I received a partial email from Mr. Haymond about Monday's events. It wasn't complete as his internet apparently went down. He finally was able to resend it. Here it is!
Dear Friends and Family,
I apologize for the day-late message but here we are again. Monday was "another wonderful day in Vera Cruz". We awakened to picadas for breakfast, a traditional food here in Vera Cruz, like a small pizza. We left for the church in a taxi this morning because the hermano that usually takes us had no working car. We are now quite good and traveling independently throughout Vera Cruz.
At the church we divided into our groups and headed out to our work projects. Two small groups went to finish the septic tank projects from Saturday and the two other large groups went to lay cement floors in some of the poorest areas in the area. The poverty is everywhere, the smell, the touch, the pain, the facial expressions, the clothing, the homes, the bathrooms, the water, the animals, everything; but the people are our brothers and sisters and we love them and want them to know Him.
Our two large groups went to a differnt stake center and walked to the projects. You can imagine the sight of 25 Americans walking through these humble neighborhoods, the looks and expressions that are directed our way. Our main project was laying a cement floor for a 15 year girl who had joined the church in December. She has a 17 day old baby and she lives alone in a tiny shack of a home that now has a cement floor. The fireside we spoke at the night before focused on avoiding dating as young ages and preparing oneself for marriage and eternal families and here we were seeing the proof of the pain and suffering that comes with not following the Lord's ways. This sweet little mother was adorable and she let the girls hold her tiny, little boy. It was a precious sight. While we were doing this, something quite funny occurred.
The girls were still with the babies when two young men from the neighborhood passed by. I was lamenting the tragedy of a fatherless society, for the most part, and when I saw these young men, my ire was raised a bit. They had a predatorial look in their eyes and I exclaimed as they passed by, "Here is an example of the father of that little boy; if all you want to do is make a baby but not have a father, that is the way to go. " In that moment, Sarah Bowen yells out "That's exactly what I want to do!!!" She quickly realized what she had said and was quite embarrassed. We love Sarah and we laughed very hard.
Forgive me if I have offended tender hearts or feeling. Being here in Mexico, I am more keenly aware of the effects of men who do not know who they are, culture and it breaks my heart.
Another Sarah Bowen story that happened on Monday. She told us that she was in the shower when suddenly the water pressure dropped and so did her eyes to the floor. There she saw a very large cockroach on the floor and it sent her into a frenzy. She decided not to finish her shower and quickly gathered her things to leave the bathroom but the cockroach decided to plant itself by the door and she didn't dare leave. She was being literally held captive by a cockroach!!!
La cucaracha, la curaracha, no se puede correr ni duchar
aun que quiiere, aun que quiere,
Sarah no puede escapar.
Back to the project...we learned to use bathroom, outhouses, and so much more. Creating lines to pass water from barrels to the cement site, mixing cement, sand, and gravel, pumping water from a pump, giving candy to children, sharing the gospel with everyone who will listen, have a personal interview with a very drunk man, to befriending young women that lives in this very difficult place...what an experience.
After we finished the project we returned to the church where the sweet sisters fed us and we played soccer with the youth, US against Mexico. These guys are good and they humbled all of us.
At around 4pm, we boarded a bus and headed to the beach, arrived and swam, bought mango fruit flowers, went to Mega store for bathrooms and snacks, traveled to McDonalds for guacamole burgers, returned to our homes and ate these delicious hotcakes for a 10pm snack. We also visited with the daughter of our family and her boyfriend, talked about eternal marriage, the role of fathers and mothers, and so much more. We love our sweet family.
Have a wonderful night. :)
Dear Friends and Family,
I apologize for the day-late message but here we are again. Monday was "another wonderful day in Vera Cruz". We awakened to picadas for breakfast, a traditional food here in Vera Cruz, like a small pizza. We left for the church in a taxi this morning because the hermano that usually takes us had no working car. We are now quite good and traveling independently throughout Vera Cruz.
At the church we divided into our groups and headed out to our work projects. Two small groups went to finish the septic tank projects from Saturday and the two other large groups went to lay cement floors in some of the poorest areas in the area. The poverty is everywhere, the smell, the touch, the pain, the facial expressions, the clothing, the homes, the bathrooms, the water, the animals, everything; but the people are our brothers and sisters and we love them and want them to know Him.
Our two large groups went to a differnt stake center and walked to the projects. You can imagine the sight of 25 Americans walking through these humble neighborhoods, the looks and expressions that are directed our way. Our main project was laying a cement floor for a 15 year girl who had joined the church in December. She has a 17 day old baby and she lives alone in a tiny shack of a home that now has a cement floor. The fireside we spoke at the night before focused on avoiding dating as young ages and preparing oneself for marriage and eternal families and here we were seeing the proof of the pain and suffering that comes with not following the Lord's ways. This sweet little mother was adorable and she let the girls hold her tiny, little boy. It was a precious sight. While we were doing this, something quite funny occurred.
The girls were still with the babies when two young men from the neighborhood passed by. I was lamenting the tragedy of a fatherless society, for the most part, and when I saw these young men, my ire was raised a bit. They had a predatorial look in their eyes and I exclaimed as they passed by, "Here is an example of the father of that little boy; if all you want to do is make a baby but not have a father, that is the way to go. " In that moment, Sarah Bowen yells out "That's exactly what I want to do!!!" She quickly realized what she had said and was quite embarrassed. We love Sarah and we laughed very hard.
Forgive me if I have offended tender hearts or feeling. Being here in Mexico, I am more keenly aware of the effects of men who do not know who they are, culture and it breaks my heart.
Another Sarah Bowen story that happened on Monday. She told us that she was in the shower when suddenly the water pressure dropped and so did her eyes to the floor. There she saw a very large cockroach on the floor and it sent her into a frenzy. She decided not to finish her shower and quickly gathered her things to leave the bathroom but the cockroach decided to plant itself by the door and she didn't dare leave. She was being literally held captive by a cockroach!!!
La cucaracha, la curaracha, no se puede correr ni duchar
aun que quiiere, aun que quiere,
Sarah no puede escapar.
Back to the project...we learned to use bathroom, outhouses, and so much more. Creating lines to pass water from barrels to the cement site, mixing cement, sand, and gravel, pumping water from a pump, giving candy to children, sharing the gospel with everyone who will listen, have a personal interview with a very drunk man, to befriending young women that lives in this very difficult place...what an experience.
After we finished the project we returned to the church where the sweet sisters fed us and we played soccer with the youth, US against Mexico. These guys are good and they humbled all of us.
At around 4pm, we boarded a bus and headed to the beach, arrived and swam, bought mango fruit flowers, went to Mega store for bathrooms and snacks, traveled to McDonalds for guacamole burgers, returned to our homes and ate these delicious hotcakes for a 10pm snack. We also visited with the daughter of our family and her boyfriend, talked about eternal marriage, the role of fathers and mothers, and so much more. We love our sweet family.
Have a wonderful night. :)
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