First day of work

For me there is nothing like the first day of work in Mexico although this year it was at an altitude of approximately 7000 feet. After a beautiful ride to La Ascension we were greated by Fr. Tony as well as a band. After a few pictures in front of the church we surveyed the work site, got into small groups, and began the physical part of our journey. We worked until noon, took a break for lunch and then walked with Fr. Tony to the President´s (Mayor of Cuautla) palace (City Hall) and were welcomed to the city by Presidente C. Sergio Rodrigo Valdespin Perez. After some words of welcome, a short history of the city and area, and group and individual pictures in his office we returned to the church and our work.


As the weather was sunny and about 80 the work went quickly even with a number of miscommunications on my part due to my extremely limited grasp of the language. A number of local school children dropped by towards the end of the day and to our suprise Fr. Tony had taught them some English and introductions were made. Before we knew it our first day of work was complete and it was time to board the ever comfortable and air-conditioned Volvo bus for the ride back down to Cuernavaca.


As I reflect on our first day of work, being part of this group, and what has brought me to Mexico I continue to be thankful for these opportunities to serve and how privileged I am to receive these gifts. I am truly blessed. Steve Petrie

Sunday in Cuernavaca

We started off the day with a beautiful service at St. Michael's, which is a small church right next to the Diocesan Center. In addition to our group, there was another group from a Lutheran church in Minnesota. As a result, we more than doubled their numbers for a typical service, and the tiny church was packed. The atmosphere was one of welcome and thanks. The Peace was joyous as we all hugged and passed God's blessings.

During St. Michael's announcements, as they mentioned a couple of outreach efforts that they've recently undertaken, I realized how similar we all really were. Each of us, in our own way, is reaching out to spread Jesus' teachings and the Word of God. Today's Gospel was very timely and spoke to each of us as a call to serve as disciples of Jesus. Words from today's Offertory anthem said it best, "Here I am Lord. Send me. Send me."

After church and coffee hour, we went out to lunch in Cuernavaca at a place that Martha found called Tia Licha. Lunch was the beginning of our journey for the day as we all blindly ordered off the menu not knowing what in the world we'd be eating but trusting that it would be good. Indeed it was - however, some of us still didn't know what we were eating??? Either way, lunch provided the much needed sustenance to help us through the "Trek through Cuernavaca"...

It started off innocently enough, a nice walk to the center of the city to visit the Zocolo and participate in the afternoon's festivities. However, we naively thought the walk was about 1 mile or so. As we continued walking and walking (keep in mind Cuernavaca is hilly, hot, humid AND much higher in elevation than Milwaukee), we realized that our estimation of distance was WAY OFF! As we arrived in the center of town, we also realized that there were no more sidewalks and absolutely NO rules for traffic. (And, we still didn't know exactly how far or in what direction the Zocolo was.) As we sliced through the traffic with our machetes (kind of like a concrete jungle metaphor), we finally made it to our destination with a lot of red faces, dirty feet and tremendous sighs of relief! The kids estimate that we probably walked 6 miles or so - all up hill, of course (I would say in a blinding snow storm but you wouldn't believe me). Thankfully, we all had faith, and when we finally made it to the Zocolo, it was packed with people and families enjoying a beautiful day - enjoying community - celebrating life.

After much people watching and a little shopping, we returned to the Diocesan Center (in a taxi this time!). After a little rest and some dinner, we had time for reflection and prayer. We're all looking forward to working tomorrow and serving in our own little way. Here I am Lord. Send me. Send me.

God bless and Happy Father's Day.

first day and first time in Mexico

We left right on time this morning and travel went really smoothly. Most of us got some sleep or at least rest on the plane or bus. My (Dennis) first impression is that Mexico is a place of beauty and contrast...poverty and wealth all mixed together. I am looking forward to just getting to know what Mexico is like, getting to know some of the people one to one.

The adults have learned that ATM machines in Mexico are slower paced and not used to us fast moving Americans. It took us a while to figure out that we need to leave our cards in the slot for several seconds (probably about 10) so the machine can read it. We are so used to just sliding the card with a quick in and out and off we go.

We were warmly welcomed by the bishop, like old friends, with whom it was good to reconnect. Fr. Tony, one of the priests down here, had a conversation with the mayor of Cautala about us. The mayor has invited us to his palace (city hall) on Monday at 1 p.m. We will work in the morning and then be his guests for a time in the afternoon. He is going to give us a proclamation, thanking us for the work our groups have been doing. After that, it will be back to painting.

Our group is relaxed and going with the flow....that it the only way to go.

We each did an ball point pen ¨tattoo¨¨ on ourselves this evening as part of the reflection time....just a symbol to remind us of what we bring, what we hope to learn, any image that will help keep each of us remember what we hope this week is about for us. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Dennis (scribe---Jan)

Where are those pesos?

Can't believe it is just a few weeks till we leave. So much to do.