Early on the morning of Tuesday, February 17th, fourteen of us traveling from upstate New York will be boarding a plane for Mexico.  Having left Syracuse by dawn, we will be resting our weary bodies near the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza by dusk. 

            By the light of a new day we will continue on to our home base of Hopelchen in the state of Campeche.  After meeting our host families from the Presbyterian Church in Hopelchen we will begin working in nearby Konchen.  There in Konchen we will put the roof on a manse already in progress.  The roof is but a tangible symbol of the work God is already about in Campeche. 

            We go to learn about God’s work in these small cities tucked in the Yucatan Peninsula. 

            No doubt our bodies will grow weary with work beside our brothers and sisters in Christ but our souls will be restored by their bountiful hospitality and gracious way of life.  We will also join the children in telling Bible stories and making art.  We will worship with them on Sunday and at that time I will have the privilege of preaching in English and having the sermon translated into Spanish.

            As we begin the final preparation for this mission experience, the fourteen of us traveling from upstate New York are asking a new set of questions.  How will this trip change me?  How might it change the way I look at God’s world?  How will it change my faith?  How will I encounter the living Christ in the people I meet and will I recognize this in the moment?           

            We cherish your support through your prayers that at all times we will remain open to how God is already at work in Campeche.

Lawrence

                      ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

TUESDAY, Feb 17

From Julianne:

The plane landed safely and we all made it okay. The first time flyers didnt think it was as bad as they thought it would be. Thankfully, we found Abi farely quickly at the airport with the help of Whitneys great Spanish speaking skills on the phone with Abi. We had to make a few phone calls and he wasnt too far away. We loaded up fairly quickly and off we went.

We arrived at the hotel and got to relax for the night. The girls and others went swimming in the "coolest pool ever" to cool down and enjoy a night before a long day Wednesday. We gathered and nominated Whitney with the tortuga because as Sandi was panicking, Whitney bravely took over and got on the phone with someone she's never seen or talked to before. The night ended well and everyone was excited to see what Wednesday had in store for us.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 18

From Julianne:

We were all up, bright eyed and bushy tailed and loaded up once again. We had breakfast at a nice, tasteful restaurant on the way through. We finally arrived in Hopelchen, greeted everyone, and met our host families. After, we ate lunch and traveled to Konchen to put in a few hours of work. We met a fairly new group of people and many excited, smiling children.

Tom with some of the children.

We got to work right away and put all of the beams onto the roof while Kelsey and Mackenzie occupied the dozens of children by playing games and having fun.  All the girls various quoted that they got to lift really heavy beams that almost killed me! haha  We put in a good few hours of work and everything went well after we figured out the game plan. We went back to our host houses to clean up and get ready for dinner, had a nice simplistic service and sat down to a wonderful meal. Then it was the hard part of finding a connection so that I could sit down and send this email!

THURSDAY, Feb. 19

From Julianne:

It's been a long busy day and we've gotten half way through. We arrived for breakfast at 6 AM, ate, and headed off to Konchen. The beams we placed yesterday were ready for the concrete blocks - dozens of them!! We formed and reformed several "bucket" lines in order to move "bobedillas" to various rooms and then on to the roof. Lawrence and Otto amazed all of us with their physical performance. The village ladies brought the whole group oranges and apples. We were apparently the best show in town! ( the only show in town ;) !)

Last night Kaylin was nomianted with the ancient order of the tortuga for her ability to climb a ladder carrying a concrete beam...not an easy job ! We finished early today and have no work tomorrow because we moved more blocks than we had expected. Tomorrow, we will be visiting a school instead of working in the morning. We finished last night with church services...with birds chirping; gentle cooler breezes, and a charming "passing of the peace"  where we all hugged each other. We've been managing quite well with translating Spanish with the great help of Enganim and as well as the rest of the girls that speak Spanish, and yes, Andrew and Sara have both been on our minds throughtout this process !

Nueva york is far from our minds even as our families are close to our hearts. Our adventure continues....!

From Kaylin:

Thursday night was the night of colors, face paints, laughs, smiles, and walking in the light of God. When we arrived in Konchen for the second time, that day Mackenzie had noticed the childrens faces that automatically light up as we walked in the door. It felt great working with all the children and seeing their beautiful art work. A memorable moment was when we all sang "caminandos a la luz de dios", walking in the light of God in Mayan, Spanish, and English!  It really brought us together and showed we all have things in common. The children then sang a song that they knew which was very lively. Later when we got back to Hopelchen to have our community time, Sandi was telling us about her memorable experience at Konchen. She had noticed a 74 year old woman who was sitting quitely and emotionless in the back of the church, throughout the time with children. As everyone was leaving, the elderly woman walked up to Sandi and gave her a kiss on the cheek. It's amazing how one can say nothing yet say so much at the same time. Later, Tom was nominated for the tortuga for being a big help with his wonderful Spanish speaking abilities and also for putting his gum behind his ear in order to eat an orange, and then started eating it again twenty minutes later after we reminded him that it was still there. After eating a delicious dinner, we dispersed back to our host houses.

FRIDAY, Feb. 20

From Kaylin:

             On Friday, we ended up not working because we were ahead in our work schedule on Thursday. We were all able to sleep in until 7am. After breakfast, we went to visit different schools. At the elementary school, Otto felt right at home and immeaditely sat down with a little boy at his desk. We visited three different classrooms and at the last one, the teacher talked with us about the kids learning English and the importance of learning about one another's cultures. Then we headed to the high shcool where we went to an English class. It is a weird feeling being on display but the older kids tried their hardest to speak to us in English and a few spoke quite well. We went back to the church for a quick moment and then off to Campeche city where we visited the Presbytery and met the president, vice, and treasurer. Then to Imi to preview 2010's worksite. Then we had a delicious dinner at a wonderful restaurant in the heart of the city and took a nice walk along the sea before we headed on back home.

From Amy R.:

Friday and Saturday were two excellent days for the mission workers. On Friday, we woke up exuberantly knowing we didn't have to visit the work site that day. Instead, we visited an elementary school where we saw the classrooms and introduced ourselves and said hello. Then we went to a near by high school and did the same. We then went to the seminary where we had lunch. We visited the Presbytery and church at Imi. next we went into Campeche and walked around. While there, we  saw the oldest church in the western hemisphere. We then went to dinner at a lovely restaurant and after that we went down to the shore and relaxed. At community time, Tom was awarded the ancient order of the tortuga for storing a chewed piece of gum behind his ear and later consumed it. 

SATURDAY, Feb. 21

From Amy R.:

Today, Saturday, everyone woke up full of energy to go back to the work site for the last time. While there, we shoveled wet cement into buckets and lifted them onto the roof and poured them on. This was an exhausting and messy job but everyone was enthusiastic after finishing the roof. And while working, we recorded the temperature at a stunning 95 degrees.

We then had community time again and both of the Amy´s were awared the ancient order of the tortuga. Amy B. was awarded for her hard work today on the work site and amy R. was awarded it for tieing in first place with Kaylin for the most dirty after work contest. We all had an excellent time.

From Pastor Lawrence:

Bethel Presbyterian Church Konchen, Campeche

Time slows down after a long morning of hard labor. We had finished the roof on the manse in Konchen and were waiting for lunch - as always a delicious meal. 

I had gone to the van to make sure that i had the gifts in order that we planned to give our friends and co workers. As i stood with the van door open, sorting the gifts, another member of our team asked for the key to the back door. When she handed it back to me, i absent mindedly put it on the seat. after i finished sorting the gifts, i locked the door and shut it tight. 

as i walked away, another member of the team asked for the keys. i patted my pants pocket expecting to find it and it wasnt there ! horror !

i checked both pockets again. no keys. then i had to face the probability of locknig the only set of keys inside the vehicle. not only that, we were in a remote village, three hours away from the point of rental. we peered in through the windows and sure enough the keys rested on the seat.

i went to tell our driver, Abi. after his initial shock and disbelief, abi quickly recoveved and assured me "no problem...no problem". his was the voice of hope, yet not my internal voice of reason. 

quickly all the men who had been working on the roof with us gathered around the van with us. we tried every door. locked. we circled the van for many minutes while abi continued to say "no problem" yet the solution was no where to be found. 

i walked back to the other van where Sandi, Lyn, and Otto waited in the shade for lunch. as i calmly tried to relay our predictament, we watched joyce circle the van by herself. a minute passed, and another. the men continued to conference. joyce continued to circle the van. 

then a moment later, right in front of our eyes, we saw joyce opening the back door. i thought it was a mirage. i thought i was wishing my most fervent prayers into reality. 

i rushed up to joyce. she waited, smiling. she held a key. joyce had opened a late model van with a garage door key from her home in syracuse!

i asked joyce how she did it. joyce replied "prayer". joyce said the whole time she circled that van using each one of her keys as she prayed "lord make me an instrument..."

from a remote mexican village, joyce's prayer rang out clearly. in the form of a mismatched key, the answer resounded back - this is Beth-el... the dwelling place of god.

 P.S. joyce later tried to open the same door with the same key. the door remained locked.

                                       Saturday

SUNDAY, Feb. 22

From Tom:

this morning's worship included a communion served by Francisco and Lawrence together in Hopelchen. As communion was served, there was an amazing sense of unity. It tied together all of the past mission trips both south and north that made this event possible. It tied together friendships, a number of churches, several presbyteries, and a couple of countries. To those who participated, world wide communion will never be quite the same! Carrying this imagery one step further, there is a corridor that separates the El Sinai sanctuary from the two stories of classrooms: (LAMP built the roof over this corridor during the last mission trip.) This space accomodated a long, skinny table. Before people were seated, you couldn't help but notice the two long rows of plastic glasses filled with a purple beverage that tasted like grape juice and all of the plates of food...Somehow, there were enough seats for the entire congregation. This marked our final meal together in Hopelchen and off we were on to our next adventure.

MONDAY, Feb. 23

From Amy B:

With work behind us and our bodies slowly recovering, it is now time for play. We visited the ancient Mayan ruins in Chichen Itza today. Almost all of the sites are blocked off from having any interaction with them but it is still nice to see such a beautiful but sometimes eerie culture being preserved. During the history lessons and hot weather, we took a break from thinking, and washed away our cares with the cold water in the cenotes. Our families and friends are not forgotten however as we go from shop to shop to gather items to take home and share.

With all of the beautiful weather and memories, it is hard to believe that seven days have gone by and tomorrow we will be seeing snow. We set the thoughts of our return home to NY aside and savor our last hours in Mexico together.

POST-TRIP BLOGS:

From Sandi Yingling:

Three things remain in my memory:  First, the miracle of the key. Secondly, the teamwork that built a concrete roof in 2 ½ days with no injuries. Finally, the thoughtfulness, grace, and kindness of our hosts, the members of the Hopelchen, Imi, and Konchen churches, and the young women Lampers who worked tirelessly, were creative with the young children, and showed themselves to be open and non-critical. Kudos to all. 

From Lyn Carman:

I like to help people with my hands.  When I saw the project we were supposed to do, I wondered who was going to do it.  The Mexican construction chief said that the girls could take care of the children while we worked. My wife told him that the girls were going to do the work. I don't think he believed us. I was amazed by the work the girls did. Actually I was amazed by the work we all did. It was back-breaking hard physical labor. One of the girls actually put the end of a 200 pound beam on her shoulder and climbed 8 feet up a ladder with it there. Some of the girls lifted and poured buckets of concrete for hours. Grown men were tired and the girls kept working. Some of the girls entertained the children and kept them busy while we worked. That was amazing since the children were not bilingual.

After every trip I am amazed by what has been accomplished. It is obvious that there are angels on special duty when we are there. No one was hurt, not one fell off the roof, and no one injured their back. 

From Whitney Levi:

The spiritual souvenir that I take home with me from Mexico is the language and culture. In Spanish class I always learned about the Mayans, their ruins, and the Spanish language. But actually being there and experiencing it for myself changed my outlook completely. Being in a place where people care about people, and not what they have or what they want, for just a week, made me realize how different our worlds really are. The people have what they need and don't ask for anymore. They find the small joys in life that we're too occupied to even look for. I hope to keep their language and culture in my heart and soul forever, and that many others can experience such an amazing place and realize the true importance in life like I did.

From Kelsey Kiefer:

        A silver bracelet. That was my physical memory. I bought the bracelet at the Mayan Ruins in Chichen Itza, in the northern part of the Yucatan Penninsula. I bought it mainly bacause I was guaranteed, by the not at all desperate venders at the bottom of the pyramids, that it was "cheaper than Walmart" and "almost free". My reason for using this as a symbol of my trip is that it was a charm bracelet with smiling suns and moons. To me, the smiling charms reminded me of the Mexican sunshine and the smiles and happiness of the people we met.     

        As soon as I arrived home, the bracelet broke. I then thought that the breaking of the bracelet was a symbol itself. Material objects break. Speaking for everyone, it can ruin your day when you hear the crack or smash of your most expensive prized possession. The people of Hopelchen and Komchen, and everywhere else we visited, didn't have much to break, so there wasn't much to break their spirits. They, as my broken bracelet reminds me, just keep on smiling.

From Margaret Kelly:

The souvenir I brought back is the gift of time. Here in America you rarely see people not in a rush to go somewhere. We are either late, going to be late, or in a rush. In Mexico, there is only a rough time frame to be somewhere. Everyone was relaxed. Church started when everyone got there and lasted until everything was said that needed to be. After the service on Sunday, we had a meal that was like the Last Supper. Everyone stayed. There was food for all and seats for everyone. Our time was so unhurried that three teenagers got out their guitars and played for everyone. I sat there listening. Everything was still around us. The melodies filled everyone’s soul. As we left Hopelchen, I didn’t want to return to a place where time is something we don’t feel we have enough of. In Mexico, I found the gift of time and I hope to bring it to all of you.

From Julianne Allman:

today in my english class my teacher asked us to write a few sentences about "if you were to walk out the doors at school, what world would you rather be stepping into..." my mind instantly flew to mexico. in a way i thought it was ironic because i've been meaning to write this blog for a while now but hadnt exactly pushed myself to do it. all i could think about was all the amazing people i've formed relationships with over the past three years that i've participated in this mission trip. every day i yearn to be back in the laid back, relaxed, easy going city of hopelchen. i love and miss everything i've learned there and will always carry it in my heart. it hurts not knowing whether or not i'll ever be able to see them again because i'll be off to college soon, but then i remind myself of the touching words one man left us with that we will meet again in heaven no matter what. over the past three years, each trip has helped mold me to become the person that i am today. these were chances of a lifetime that i am so thankful for because not many other teenagers will ever get this type of experience. i've been touched in so many ways & will never forget these moments and memories of my life.

From Otto:

mission projects can have impact - we sometimes forget that most people in the world have very little. it takes all of their energy just to keep their families alive. but i have no doubt that this group of christians was greatly encouraged by your church efforts and that alone made their trip worthwhile. mission projects like this are valuable for another reason. they can help young people from our country realized the needs of others and lift the vision for god's work in other parts of the world. the youth will never be the same and neither will the others that participated on this trip. you all deserve the tortuga award !

From Lawrence:

The memories are so many and together they form a thread of grace woven into my life.  In weaving the vertical threads are called the warp.  The horizontal threads are the weft.  Imagine that the warp – the vertical threads are symbols of a personal and intimate relationship with God.  Then the weft – the horizontal threads are symbols of the blessing of the work accomplished in Mexico, the good news shared and received, the blessing of unlocked vans.

            I am convinced this is true for all our lives.  The pattern of our lives doesn’t come from a faith that is isolated from one another – absolutely not.  From Hopelchen to Old Forge, from Konchen to Syracuse, we are the colorful threads woven into each other’s lives by the master weaver.  What a beautiful blessing!