Day 3: Welcome to Mexico!

February 11

Don't you love waking up in the morning to find yourself in a new country?

I sure do! I walked outside early, excited to get a look at the Mission in daylight. The first thing I noticed was the air: not only did it smell heavily of dew, but it also fairly rang with birds' choruses. The next thing I noticed were the bougainvila flowers billowing up the arches of one building! It's still February, right?

After I had gotten reaquainted with the grounds, the time came to head over to the main courtyard to await the 7:00AM breakfast bell.







This flushing wall is a favourite hangout for ringneck doves.



Many highlights filled the day, but first, a few observations:

5 Things in Mexico that Aren't in Canada

1) Cactus ranches

2) Orange, lemon, lime and guava trees

3) Flat-roofed buildings (no snow to worry about!)...

4) Spanish billboards (and stop signs and bathroom signs and store names...)

5) "Oxxo" gas stations and "Calimax" grocery stores

5 Things in Canada that Aren't in Mexico
1) Snow shovels
2) Timbits
3) Ice sculptures
4) Ice fishing
5) French on cereal boxes



Who knew that oranges actually DO grow on trees?

 Sala, or chapel, began at 8:00. Each service includes worship in both Spanish and English, and a spoken presentation. Charla, the founder of the ministry, spoke for this morning's service. Afterwards she hosted a tour for the visitors, including our YWAM group and a group from Taber, Canada that was also volunteering for the week. For me, the highlight of the tour was the chance to eat guavas fallen fresh from the tree!

Next came work assignments. While there are all SORTS of things to do here, Lana and I volunteered to pick macadamia nuts--a crop grown on-site to help support the mission. Kneeling in the sand, we gathered the ripe nuts into buckets from where they'd fallen around the trees.



Raw macadamia nuts still in their husks



The breezy orchard was a wonderful place to work, until we loaded ourselves (and our filled buckets) into the back of a pick-up to drive to the "Nut House." There, we sorted shelled nuts outside until supper.



A picture of the road from the Nut House:
Imagine with it the jostling of the pick-up truck,
 the strong smell of guavas in the buckets beside you, the warm sun...



Last on the agenda for the day was babysitting for the orphanage housemothers.

I'll leave the pictures (once I get them from the other group member's camera!) to describe that...