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Hello Folks! A Blessed Nativity Fast!

Here is our website:

http://www.projectmexico.org/

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Our Mailing address is:

Project Mexico
PO Box 120028
Chula Vista, Ca
91912-3128

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Building Hope

OBT 2009

Framing with Love

Today our small but mighty group conquered framing day! Apart from the physical labor under the hot mexican sun, a lot of the time was spent getting to know the kids of the family we´re building for--Esteban, Kimberlene and Jennifer. The father, Romaldo, worked with us for a good part of the day, leveling walls and nailing in studs, while Esteban--age 14 helped the interns put together an interior partition wall. Kim and Jenny, the little girls, showed off their mad jump-roping skills. The kids used the craft kit to make paper crosses and clay roses as gifts for many of the group members. The girls and some of the neighbor children helped make delicious tuna sandwiches for lunch. After eating, the holes were drilled for the nuts and bolts and the the roof was raised.
Upon return to the ranch, several of us hit the beach. After a few rounds of football, and some R and R soaking up the sun, spaghetti was on the menu followed by a heartfelt reflection post-evening prayers. We ended the day with a peaceful campfire and fully inflated air mattresses.
Buenos noches!

Safe and Sound

The post OBT week here at St. Innocent's was quite eventful as we deconstructed our "big-group infrastructure", and we were certainly sad to see all of our volunteers go yet extremely happy at the work that we were able to accomplish together.

Our second-to-last group of the summer arrived safe and sound today, and after an orientation session and a nice afternoon with the boys we had dinner, chapel, and an early evening. Concrete day awaits tomorrow, buenas noches!

Monday, Stucco Day

Today we had a stucco party! After breakfast and morning prayers, we enjoyed our second-to-last quiet time and then split up to tackle a section of the perimeter wall of the orphanage property, armed with stucco hawks, trowels, and cement bags. In healthy competition, we managed to blow OBT 1 out of the water, completing 16 wall sections (compared to OBT 1's mere 11 sections).

After the stucco party we had lunch and then headed down to the beach for some good old-fashioned R&R. We swam, played frisbee and futbol, and in general just had a great time. Later in the evening we had a debriefing session with our site leaders, during which we discussed our goals for the week and how they have been achieved. After dinner and evening prayers, Geoff and Mike led us in our group debriefing, urging us to question how we will take what we have learned and seen this week back home. Add in a splash of Val Yova and a touch of Madi, and overall it was a great debriefing session. After the debrief, the goodbyes and packing began. To echo our final post from OBT 1, we hope that tomorrow will bring safe travels to all of our workers and lead them to carry God's word back home with them.

Sunday at the Ranch

And on the fifth day we rested and played sports.

House Blessings

Another work week has come and gone here at Project Mexico, and this morning we woke up with four houses to be finished and blessed. Stucco day went smoothly on all accounts, and come 2 o´clock Father Michael began to make his way from house to house to lead the services. Each time that Father set up his sawhorse and plywood altar table, the houses began to look complete as every last detail was finished.

At the end of four days of hard work everyone is a bit tired, but we all managed to squeeze into our handiwork for the blessing. It is around this time that we usually begin to realize the magnitude of what we´ve done. During the blessing, tears of joy are not uncommon both from the workers and the family, but it is afterward, when one of the parents begins to thank us as we present them with their keys, that reality hits home. The mother of one of our larger families this week (7 children, ages 3 to 12), tearfully thanked us for giving her a place to safely raise her children, and thanked us for playing with them. She urged all of us to come back and visit their family at any time. We then left our families with this strange and wonderful gift, a house that represents hope for a better life. As we pulled away, however, we felt as though we received a gift as well...a strangely similar hope in a better life. May we cling to this hope and carry it with us as we continue our lives at home.

Another Great Workday

Today is always one of the most gratifying workdays for several reasons:

1. The most visible change occurs, as the house acquires a roof, windows, rough walls, and a door.
2. Everyone likes working up on the roof, except for Pancho of course (see yesterday´s entry).
3. There is no manual cement mixing.
4. It is one of the lighter workdays, and oftentimes groups have a longer afternoon back at the ranch to spend with the boys.


The day went fairly smoothly on all fronts. Several groups were back by 4 pm and were able to relax, take bucket showers, and play some soccer, volleyball, and basketball before dinner. Evening prayers began just as the evening sun was illuminating the sky over the ocean, and were followed by a discussion of the factors that contribute to poverty in Mexico, led by our other favorite Canadian Mike Applegate. Overall, a day well spent.

The Tale of Pancho

4:13 am: The ranch's rooster crows for the first time - ugh. Pancho, our protagonist, sits in his plastic organic animal cracker container with his fellow animal crackers, awaiting the day and wondering what it will bring.
4:14 am: A few disgruntled group members tumble out of their tents, totally confused. Pancho hears them as they begin to stretch and yawn, only to realize that they still have a few hours of sleep to go!

7:00 am: Pancho hears "Gloria al Padre, y al Hijo, y al Espiritu Santo ahora y siempre, y por los siglos de los siglos..."

9:03 am: Pancho's dark house is suddenly flooded with light, as one of the summer interns grabs his plastic organic animal cracker container and loads it into one of the 15 passenger vans.
9:05 am: Wondering why the ride is so bumpy, Pancho observes the 13 workers who are all eagerly putting on sunscreen and hydrating before the beginning of the day.

9:17 am: Pancho and co. arrive at the worksite, and one of the group members who had skipped breakfast in order to catch a shower, opens the plastic organic animal cracker container and grabs a handful of Pancho's cousins, aunts, uncles, and siblings. Pancho narrowly misses being eaten, and ends up on top of the van in his plastic organic animal cracker container with a fairly good view of the worksite.

10:49 am: Pancho watches the groups as they measure, saw, and hammer with great enthusiasm, making what once used to be a pile of twobufurs into walls, doors, and windows.

12:14 pm: The site's lunch-maker spots pancho in his plastic organic animal cracker container, and pulls it down to be served with the delicious PB & J lunch.

12:19-12:42 pm: Pancho frantically dives out of the way of probing hands, until he is finally picked up by an older worker with a shirt pocket. A narrow escape ensues as follows: Pancho is about to be eaten, but as he is on his way to certain death by mastication, the worker with the shirt pocket pauses to chat with another worker and Pancho is placed into the worker's front pocket instead - to be saved for later.

3:34 pm: From his shirt pocket perch, Pancho suddenly has an arial view of the colonia as the worker ascends to the roof to help with the bird block placement. Oh no! Pancho realizes that he is scared of heights.
3:35 pm: Pancho gets nauseous.

4:49 pm: Unbeknownst to the worker with the shirt pocket, Pancho rides back to St. Innocent's Orphanage with the weary yet elated group. He himself feels a vicarious sense of accomplishment, as the day began with a slab of concrete which now serves as the foundation for a basic home structure.

5:15 pm: The group member with the shirt pocket sits down on the bench outside the Tiendita, and remembers that he has Pancho in his pocket.
5:15:32 pm: Pancho is eaten, missing out on Fr. Luke Veronis' moving oration on long-term missions. Thus ends the tale of Pancho.

The Love-O-Meter

Yesterday evening, Fr. Michael bade us to dwell on the following: Christ created us to be loved by him, and thus to be like him and share his love with others. Today we poured a concrete slab with hand mixed materials, which ranks a 9.3 on the love-o-meter.

The day began with morning prayers and a hearty breakfast of beans and soy (as per usual). We then piled into our colossal white vans and took to the dirt roads, slowly winding our way into the colonia and dispersing to our respective work sites. After meeting the families and a brief prayer (again!...we love it), we began leveling the land and pouring cement. A few hard hours of work and many animal crackers later, we drove in the last of our anchor bolts and smoothed off the last corner of our foundation. JOB DONE!

We returned to bucket showers and a dinner of beans and soy (again!...we don't love it as much as prayer, but it's good), and following prayers we settled in to hear one of our two favorite Canadians, Geoff Bray, discuss why we come to Mexico of all places, to help the poor. Now we're off to bed and looking forward to framing day en la manana! Buenas Nachos.

Arrival Day OBT2!!

It was with Open arms and giant smile that the group leaders and staff of Project Mexico welcomed all 105 trip participants to St. Innocent Orphanage. Thankfully everyone arrived safe and sound, albeit tired from a day of traveling. The activities began with a brief orientation and tour of the orphanage facilities, which encompassed the history of St. Innocent, how we were started as an organization, the history of some of our boys, and of course lots of guidelines to keep in mind when interacting and living in a foreign culture. After everyone was settled, dinner was served and we settled into our 'cathedral' ...actually a large tent, which serves as the chapel, for evening prayers and a talk with Fr. Michael Nasser about what we can expect to be happening in our hearts for the next 7 days. On that note, we all settled in and slept in our cozy cozy tents. Buenos noches!

All The World Needs is Beans, Rice and Pizza

Today, appropriately and almost poetically, we celebrated the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Liturgy was once again celebrated beautifully in several languages including Spanish, English, Greek, and Serbian. We then proceeded with a noticable skip in our step to break the fast.

After breakfast, three of our work groups had a stucco party with a nice portion of our back wall, while the fourth visited their worksite for the last time to bless their house. In the afternoon, the groups took turns visiting the beach for some fun in the sun and chilly Pacific water.
The evening debriefing session consisted of impromptu lyric composition, an informative and inspiring address from our dearest Val Yova, and a moving oration from one of our oldest boys about the suppport and upbringing that all those involved in Project Mexico have helped to provide. We would like to echo his words of thanks to you all, for it is only with your help and the grace of God that we can continue our ministry and service.

In the morning we will send our groups back to their homes across the country, in the hopes that they will carry out God´s word just as his disciples did.

Los Totopos Galacticos

On the 5th day we rested. Sunday morning comenzed with over 100 people filling our tent Cathedral for services. It was a joy to have 5 priests from all over the U.S. serving the Liturgy, assisted by a few of our young alter boys.


Spike! Basket! Gooooooal! Score! After Liturgy this morning we had an afternoon filled with sports-The Third Annual OBT Sports Spectacular! From watching Fr. Ted show his mad skills on the court to the enthusiastic show as point gaurd from one of our youngest boys here at the orphanage the day was a great success. To round out the afternoon we an epic showdown between the OBT All-Star Team and Los Totopos Galacticos*, the Orphanage home team sporting their flashy red jerseys. While the contingent OBT team did well representing the Americans, Los Totopos Galacticos won 8-5. Go Team!

*For those of you among our avid readers who do not hablar en español Los Totopos Galacticos significa Galactic Tortilla Chips.

The Icing on the Cake

It´s hard to believe that day four has already come and gone, but hard work and good company will do that. From foundation to framing, stucco to smooshed PB&J sandwiches, it´s been a wonderful few days of work here in Mexico. On stucco day, however, all of us that have been building begin to realize that the structure that we have simply viewed as ¨our work¨ is really a structure that will hopefully provide shelter for our family for years to come. It´s almost incomprehensible that we can actually give a family this type of gift. Praying for the family and handing over the keys is always an emotional experience, no matter how many houses you´ve built in Mexico. Today´s house blessings were no different.




According to Madi, our seasoned site leader, stucco day is like frosting a giant cake. The house blessing is like eating the cake - Mm, good! Glory to God.

A New Experience

Workday three has come and gone here in the Mexican sun, and some tired group members are now "rejuvenating themselves" by playing basketball and soccer with the boys all afternoon - crazy Americans!

The day began with some tired faces in chapel, but we gained some collective strength over breakfast and by the time we arrived at our work site we had hit our stride. Eager hands helped with the roofing and shingling, which we finished by lunch. While we ate, one of our group members gave his necklace to Christian, the son of the family for whom we are building. Christian, who had been eying the necklace since day one, suddenly became very quiet and teared up a bit. Although I've seen the mothers and fathers of our families show this type of emotion, this was a new experience for me, and I was very touched.

The afternoon of chicken wiring and door-fitting went smoothly, and we were able to finish ahead of schedule and make it back to the orphanage at around four o'clock. Sitting here on the stadium steps, watching the youngest of St. Innocents boys playing basketball against some of the older group members, I'm amazed at how Project Mexico brings people of all ages and walks of life together.

As my preceding blogger would have put it - today was a day that was spent following the rainbow to a pot of spiritual blessings! I'm looking forward to dinner, evening prayers, and the poverty wheel discussion, a fitting end to a great day. Hasta manana.

Over the Rainbow

As I sit outside the boys' Tiendita listening to "The Bamba" play inside, I listen to happy group members recounting their work days to each other:
-Dude, did you see me pounding that nail?!
-Yeah man, and I totally squared that roof.
-Awesome.
Framing day is my personal favorite as well. When we arrive, we have nothing more than a cement slab. But when we leave after a long day of nailing and sawing, we can already see the structure of a home. The excitement was not only mine and the group members'; it was evident in the face of the mother of our family as well as she witnessed the walls go up after much pounding. As I finish this post, the music coming from the Tiendita has grown stronger and changed to the much more American tune of "Somewhere over the Rainbow." I'm gonna follow that rainbow, in hopes of more beans and rice tomorrow, and another good work day.

Getting the Wheels Turning!

Ya comenzamos! Today was construction Day 1 for OBT 2009! Of course, the usual occurred: at 4 different sites, the land was leveled, cement was mixed, and a brand new, solid home foundation was laid. However, on a more personal note, it was a great day in that group members came together as teams and began relationships with families who will receive homes in just three days. And in the evening, everyone had plenty of time to meet and hang out with the boys of St. Innocent's. After prayers, Geoff Bray (Project Mexico's assistant director) talked about the numerous factors which contribute to poverty in Mexico. Overall, it was a day for "getting the wheels turning."

OBT arrival day!!!!

The first Orthodox Basic Training (OBT) has officially arrived and are safely settled in here at St. Innocent Orphanage. The boys and staff were very busy making pre-trip preparations over the last week to get ready for the 96 people to descend upon our little ranch. This week, these 96 peope will have a spiritually rich environment in which they will be living as well as building 4 houses for needy families in the poor communities of Mexico. Everyone arrived and were given a full tour of the facilities of St. Innocent Orphanage, which then was followed by the building of tent city! Shortly after constructing this metropolis, everyone was gathered to pray and have dinner. If there is one thing that everyone will be good at at the end of the week, it will be saying the Our Father in spanish. Padre nuestro...



Speaking of padres, Fr. Michael Nasser, the priest who lives with his family here at the orphanage, gave a very good evening discussion regarding God's will and what we are doing here. He made some very good points about not concentrating on what the end goal is and what it will mean once we reach it, but rather the daily journey throughout our lives that often gets forgotten. His discussion concluded by talking about our daily lives and how if we choose to, we can make that journey doing God's work - to love. "We get to do God's work this week while we are here. We get to love a family and give them a house. We don't have to, but we get to."
The evening concluded with the dividing up into small groups and a round of ice breakers as each home building crew came up with a team name and song/dance.

Thank God we are all here safe and sound, ready for the first work day -- concrete! Can't wait :)

Heading Home

Yesterday-Sunday, was our day off. We started with a beautiful Matins in English which was followed by a Liturgy in Spanish with the boys. Fr. Michael from St. Louis did a wonderful job serving the Liturgy for his first time entirely in Spanish. Well done father! After lunch we all took a short drive into Rosarito to get a taste of Mexican tacos, mango ice cream and the bartering system in the local mercado artesanal. Since every evening this past week consisted of playing soccer with the boys, the group decided to pull some money together to buy a shiny new soccer ball. We had everyone sign it and after dinner presented it to the boys who were quite thrilled. During debriefing we had a chance to reflect on how we can continue what we did this past week in our lives at home. May God continue to bless us in that endeavour!

To all the group members--a million thank yous for everything you put into coming down here! Hope you all have a safe trip home!

Day 4 of House 2

Sadly, today was our last work day on the house. After applying a beautiful coat of stucco we saw our last four days of hard work amount to an incredible blessing of joy for the family we were working for. Unexpectedly, we had a special surprise! Despite their current state of poverty, the family cooked for us an outstanding authentic Mexican meal for our entire group. What a treat! The house blessing was especially moving, as the priest in our group asked God to bless and to sanctify our house and everyone who will live in it. At the end of the service, the sister of the mother we built for said a special prayer for us that touched all of our hearts in a very deep way, leaving tears in the corners of our eyes. It's often a paradox that we find when coming to Project Mexico. At the beginning of the week we all feel that we are here to give something and yet, we come out of the end of the week having received something--something hard to describe and even more so, impossible to measure.

Stella raises the roof!

Today as we watched the studs transform themselves into walls through the application of chicken wire, we could feel the anticipation compounding with every hammer stroke and reapplication of sunscreen. We, for the first time, were able to envision how our steady progress throughout the week developed into more than the simple house we imagined - today we saw glimpses of a home! As the day came to a close, the roof crew was especially riled up with the prestigious presence of one lady-like hammer, aptly nicknamed Stella! It's an 18 oz steel beauty! You can see Vaki in the picture above proudly acknowledging it's speed and agility afters a days work of showing those nails who's boss!

2X4 Time

Brought out that teamwork today! Nice! Breaking up into 7 groups of people, we turned a pile of 2X4's into walls with windows and doors! One of the definite highlights of the day is that we got to know the family better as they were with us watching their house go up. Edgar the son, and a few of his friends were around showing us some of their biking skills and raced for us. The father we got to know especially as he chipped in and not only helped with sawing, hammering, and putting together, but even gave some of us a few new construction tips. The mother's birthday was today, so when we had all the walls put up and nailed in we sang Happy Birthday for her in her new house. Pretty sure we left a big smile on her face as we pulled out after today's work.

Cement Day House #2

This morning we geared up for the day with morning prayers, quiet time and a very much enjoyed pancakes and peanut butter breakfast. When we arrived to our worksite, we got to meet the family who we are building for; a younger couple with two kids, a boy Edgar, and a brand new baby girl Zuset who was just born last month. Concrete day is always the hardest it seems like, but today was phenomenal. Everybody did an awesome job mixing, shoveling, hauling buckets, pouring and leveling the entire pad by 3:30 this afternoon. Excellent work! After getting back, some soccer and dinner. And later tonight we will have our first-day-campfire reflections and discussion based on our impressions of the first day of work, and about what we observed in the foreign culture and environment that might have impacted us .

Arrival day! house #2

Our 2nd home building group arrived at the ranch safe and sound! Everyone is feeling the excitement and anticipation of the work about to begin. Everyone took a tour of the orphanage, went over all of the fine details in orientation and settled into the group housing, which are actually replicas of the house they are going to be building. The three parishes that have come together to form this group are quickly becoming one seamless entity, getting along and loving one another in the spirit of Christ's love, ready to embark on what lies ahead.

last day -- adios amigos!

It was a joy to have the folks from the Colorado area here this past week. Even though there were only 15 people, we managed to get a home built and see a family's life permanently changed. This morning began as they always do with chapel at 7:15am SHARP and breakfast. We then helped everyone pack up and load the vans for the drive back to the US. Safely back, we all waved adios as out first home building group left us and went back to their lives at home. Hopefully a little more aware of how their being in Mexico has made a permanent impact on one family and even more so, how Christ has made an impact in all of our hearts because of that family.

Day 4: stucco and a house blessing!

Today began with morning prayers and breakfast. After loading the pickup truck with trowels, sand, buckets and wheelbarrows we set off for the last time to the worksite. It took the whole morning to get the house nicely coated with stucco. And after lunch, the only word I can use to describe the house blessing is--beautiful. The eyes of the mom and her two kids, who had been there all week and had watched us build their house for them, shown with such love, humility and gratitude that I cannot put into words their effect on us. Truly every one of us were impacted and recieved more than we gave by the grace of Christ who shown through this family. May God grant them many years!

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work day 3: chicken wire and the roof!

What a fine day in Mexico! We started the day as we always do with prayer and some quiet time to think about why we are here. It's always a little surprising when confronted with the quietness of our peaceful surroundings. Unfortunately this never lasts long enough and we are summoned to the kitchen to have breakfast (yay beans!) and begin our day.

Today was chicken wire day, which means that the rough frame of the house we built yesterday was wrapped in a covering of paper, tar paper and chicken wire - the base for applying stucco to the outside of the house. Everyone got a turn trying to keep it tight (PULL!) and hammer nails. at the same time others were dutifully putting the roof on the house, shingling it in 3 layers - plywood, tar paper and shingling roof material. Everyone got a chance to go up and show their skills at making noise (hammering is loud!) and creating a weatherproof structure for the family. We were joined again by the two children who will be living in the house.

The work day ended with the windows and doors being put in - it actually looks like a house! Tomorrow we will stucco it and have the house blessing. Upon doing so, this poor family's life will be dramatically changed and Christ's hands will have be shown in our work.

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1st Homeuilding group of 2009! - framing day

The first home building group of the summer from the Rocky Mountain Region in Colorado arrived last Friday. We poured the concrete foundation on Saturday and let it dry over our day of rest Sunday, which gets us to today--waking up to a misty and brisk early morning, pulling ourselves out of bed to start framing day at the chapel with morning prayers at 7:15 sharp. After a scoring breakfast of french toast (oh yes!) and some bathroom scrubbing, we loaded the trucks and set off for the work site with 2x4's in hand.



Framing day is kind of an all around favorite. Hammer wielding, saw vs. leatherman races, timed anchor bolt drillings, and bird blockage--what's not to love? Dividing into groups and actually building the walls took up the majority of the morning. Everybody did super! Even two of the younger girls from the family that we're building for helped out with hammering a nail here and there, getting measurements and trying their hand at sawing. After breaking for lunch, we stood up our newly made walls, squared them, and nailed them together so they actually begin to resemble a house. The day’s work was completed by putting our frame for the roof on top of the house. After getting back from a good day of work with the family, we took a trip down to the beach, took a dive in the salt water and returned back to the orphanage about 45 minutes later--bean burritos in sight. And after dinner activities of course involved getting beaten in soccer by the boys, evening prayers at the chapel, and Mike's poverty wheel presentation. Now, THAT is what I call a good day. Tomorrow, chicken wire!

Summer 2009!

Hello All! Christ is Risen!

There has been some interest expressed in having a Project Mexico blog for many years. To initiate this, we will make daily posts while mission teams are at St. Innocent Orphanage and Project Mexico building homes for poor familoes. Please tell your families and friends to check often and keep up to speed on all the great things going on! Until then feel free to visit our website to learn about current opportunities and ways to get involved. www.projectmexico.org

In Christ,

Geoff Bray
Assistant Director, Project Mexico