John Mark & Moorea

Hello,

Construction is continuing around here. They have moved most of what they need for the roof up stairs, so the construction site has gotten a lot quieter. No more cement mixer or truck/pulley system. They just finished pouring the pitch in the roof and laying tile as the final stage of finishing the roof. Now, they are doing some of the finish work on the second story rooms like electrical and stucco. The current office needs to be torn down before they can begin construction on the main sanctuary, so they have to move upstairs before breaking ground on the next phase of construction. The plan is to finish the current building enough to occupy it, and then to commence on the main building. They hope to have at least the roof up on the main sanctuary before Christmas. As you can imagine, that is a huge project which involves tearing down one building, cutting down two beloved trees, and moving the awning under which we are currently having church.

 Laying tile on the roof

This week, we had an organizational meeting for the kids’ class teachers. With three main services a week, plus classes at three other locations two times a week, the group of teachers is a sizable bunch. A man who works for EMS in Puerto Vallarta came and gave some basic first aid training such as how to respond to a person who has collapsed, how to help someone who is choking, and how to deal with someone who is bleeding heavily.

Getting set up and ready for church to begin

I am currently heading up two teams of teachers. I am organizing the classes at San Ignacio, though my Spanish is not yet good enough to teach. I am also organizing the teachers for the English 9-14 year olds class. It was very good to have a time to discuss what is working and what isn’t, and to plan ahead for the next few weeks.

In Sayulita on the beach

On our day off, we went up to the little town of Sayulita which is just north of San Ignacio. It is a touristy, hippie, beach town famous for its surfing. One the way there on the bus, a tire developed a bubble in it, so we were galumphing along at a pretty slow pace on the jungle road when I felt it explode where my foot was resting against the wheel well. Afterwards the driver seemed relieved, and we sped happily along on our seven remaining tires. The rest of the day was lovely. We spent the afternoon sitting on the beach and eating from one of the beachside restaurants. We were able to use an umbrella from the restaurant, which saved us from being severely burnt by the end of the afternoon. The town was a little more touristy that we had anticipated (read: we were heckled by beach vendors the whole time). We walked around a little before we bused home. The town was very colorful and had lots of potted plants and taco stands.

John and I are going home for a quick visit at the end of this month. One of my good friends is getting married, and I am primarily going home for the wedding. It will also be good to see our families. It is hard to believe that we have been here for almost three months already. My sister is also flying in from San Antonio the week we will be home, and I am pretty excited to see her.

We are having a breakfast tomorrow in San Ignacio, so we will be up early to pick up a couple of the teenagers, drive north, and make sandwiches.
Thanks for keeping up with us,
Moorea