Boarding Passes
Good morning! Just a quick note.
We are currently cleaning and packing because we leave for Mexico City in a couple of hours. We are going to have a brief blessing of the soccer field at 9:30 and then we are off. We are definitely going to miss IPODERAC.
We will be staying in the seminary. From my understanding there are no classes so we will probably be staying in another dorm style room. I know it’s a seminary and all, but I am not sure what kind of internet access we will have while there so if there is a big gap in the posts that is why.
More comments please.
Later from Mexico City (I hope I don’t get the “Death Seat” again.)
Read comments (1)Hi!!! It’s Sheri…finally… I have been having such an amazing time with the youth..the Ipoderac boys and your youth that it is hard to find time to sit and JUST write…
Ipoderac is a place filled with life…spilling out everywhere and the days & nights are flying by at an incredible pace. It has me thinking about the Kingdom of God being like a mustard seed…that passage found in Mark 4…this whole idea that many of us have when we think all that we do has to be done in a BIG way. Riches and power and influence are not so much the tools our God uses to bring God’s kingdom to earth. We may at times get the idea that God too works in big dramatic ways but then Jesus had that passage that said the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed and I think here at Ipoderac we have experienced that….
I think the signs of God’s kingdom can be so small they almost go unnoticed. Almost. I have seen hard work, kind words, helping hands, incredibly funny events, disbelief, nervousness, compassion, annoyance, fabulous conversations, incredible amounts of food being consumed, angry internal organs, dancing in the rain, nervous goats (no worries, your offspring will not be going into professional goat milking any time soon) spanish being used, spanish improving, and cross cultural exchange like you have never seen! I know Christ is present here within us and among us planting seeds all over the place bringing God’s Kingdom to this place and adding up to what Scott M and Chris D have coined…Work Trip Magic!
Someone once said to me as I was preparing to come home from one of these mission trips, “Don’t think you were here for a vacation, Read the rest of this entry »
Hi all,
Another late night. This was our last full day here in IPODERAC. We woke and headed into Puebla to see the sights. In Puebla we visited a couple of cathedrals. They were pretty amazing. Paco gave a us a great tour and explained in great detail the Pueblan history. The first church we looked at was 400 years old (many of our kids are amazed that a church is older than the US…as am I.) Read the rest of this entry »
This is Britt. Were doing lots of neat and invigorating activities here. Its fun. Right now Im watching popcorn pop, probably the most exiting thing yet. Chopping plants down with the machetes was pretty boring compared to this.
Right now my hair smells like chiles. I’m enjoying it quite a bit. Its from the chile flavored shampoo. Im pretty sure we need to import some when I get home.
Oh yeah I bought a poncho. Just like Clint Eastwood. And a wrestler action figure.
We’ve been working hard though.
Hi all,
It is Cass. Today we went in to Puebla. We saw some gorgeous cathedrals and did plenty of shopping. (Mom…I got you your pottery!) -but I am all out of money. So if you could just bring some money with you to the airport, that would be great! Gracias, hope all is well
Lotsa love, Cass
Hi this is Cole, your teenager who never informs you. We finished up the soccer field a couple days ago and it looks great. Sunday we are leaving for Mexico City and it should be fun. I miss you and I’ll see you on Wednesday.
Love, Cole
Happy 4th of July!
Today we started working in our usual work groups. Mine was cursed again with house chores. However, I have figured out two ways to get them to work. I made a giant list on the inside of a Frosted Flakes box of what had to be done. To my surprise it worked, Marshall says it is because they have short attention spans and need to be frequently reminded of what needs to be done. I was very proud of them, in fact they told me that I didn’t need to do anything. Of course I had to gently nudge the work along.
The other way is to add music. On our trip to the water park the boys had a fun Mexican dance CD playing on the bus. Edgar (one of the IPODERAC helpers) loaned me the CD, I put it on my iPod and we had a dish washing dance party. I made my entire group hang out in the kitchen (even those not working) and work. Two were washing one was rinsing and the rest were drying. Hadley was in charge of flicking the light on and off like a strobe light. I was very happy that not only did Katie and I not have to push them to work but they worked quickly AND we had a huge amount of fun. The kitchens are way too small for the number of people we had dancing in them. It was fun.
IPODERAC threw us a Fourth of July celebration. They brought in a DJ and some crazy appetizers; cucumbers on a stick, jicama on a stick, mango on a stick, (a lot of “on a stick” foods) popcorn and giant chicharrones (pork rinds…they looked a little like big flat waffle cones and a lot of the kids took to the chicharrones right away without knowing what they were…they few that found out weren’t quite as gung ho about them afterwards.) Our kids and the IPODERAC boys hung out and played all sorts of games together. For dinner we cooked the entire compound the all American hot dog and potato chip. We ate in our work groups in the IPODERAC boy’s houses. My group ate in the oldest boys house and I hope that one of them will talk about their experience.
After dinner we closed with our regular devotion and we asked them all for a little earlier evening to bed. I guess a half hour is technically a little earlier. Good night.
Greetings from IPODERAC! This is Joe McManus and Katelyn McArdle…Hi Mom(s)! Hi Dad(s)!
Yesterday we brought the boys from Ipoderac to Aqua Paraiso - a ridiculously awesome water park in Puebla. It’s situated at the base of a heavily-forested mountain and is complete with several raging water slides and a soundtrack of America’s favorite hits from the seventies. It was so cool! Before we departed, we made, uh…about two hundred tortas to eat at lunch, which are tasty eggs and bean sandwiches (they’re especially good for making in college, when budgets are tight!). An embarrassing amount of us will also remember the day as the day we got a trademark Mexican sunburn! (“Totally worth it, though,” says Katelyn.). Many of us began exercising our Spanish skills as we started talking to the boys a lot more (some of us graduated from using single words to complete, hopefully cohesive, sentences). All said, the day was a great capstone to finishing the soccer field project.
Everybody is reaching that point where they feel like their relationships with the boys are reaching some depth. We have talked with boys about where they’re from, what their lives are like, what they think of Ipoderac, and their hopes for the future. One boy, in particular, has reached out to us. He will be visiting the US in two weeks and will be staying with a Montview family. Ivan (the boy) has requested that a few of us MOBsters “present America to him” during his stay, as well. We cannot wait!
In other news, Sheri has been reciting her “bodily functions” speech much more regularly (no pun intended) than she ever expected. We have come to appreciate her as the friend who will patiently hold the trash can for you during your time of digestive need. Way to go, Sheri! So far, no problems with the two of us, though (knock on wood!!!).
Well, that’s it for now. We will try to get back here later in the trip, perhaps when we get to Mexico city. Pues…hasta luego!
Hi all,
Today we took the IPODERAC boys to a big local water park. It was nestled at the base if some mountains in the middle of no where and as we pulled up I thought, “Are we pulling up and hanging out in someone’s back yard with a slip and slide.” I was very wrong. The water park was pretty amazing. It had two large water slides, two larger pools and a smaller pool for little kids. It was called Aqua Paraiso. Our kids loved it.
We had a huge amount of fun. I was involved in a very intense, exhausting game of water polo. Unfortunately I had to “guard” Chris and Edwin and for those of you who don’t know them they aren’t small guys. It was exhausting.
We spent most of the day at the water park and I think I am safe in saying that we all left exhausted (I was) and sunburnt. Dinner followed. Sorry for the short post…I’m wiped out.
Hi all,
Thank you for the comments…keep ‘em coming!
I’m tired so sorry if this is brief or if it makes no sense.
We finished the soccer field!
Most of the groups spent the entire day unloading and laying 3 truckloads of sod. One group finished some of the painting jobs that had been started. Today we worked alongside a good number of the boys. They are all very anxious to help. Although the majority of us do not speak Spanish we seem to communicate well. I’ve adopted Sheri’s philosophy in that it doesn’t really matter who you are or where you come from but if you put in a full day working shoulder to shoulder with someone all that other stuff seems to disappear and you can see the budding of some real friendships. I have enjoyed getting to know not only a some of the IPODERAC boys but our one guys and girls (for those who don’t know this is my first “real” giant youth worktrip….and also for those of you who haven’t worked with Montview’s youth they are a pretty great group of kids.)
The work was pretty tough and our whole group stuck it out until the very end. At one point mid day as we finished with one of the trucks another dump truck pulled in and I thought for a moment we were going to have a mutiny. After some very loud sighing they got to work and we were done before dinner. It is very nice to see the project complete and I’ll be anxious to see pictures when the boys first get to play on the field.
Dinner was at the girl’s house…”Breakfast for Dinner” again a la Marshall. Good stuff. I’m supposed to tell on Hal…Joan if you read this, he ate a cookie…maybe two.
After dinner I played “Round 2″ of the hearts tournament against Carter, Kaitlin P. and Conner. It was very close but unfortunately I lost…that Kaitlin is REALLY good.
I did “shoot the moon” once (yes, intentionally) but that only prolonged the inevitable. After the hearts tournament and before I headed to bed I hung out and was witness to one of the stupidest games (although rather funny) I have ever seen. The boys (of course it was teenage boys, teenage girls usually aren’t this dumb) broke into a few teams of two. Two would go into the kitchen and mix 3 edible ingredients together and one of the other teams had to drink it without throwing up. Why you might ask…well I don’t know cause no one was eliminated and no one won. It was rather funny to watch someone try to stomach coffee grounds, hot sauce and vegetable oil. Don’t get too worried they only sipped it and no one threw up…there were definite close calls and some gagging (which always makes me laugh.)
Now I sit in bed listening to the Marshall and Steve snore 
Well headphones are in and I’m off to bed. Tomorrow we take the boys swimming to a local Water Park…should be fun.
Good night.