Trinity Summer Casas- Tuesday July 12 - leaving Juarez, Mexico
by Mara Erhardt
When I got up today, Tuesday, I was very sad because Casas was over. We cleaned up all our stuff and the facilities at the Compound and loaded the trailer. Breakfast was quick and simple. Josh Crabbs, Rudy's foremen, was saying he wanted to spend more time with Rudy so the two of them should stay and build another house. As I walked by, Josh said I should stay with them, too. We laughed about it, but I really wished I could have stayed.
After leaving the compound, we passed through a Mexican Army check point on our way to the US boarder. We had to stop but when the soldier (who couldn't have been much older than me) looked inside the van at a bunch of "gringos," he waved us through. When we were at the border to cross back into the US, we swung west to the border crossing in New Mexico, once again avoiding downtown Juarez. Crossing the border back into the US was thankfully uneventful. Soon we were back in El Paso and everyone went their separate ways.
On the return trip in the church van was Pastor Mark, Troy, Sarah, Kelly Mead, Gwenn Clarke, and myself. We made a quick run to the Mexican restaurant down the street, where we previously ate lunch on Saturday, to order some breakfast burritos. While there, we ran into a Lutheran Men's Bible Study and, looking back over the trip, it was the third time we had run into Lutherans who outwardly approached us about our trip.
The breakfast burritos were fantastic, and we took off. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime, and I was eating again at the Pistachio Ranch we always stop at in Alamogordo, NM. The rest of the trip back to Colorado was uneventful. Pastor Mark, Troy, Sarah, and I played Euchre for a while but generally it was pretty quiet in the van. The sunset coming back through Denver was spectacular. I was glad to be back when we parked in front of the Twietmeyers' house. We all stayed and helped unload the church trailer though there was very little to unload. My Dad picked me up and then the trip was truly over.
Thank you very much for reading this blog of my experience with the July Casas Mission Trip. I hope this gave you an inside look into the Casas ministry and insight into why these trips are so special. If you would like to know more or have any questions about this trip, or Casas in general, feel free to ask me the next time you see me around Trinity.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Casas Mission Trip July 2011 Post 5
Trinity Summer Casas Trip - Monday July 11 in Juarez, Mexico
by Mara Erhardt
It was hard to get up on Monday morning at 6am. I was very tired and sore from the first build day, but when we got to the work site and started working I felt loose and ready to go. The first few hours were spent preparing the house to be stuccoed on the outside and finishing insulation on the inside. Because we had so few people we had to stucco the houses one at a time while a team of 4ish stayed inside and drywalled. Since our house was ready to stucco first, half of Rudy's team came over and helped us. This was the best stucco crew I have ever worked with. We flew through the first house and in no time we were stuccoing the other house. The heat was a problem again today and by the time we were finished we had run out of water at the site.
In my experience, this was the longest it had taken us to finish the houses. Because of our low numbers we could not spare a few people to start collecting tools, packing them up, unloading family gifts, and other general clean up like we usually can, so that when we are finished stuccoing and dry walling everything is ready to go. We had originally planned to bless the houses at 1pm but we had to push it back to 3pm because we were no where near ready at 1.
When we bless the house, the team who built the house, Pastor Mark, the family, and the family's Pastor gather in the finished house (hopefully with a translator). Both Pastors say a small devotional (Pastor Mark impressivly delivered his in Spanish), the family has a chance to speak (generally thanking us for the work we have done), we pray with our hands on the house to bless it, and the family recieves the keys and a Bible. The most interesting part of the blessing this time was when the mother spoke: she said they would take good care of the house. None of us had ever heard anyone say that before.
When we were finally packed up and were ready to head back to the Compound, we sent out invitations to the families of Tierre d'Amor to join us for dinner and fellowship that night. When we got back we only had two hours before the families would start showing up. So, we took quick, refreshing showers, a short break to drink our Mexican Cokes, and started preparing for dinner.
Tonight, the dinner was pandemonium. There were more families there then ever before and as soon as they came in, they began to take food not just for that evening, but for the next few days. We gave away everything, even the dinner we had set aside for ourselves. By the end of the night there was only some chips, salsa, and tomorrow's breakfast left. Brent Sandau brought a bunch of donated soccer balls, baseballs, baseball bats, baseball gloves, and cleats and handed them out to the kids. Immediatly he was mobbed by kids as well as parents. The shoes were by far the most popular (and important as a child cannot go to school if he/she does not have shoes) and it was hard to see the disappointed faces of parents whose children got nothing.
Later, Pastor Mark asked us to imagine, if this was these people's response to some free sporting goods, how it must have been for the people who heard of Jesus and His miracles and came to be healed by Him, only to hear that He had left.
For dinner instead of hotdogs, chilli, chips, and brownies, I had half a Quesadilla cooked in the microwave with some salsa on top, but it was the best Quesadilla I have ever had. We were all spent after a hard day of work and a stressful dinner. However, we still had some energy left to play games together. I look forward to going back to the US tomorrow and coming home.
by Mara Erhardt
It was hard to get up on Monday morning at 6am. I was very tired and sore from the first build day, but when we got to the work site and started working I felt loose and ready to go. The first few hours were spent preparing the house to be stuccoed on the outside and finishing insulation on the inside. Because we had so few people we had to stucco the houses one at a time while a team of 4ish stayed inside and drywalled. Since our house was ready to stucco first, half of Rudy's team came over and helped us. This was the best stucco crew I have ever worked with. We flew through the first house and in no time we were stuccoing the other house. The heat was a problem again today and by the time we were finished we had run out of water at the site.
In my experience, this was the longest it had taken us to finish the houses. Because of our low numbers we could not spare a few people to start collecting tools, packing them up, unloading family gifts, and other general clean up like we usually can, so that when we are finished stuccoing and dry walling everything is ready to go. We had originally planned to bless the houses at 1pm but we had to push it back to 3pm because we were no where near ready at 1.
When we bless the house, the team who built the house, Pastor Mark, the family, and the family's Pastor gather in the finished house (hopefully with a translator). Both Pastors say a small devotional (Pastor Mark impressivly delivered his in Spanish), the family has a chance to speak (generally thanking us for the work we have done), we pray with our hands on the house to bless it, and the family recieves the keys and a Bible. The most interesting part of the blessing this time was when the mother spoke: she said they would take good care of the house. None of us had ever heard anyone say that before.
When we were finally packed up and were ready to head back to the Compound, we sent out invitations to the families of Tierre d'Amor to join us for dinner and fellowship that night. When we got back we only had two hours before the families would start showing up. So, we took quick, refreshing showers, a short break to drink our Mexican Cokes, and started preparing for dinner.
Tonight, the dinner was pandemonium. There were more families there then ever before and as soon as they came in, they began to take food not just for that evening, but for the next few days. We gave away everything, even the dinner we had set aside for ourselves. By the end of the night there was only some chips, salsa, and tomorrow's breakfast left. Brent Sandau brought a bunch of donated soccer balls, baseballs, baseball bats, baseball gloves, and cleats and handed them out to the kids. Immediatly he was mobbed by kids as well as parents. The shoes were by far the most popular (and important as a child cannot go to school if he/she does not have shoes) and it was hard to see the disappointed faces of parents whose children got nothing.
Later, Pastor Mark asked us to imagine, if this was these people's response to some free sporting goods, how it must have been for the people who heard of Jesus and His miracles and came to be healed by Him, only to hear that He had left.
For dinner instead of hotdogs, chilli, chips, and brownies, I had half a Quesadilla cooked in the microwave with some salsa on top, but it was the best Quesadilla I have ever had. We were all spent after a hard day of work and a stressful dinner. However, we still had some energy left to play games together. I look forward to going back to the US tomorrow and coming home.
Casas Mission Trip July 2011 Post 4
Trinity Summer Casas Trip - Sunday July 10 in Juarez, Mexico
by Mara Erhardt
I apologize I did not get this up on Tuesday morning, once we had crossed the border back into the USA. I will get the rest of the posts up today (Wednesday) and hopefully in a few days be able to add some pictures.
On Sunday morning, at 5 am, the alarm went off in the hotel room. We all met outside in the parking lot of the hotel in El Paso at 5:45am by the van and trailer to load all of our gear. We had a quick breakfast and then we hit the road. First we stopped by the Casas compound in El Paso to meet the foremen who will direct us in how to build the house. Usually Pete Dockery and Josh Crabbs are our foremen for Pastor Mark's and Rudy's teams respectively, but Pete had just got back from building in Guatemala so Jason Roth was the foremen for Pastor Mark's team instead. Also for the first time we discussed the plan of what to do should we run into any trouble at the site while building.
Trinity no longer uses the downtown border crossing from El Paso into Juarez, so instead we swing east to the Bridge of the Americas. Getting into Mexico was no problem, we were not even pulled over in the church van like we usually are. (There is a big problem of guns being smuggled into Mexico from the US that fuel the violence, so big vans, trucks, and trailers are usually pulled over and opened up.) After the crossing we drove southwest out into the "kilometers" to the build site on Tierre d'Amor. As many of you may know the church owns property called Tierre d'Amor on which 15 families currently reside. There are 19 housing lots total so we still have four more houses to build. The first few times we built the land was mostly empty and open, now it is full of houses with makeshift extensions and fences around individual property. It is great to see the families taking ownership of their house and their land.
The rest of the day was a pretty standard build day for Day 1 on site. When we arrived we unloaded tools and then set to work leveling the site and cutting wood. Immediatly the heat started to be a factor. The concrete showed up around 9 am (we had ordered a truck of concrete) and we poured it into the form we built out of 12 footers that are later used to build the roof. Nothing is wasted; every last bit of material is used to build the house. After the slab was poured we started building the walls. We took a break around 1pm and went to the Casas Compound which is conveniently a few blocks away from the site. We unloaded bags and food, ate lunch, and packed dinner. We returned to the site around 3pm and continued to work. By the end of the day the walls were up with weather proof black board covering the frame, the chicken wire (used to hold the stucco on) was covering the black board, and the roof was on and finished. It was starting to really look like something!
Because of our small numbers (18 total, 9 per house - ideally we want around 24 total, 12 per house) we were all constantly working. On Pastor Mark's team we didn't even eat our dinner: I was so busy I didn't even notice and so tired I didn't even care. Today was hands down the hardest, sweatiest, busiest day of Casas I have every experienced. When we got back to the compound I instantly hit the showers. My cot felt like a feather bed when I layed down to go to sleep.
by Mara Erhardt
I apologize I did not get this up on Tuesday morning, once we had crossed the border back into the USA. I will get the rest of the posts up today (Wednesday) and hopefully in a few days be able to add some pictures.
On Sunday morning, at 5 am, the alarm went off in the hotel room. We all met outside in the parking lot of the hotel in El Paso at 5:45am by the van and trailer to load all of our gear. We had a quick breakfast and then we hit the road. First we stopped by the Casas compound in El Paso to meet the foremen who will direct us in how to build the house. Usually Pete Dockery and Josh Crabbs are our foremen for Pastor Mark's and Rudy's teams respectively, but Pete had just got back from building in Guatemala so Jason Roth was the foremen for Pastor Mark's team instead. Also for the first time we discussed the plan of what to do should we run into any trouble at the site while building.
Trinity no longer uses the downtown border crossing from El Paso into Juarez, so instead we swing east to the Bridge of the Americas. Getting into Mexico was no problem, we were not even pulled over in the church van like we usually are. (There is a big problem of guns being smuggled into Mexico from the US that fuel the violence, so big vans, trucks, and trailers are usually pulled over and opened up.) After the crossing we drove southwest out into the "kilometers" to the build site on Tierre d'Amor. As many of you may know the church owns property called Tierre d'Amor on which 15 families currently reside. There are 19 housing lots total so we still have four more houses to build. The first few times we built the land was mostly empty and open, now it is full of houses with makeshift extensions and fences around individual property. It is great to see the families taking ownership of their house and their land.
The rest of the day was a pretty standard build day for Day 1 on site. When we arrived we unloaded tools and then set to work leveling the site and cutting wood. Immediatly the heat started to be a factor. The concrete showed up around 9 am (we had ordered a truck of concrete) and we poured it into the form we built out of 12 footers that are later used to build the roof. Nothing is wasted; every last bit of material is used to build the house. After the slab was poured we started building the walls. We took a break around 1pm and went to the Casas Compound which is conveniently a few blocks away from the site. We unloaded bags and food, ate lunch, and packed dinner. We returned to the site around 3pm and continued to work. By the end of the day the walls were up with weather proof black board covering the frame, the chicken wire (used to hold the stucco on) was covering the black board, and the roof was on and finished. It was starting to really look like something!
Because of our small numbers (18 total, 9 per house - ideally we want around 24 total, 12 per house) we were all constantly working. On Pastor Mark's team we didn't even eat our dinner: I was so busy I didn't even notice and so tired I didn't even care. Today was hands down the hardest, sweatiest, busiest day of Casas I have every experienced. When we got back to the compound I instantly hit the showers. My cot felt like a feather bed when I layed down to go to sleep.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Casas Mission Trip July 2011 Post 3
Trinity Summer Casas Trip - Saturday July 9
by Mara Erhardt
Today Pastor Mark, Rudy, Kelly, and I went to Sam's Club to pick up food for the next two days while we will be in Juarez. I was suprised at how quickly the trip to Sam's went, and before I knew it, we were back in the hotel room with all the food packed in the trailer and ready to go by 10:30am with nothing to do until lunch. So I decided to take a nap. Around 12noon we went out for Mexican food and then we drove to downtown El Paso and did some shopping in the markets. All in all it was a pretty relaxing day.
Everyone else who is coming on the Mission Trip started showing up at the hotel around 4:30pm. So, instead of going out to eat at the Mexican restaurant again, we decided to go to Rudy's BBQ (by the end of dinner Rudy Deutschmann was pretty tired of all the jokes).
At 7:30pm we gathered together with the other builders joining us on the Casas Mission trip to talk about the next few days. We introduced ourselves, talked about what to expect, and had a small devotional and worship service (the devotional was from Judges 7 about Gideon and how the 300 were chosen for ministry, check it out). The one thing that stood out this meeting over other meetings I have been to before Casas trips was that many people mentioned that for the first time, they were nervous about going to Juarez with all the recent violence. Then we all headed to our rooms for a good night's sleep before we take off early on Sunday morning for Juarez.
I will not be able to post for the next few days as there is no Internet where we stay in Juarez, but I will write them up and post them Tuesday morning once I am back in the US. Please keep us in your prayers. Thanks.
by Mara Erhardt
Today Pastor Mark, Rudy, Kelly, and I went to Sam's Club to pick up food for the next two days while we will be in Juarez. I was suprised at how quickly the trip to Sam's went, and before I knew it, we were back in the hotel room with all the food packed in the trailer and ready to go by 10:30am with nothing to do until lunch. So I decided to take a nap. Around 12noon we went out for Mexican food and then we drove to downtown El Paso and did some shopping in the markets. All in all it was a pretty relaxing day.
Everyone else who is coming on the Mission Trip started showing up at the hotel around 4:30pm. So, instead of going out to eat at the Mexican restaurant again, we decided to go to Rudy's BBQ (by the end of dinner Rudy Deutschmann was pretty tired of all the jokes).
At 7:30pm we gathered together with the other builders joining us on the Casas Mission trip to talk about the next few days. We introduced ourselves, talked about what to expect, and had a small devotional and worship service (the devotional was from Judges 7 about Gideon and how the 300 were chosen for ministry, check it out). The one thing that stood out this meeting over other meetings I have been to before Casas trips was that many people mentioned that for the first time, they were nervous about going to Juarez with all the recent violence. Then we all headed to our rooms for a good night's sleep before we take off early on Sunday morning for Juarez.
I will not be able to post for the next few days as there is no Internet where we stay in Juarez, but I will write them up and post them Tuesday morning once I am back in the US. Please keep us in your prayers. Thanks.
Casas Mission Trip July 2011 Post 2
Trinity Summer Casas Trip - Friday July 8, by Mara Erhardt
Today Pastor Mark, Rudy Deutchman, Kelly Mead, Troy Gould and Sarah Trexler, and I drove 11 hours down to El Paso, TX in the church van. Though most people leave late afternoon Friday or early Saturday morning to reach El Paso by dinner time Saturday night, the church van needs to be down in El Paso earlier in order to go food shopping and run other last minute errands to make sure we are ready to go on Sunday.
The drive down was mostly uneventful and frankly a little boring. The first 7 hours flew by and before I knew it we were more than half way there. The only excitement came when Rudy suggested a new route that looked like a straighter path down to Alamagordo. In the end, it did save us some time, but for the first 45 minutes we were going only 40 mph (the optimum speed being 75-80 mph) through a windy mountain road that was poorly paved and even more poorly maintained. We all gave Rudy a hard time for his poor choice in roads and he said he will never live it down. And soon it did straighten out and we were making good time again.
We got in to El Paso around 7pm and had a late dinner. Tomorrow, we are going food shopping and later we might go visit a Lutheran Church down in Juarez.
Today Pastor Mark, Rudy Deutchman, Kelly Mead, Troy Gould and Sarah Trexler, and I drove 11 hours down to El Paso, TX in the church van. Though most people leave late afternoon Friday or early Saturday morning to reach El Paso by dinner time Saturday night, the church van needs to be down in El Paso earlier in order to go food shopping and run other last minute errands to make sure we are ready to go on Sunday.
The drive down was mostly uneventful and frankly a little boring. The first 7 hours flew by and before I knew it we were more than half way there. The only excitement came when Rudy suggested a new route that looked like a straighter path down to Alamagordo. In the end, it did save us some time, but for the first 45 minutes we were going only 40 mph (the optimum speed being 75-80 mph) through a windy mountain road that was poorly paved and even more poorly maintained. We all gave Rudy a hard time for his poor choice in roads and he said he will never live it down. And soon it did straighten out and we were making good time again.
We got in to El Paso around 7pm and had a late dinner. Tomorrow, we are going food shopping and later we might go visit a Lutheran Church down in Juarez.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Casas Mission Trip July 2011
Trinity Summer Casas Trip - Post 1 (Thursday, July 7th)
Hello, my name is Mara Erhardt. My family and I have been members at Trinity for 5 years. I am 17 years old and going into my senior year of High School. This will be my 6th Casas trip.
At 9am tomorrow I will be setting off in the church van heading down to El Paso TX. Today, I spent the entire day packing and getting ready for the trip. First I went and got all the clothes together that I would need, everything from my bathing suit for the pool in El Paso to my Carhartt work pants and boots. As I dug my boots out of the bottom of my closet, a big cloud of dust and sand flowed out that distinctly smelled of Juarez. Next, I rummaged through the garage looking for my sleeping bag and cot. Last, but certainly most important, I got all my tools together. All anyone really needs are gloves, a hammer, and a tool belt for nails, but I like to bring some other tools that have come in handy over my previous trips, like box cutter, knee pads, wire cutters, staple hammer, and a measuring tape. In no time I had this:
looking like this:
Seeing everything packed and ready to go made me realize that indeed I am going on Casas again! Like any trip it seems unreal until I pack for it. I am so excited to go on another Casas trip full of hard work, fun, and fellowship. It is a humbling experience to do God's work in a very physically demanding setting in order to make life different for a family. I am most looking forward to seeing my friend Margarito. We built a house for him a year ago last summer. He and I built the concrete stoop in front of his door. Later that day when all the families from Tierra D'Amor (the neighborhood we build houses for) came to the Compound (a concrete walled in building builders stay in) for dinner, his family, Becca Sager, and I talked to each other throughout the meal. I also sat and talked with his family at dinner on this past November trip. I cannot wait to see them again.
Hope you enjoy following us over the next 5 days. I'll post again tomorrow night from the hotel in El Paso about the 12 hour van ride down.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
This Week at Trinity Lutheran - June 29th-30th, 2011
Thank you for your prayers for Day Camp at Trinity this week!
We have 54 campers, 21 PUNKS (youth helpers), 5 Rainbow Trail Counselors (including Trinity’s own Tim Plumb), and tons of adult leaders. They are at Trinity daily 9am-3pm, and things are going very well! Today they went offsite to eat lunch and play games at North Boulder Park, and then go sing for the residents of Manor Care in Boulder.
TONIGHT, Thursday, Worship at 7pm...Join us for an uplifting worship service at Trinity where the Day Camp youth lead us in worship, sharing what they have learned this week. The worship will be immediately followed by rootbeer floats out on Trinity’s south lawn. Hope to see you there!
We have 54 campers, 21 PUNKS (youth helpers), 5 Rainbow Trail Counselors (including Trinity’s own Tim Plumb), and tons of adult leaders. They are at Trinity daily 9am-3pm, and things are going very well! Today they went offsite to eat lunch and play games at North Boulder Park, and then go sing for the residents of Manor Care in Boulder.
TONIGHT, Thursday, Worship at 7pm...Join us for an uplifting worship service at Trinity where the Day Camp youth lead us in worship, sharing what they have learned this week. The worship will be immediately followed by rootbeer floats out on Trinity’s south lawn. Hope to see you there!
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