Dedication Day

Well, we finished the house! In the morning we did finishing touches - bought bunk beds, moved everything into the home from her previous house, cleaned up garbage, leveled the yard, planted two trees, put the outhouse on the very deep hole (over 6 feet), and bought some lovely flowers to decorate her table. It was a very special day.

We had a wonderful dedication day with our friends in the community, and Erma's crew. We sang Spanish songs, read scripture and had small speeches to each other. Our bilingual friends translated and so we were able to speak with Reyna and her family. Minna gave her a prayer shawl she had made, which was lovely. We showered them with clothes, rice, beans, and everything we could.

Other special parts of the day were that the ladies got to go and visit Mama Espinosa, who is a 102 year old lady who has been serving the poor for years. She is amazingly quick witted still. The only thing is that she is a little hard of hearing. Wow. She's really amazing. She told us some great stories.

In the evening we all went out as a big group for supper, and had a great visit. What a wonderful week this has been. We're all very sad to leave. God has been so good to us. He has blessed us so that we are able to bless others. I really hope I can come back with another group soon. There is so much need, and yet God is so faithful to provide. God is good!

House completion

We are finished the house!!! Today was a unique day. We all went again in the morning to the building site, and started the last finishing touches. I spent a few minutes with the kids, and then got to work on the house. I got to paint some trim under the edges of the roof and try out lots of creative positions – laying on the roof hanging over the edge (and got my clothes all tarred up from that); then auntie Minna helped me use a long ladder to get up underneath the roof edge by steadying it and moving it when it was time, and it went twice as fast for the second coat. The men built partitions on the inside of the house so that there are two bedrooms, and one big open living area. We painted the walls, hung the door, put the finishing touches on the window edgings and the outer walls, and finished all the basics on the house.

This afternoon, most of us women went on an outreach with Erma to a needy community. It was fun. We had about 8 people in the 11-seater van on the way to the outreach, and picked up 3 more loads of people until we had 29 in the van! It was quite something. Thank goodness about half of them were little kids!

At the outreach there were a few Bible classes for the kids, and then they came out for their meal. It consisted of a cup of milk, a spoonful of peanut butter, a tortilla, and a cup of soup. They all seemed pretty happy with their meals! They also got toys and picture cards with Bible verses on them. I bet there were 150 to 200 people there this afternoon. Erma and her crew do this outreach faithfully every Thursday. It’s pretty amazing what they do. They passed out shoes today, and sometimes they pass out clothes too. They just give and give as much as they can! What a great example of the love of Christ at work in this world!
Tomorrow we’re going to get it all set up on the inside with bunk beds, curtains, shelves, etc. We’re doing the landscaping, putting the outhouse over the hole, cleaning up garbage, etc. I’m not sure what the whole day will consist of, but I’m sure it will be good. In the late morning, we are going on an outreach, which should be fun. The dedication is at 4 pm, and we have lots of gifts to shower on them, so we’re pretty excited about it all! It’s really been a wonderful week!

Roofing and interior

It rained and poured last night! This morning there was some apprehension over what we would find at the building site – wet mattresses, soggy insulation, etc. My apprehension was how I was going to play on the muddy ground with lots of children.
Just FYI, our build site is south of San Quintin on the Baja peninsula of Mexico. Our family is composed of four people: Reyna (32), Miriam (14), Monserrat Itzel (12), Erobiel Geovani (11), and Dulce (7). It’s been fun to get to know them as the week has gone on.

Today in the construction zone we finished the roof: put the boards on, tar and two layers of roofing. Inside we put the drywall on and finished one coat of bright green paint.

Mom stayed home and made some beautiful curtains for a Church near our house that had had the old ones stolen recently. They are orange and sparkly and sheer. I think they’ll fit in really well here in Mexico. She also made some cookies and fresh muffins which were lovely to come home to!

We have a Mexican cook for our suppertime meals, and she makes wonderful food and lots of it!!! We could probably feed 3 to 4 times as many people with the food we get every day. So, we’ve been feeding last night’s leftovers to our neighbour kids and families at the construction site. It’s nice to be able to give away our extras and know that they are appreciated!

Tonight was another Church service. It was great again, mostly in Spanish, but translated into English for us. Pretty awesome. Mike played some special music for the offering. He actually played my favourite song of his… one he wrote just after Bible school. It’s called “Here I am”, and it really speaks to me. I’m so glad he played that one.

We’re all pretty tired again today. I have quite a sore back and shoulders from kids being on my back a lot, so today I mostly banned that. I’m just too sore. We played other games, like hide and seek, football, and a new game for me: wolf. I don’t totally understand it, but it starts out with a version of ring around the rosie, and you sing a song, then ask the wolf a question, and if he answers yes, the wolf chases us. The first person who is caught is the next wolf. It was fun. I continue to enjoy learning bits of Spanish: a globo (balloon), libre des colores (colouring book), buertes (airplane ride), capuchi (piggy back ride), no entiendo (I don’t understand). I use the last one a lot! Anyway, it’s been fun, and it’s always good to see how much work gets done in one day!

Day #4: Small update

It's getting late, so I'm just going to do a really brief update with no pictures today. I added some new ones to facebook if you want to check that out!
Today was quite similar to yesterday - we had a lovely pancake breakfast and were on the road by 8 am. FYI, the sun gets up here at 6 am and goes down at 6 pm. I quite like it.
I again spent the day with children, so I'm going to have to get someone else to really update you on the house building part. The kids and I had airplane rides, piggy backs and shoulder rides until I was exhausted! I was worried about not training for my marathon this week - I sure shouldn't have, because I'm definitely getting my exercise! The kids wanted the "ballon" I had promised them, so I went into town to get some supplies to entertain the kids with when the ladies went in to buy 5 single mattresses. We're going to build them some bunk beds so they have more room. We're quite excited about making this a lovely live-able home for them.
I stocked up on paints, markers, crayons, colouring books, stickers, balls, animal cookies, and anything I could think of that would keep kids entertained. We had a great time playing soccer with our new ball until it went kaput after an hour or so from being sliced by barbed wire! There's so much of it everywhere, it's hard to avoid!
As far as the house went, we got the windows installed, the walls insulated, and the rafters for the roof up. Maybe they're called braces, I don't know. As I said, I'll have to get others to update you better on that end of things. We got a few of the sheets of OSB up on the roof too. The new outhouse was delivered today, so we painted that red, dug the hole a bit deeper and got everything ready for a much needed new outhouse! The old one stinks to high heaven, and I'm not exaggerating!
The lady of the house brought us some gigantic strawberries from her job in the fields, which we enjoyed tonight with some ice cream. Again, it's been a great day and good evening, and we're all sore and ready for bed! It's now raining pretty hard, so hopefully it will let up before morning. Good night!

Day 3: First day of the build

Feb 8th/10

We started off our day with an early big breakfast, and got on the road around 8:30 am. It’s about a half hour to 45-minute drive south through two other towns to the construction site.

All of our materials were there waiting for us on our cement pad. We cleared it all and readied the pad for the build. The men built the walls, put the siding on, and the women painted the walls red before they were raised. The house is quite red. It reminds me of Clifford the red dog from my grade 2 readers. The kids will not have a hard time finding their house! It was a day full of sun, hard work, and enjoyment, but I really didn’t do much of the building bit.

I ended up being the entertainer for the community children most of the day, until I had to have a nap out of sheer exhaustion in the afternoon! Those kids play hard! We played tag, piggy-back, duck-duck-goose, and then we had to get creative. We played with blocks that were cut off the ends of the planks, built houses and towers with the blocks, played a makeshift version of jenga, and made domino lines. I blew up a yellow rubber glove to be a big balloon and tied it with a hair tie to play hot potato, however it didn’t last very long. A nice guy went and bought us a big blue (“azule” in Spanish) ball, and we played soccer, hot potato, and chase. The ball kept flying away in the wind into people’s yards, and being sliced by the barbed wire fence, so I had to patch it with some electrical tape a few times. It finally gave out completely, but we had fun! They taught me lots of Spanish words, which was wonderful, and hopefully I can remember them tomorrow. The kids were very entertained by my camera and took many pictures! I tried to speak my broken Spanish to them, and they laughed at me a lot. At one point I heard them calling me a “loco gringo”, which they probably thought I didn’t understand. However, I know that means “crazy white person”. I’m sure I fit that description well! ☺

We got back home at 6 pm, quite exhausted and smelly. We had an exquisite homemade Mexican meal of corn enchiladas and lots of toppings, and we all enjoyed our showers! It’s a beautiful evening, the crickets are singing, and we’re all relaxing after a long day. What a great end to day 1! I’m sure we’ll all be going to bed pretty soon!

Other things of note: It’s only 65 cents/litre for gas here in Mexico! The weather today was wonderful and warm, and we got a little sunburnt, but not so much that we’re hurting. It’s been lovely.

Day 2: The trip to Mexico

Feb 7th, 2010

We got up, had an early breakfast and were on the road by 8 am. Then our adventure really began.

We started off the day at 8 am to drive through the border for our trip to Mexico. We have a van and an SUV that are traveling together, and we thought it would take a while to get through the border to Mexico, and assumed there would be somewhere to pull over once we got through, just to regroup, get visas and plan the trip. We were wrong on both counts.

So, our van went ahead a ways and lost the SUV. Uncle Lou and Uncle Brian have walkie-talkies (which I think is really amusing, but also really smart), and tried to use them to find each other, but we were out of range. Dad was driving so we were trying to figure out how to use his blackberry to text the other vehicle, which was quite challenging. His phone is somewhat complicated. Anyway, we finally got in touch with Kevin's SUV, and they had turned around to go back to San Diego to get visas because we had missed the place to get them (it turns out none of us ended up getting any visas because it was closed on Sunday), and were in a big long line up to get back through the border into the USA. They ended up detouring about an hour.

Meanwhile, we in the van were trying to use a GPS to get on the right road, but it was definitely leading us astray. We finally asked directions from a lady who spoke English, and got back on track. It really was quite an adventurous start to the day. None of us really know what's going on completely. It’s definitely an adventure, and we know God will be with us!

The two vehicles met up at Costco in Ensenada – and the SUV actually beat us! Our van had stopped at a tourist information centre, and definitely took a few wrong turns, so the SUV had time to catch up with us and beat us by 30 seconds. One of my favourite parts of the day was shopping in Costco with all of our relatives. We ended up with two cart-loads full of a lot of food. I'm actually amazed the shopping went as smoothly as it did. I'm sure we're going to have a lot of leftovers, but there are many people here who we can give them to, so that's fine. Grandma would have definitely filled every available inch with bags of rice and beans to give away if she could! We were pretty packed though. As a side note, I was really amazed that the Costco seemed pretty much exactly like our Costco’s at home, except for the Spanish and prices in pesos! They had lots of food sampling too! ☺

The road was actually quite good down to Vincente Guerrero, but there were a few bridge washouts. One of them we think will take years to repair. The rains from a few weeks ago certainly caused a lot of damage and wiped out some fields.

We reached Vincente Guerrero in the afternoon, with very few mishaps, and a lot of laughter. It's fun being in the van with 10 other Roste family members. Keeps you entertained!

We went to a good Church service tonight with Spanish music and a great sermon. It was almost 2 hours long, but we really enjoyed it in spite of the fatigue from traveling. There were hundreds of people - maybe close to a thousand! It was nice that they translated the sermon into English in our headsets, so we didn’t feel totally out of the loop. Some of the worship songs were familiar, so I’d just sing the English words that I knew, as they sang Spanish. There were some lovely young Mexican dancers with tambourines and matching dresses at the front, who had choreographed dances to go along with each song. The service included a dedication, lots of special music, singing, prayer, etc. It was a lovely service, I must say.

Traveling again...

Feb 6, 2010
Our Ed Roste clan left home at 4 am Saturday morning for the airport, got some Timmy’s and had a fairly smooth trip to San Diego. We all got checked for drugs or explosives at some point: they checked my bag, Mike’s hands and pockets, Mom’s clothes,… I think Dad got through okay though. We got pulled aside into a secondary screening room when we were in Vancouver (we must have looked a little sketchy), or else we just won the “lottery”, and had our bags checked through an extra baggage screening place. We were a little worried that our bags wouldn’t make it to our next flight since we only had half an hour until we left once our screening was over, but again, we were just fine.

We were met by Lou and Brian at the airport, and got our first look at the lovely tan brown 11 seater van we would spend the next week using in Mexico. It’s fairly old, I’m assuming, because it only has a tape cassette player, but it’s in good shape. Thank goodness the floor is lined with plastic matting, so it will be easy to clean in the end!

We went to Walmart for quite some time to stock up on last minute items we needed. Then we had an impromptu tour of San Diego in the vehicle, and finally made it back to the hotel for naps and lunch at 3:30 pm. I for one, was exhausted and starving, but it’s amazing what a little food and coffee does to perk you up.

We went out for a lovely dinner at Antonios Seafood Grotto on the wharf. We watched a cruise ship leave for their week, and had a delicious, melt in your mouth seafood meal. It was a great start to the week. We all hit the hay pretty early that night, ready for an early morning start.

How then shall we live?

This morning I am wide awake with little to do, so blogging seems like the right choice. I got up early this morning (5:15) and read my Bible as I exercised which I try to do before work, then showered, dressed and heard my phone ring at 6:15... they cancelled my work shift. Oh well. I could be annoyed, but whatever. I always find it nice to have a day off when I wasn't expecting it or planning for it. It means that I have all this free time that I haven't already filled with things from my to do list.

2010 has been a good year so far. Last week it was great to see a lot of my dear friend Laura for various showers before her wedding. I had really missed her in the fall, since we were both quite busy with our separate lives. God has given me a great gift in her friendship, as He has in the friendships of many others. I am very blessed.

Laura's Grandma Cole died over the Christmas season, and I was able to go to the funeral. I was impacted by what was said about her life. Everyone used these two words to describe her: "sweet" and "joyful". I certainly noticed that about Grandma Cole, and I knew her only a very little. She apparently would share her faith with many people she met on the bus or wherever she was. One person said that it would take a stadium to hold all the people she has impacted in one way or another. Her funeral was a real celebration of her life, and it got me to thinking about what I want to be said of me when I die someday. I want to be a person who is joyful in all circumstances, a person who loves deeply and completely, someone who people want to be around. Most of all, I want to be someone who shares my love for God with the world around me. God, help me to not allow fear to stop me from living life the way you want me to. Help me to live a life of love and service in whatever capacity you have for me.

I made another wedding cake last week, which was a lot of fun. It turned out better than I'd hoped. I was so thankful for the help of my sister Breanna and some dear friends, Stacie and Paul. I got a lot of compliments on it, and quite a few people said I should start my own business. That is really not appealing to me at all. I know God has given me artistic giftings, but I love to use them to bless people who are special to me. That is a big way that I show my love for others - in giving gifts of service or gifts that tangibly express my love.

Laura and Darcy's wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was simple, and worshipful. Laura's brother-in-law Marcus spoke very well about marriage and the roles of husband and wife. Everything from the ceremony, to the cafe after the service, to the reception and dance, was a great celebration of love and marriage. Of course it can be hard sometimes as a single woman to attend weddings because it more acutely reminds you of the absence of love and marriage in your own life, but I know God is faithful, and has a plan for my life.

Today I read something on Crosswalk.com that I really agree with. It's titled "The Smaller You Get, The Freer You Will Be". It intrigued me. Sometimes I can feel very small and insignificant and alone... especially this past year. I like how the author says that "nothing makes you more aware of your smallness than pain and hardship". Life is not all about becoming a "better you" like the world would have us believe. G.K. Chesterton says it well: "how much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it."

I like this one too: "Our supreme need, our only need, is to know God, the living God, and the power of his might. We need nothing else." (Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones) Oh God, how I want and need to know more of you! You are my only hope, my anchor in the storms of life! I really do have a longing to know the Lord, more than I ever have before. Teach me Lord! Help me to know you so deeply and intimately!

Life certainly has its ups and downs, various seasons, a time for life and a time for death, periods of sweet love and desperate loneliness, and in the midst of all of this, how shall I live? I shall live my life to the fullest for my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, abandoned to His purposes above all else!