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.