus was also completed.
After lunch, we had craft time with the kids. Half of the kids were given crayons and coloring book while the other half made hex nut bracelets. The boys also put together two small teams for yet another soccer match.
We had another tread for dinner tonight - hamburgers – then we had a movie night with the kids. We watched “The Perfect Game” and made dozens of bags of popcorn.
Day Eight: Friday Jan 18
Today we had the opportunity to go shopping at a market in Puebla. There were dozens of shops and thousands of items to choose from. Afterwards we had lunch at Vips, a restaurant with food from several different nationalities.
We returned back to E.V. around 4 and had a farewell party with the children. We had snacks, played games, and the children prayed for us. We ate dinner with the kids and received many hugs and thanks before leaving.
We are all amazed at how fast this week passed as we are headed home tomorrow morning. The entire CrossWay team is excited about what God is doing at E.V. in Puebla, Mexico and how our lives are forever changed because of them.
“The CrossWay Team”
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