Day 4

(6/10/2024) - (Ollie and Allen)

Ollie:

Today, the guys started off waking up all pretty late, and by the time we finished our morning routine, breakfast had already started. The breakfast consisted of french toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, yogurt, and cereal. Uncle David was really sad that they no longer served the watermelon juice. 

After the morning session, the two color teams (blue + yellow) were informed of their task for the day. The yellow team were in charge of building barbed wire fences at an area called the Hope Zone. The blue team, on the other hand, were in charge of mowing grass w/ shovels and pickaxes. As a member of the yellow team, I can only elaborate on my experience at the Hope Zone unfortunately.  On the way there, we decided to play a series of games to pass time. This included "Would You Rather?" and "Superpowers with Disabilities". Everybody was in a pretty good mood, however, two people(ahem, won't name drop) fell asleep. As me neared our destination, we had to drive up the steep, bumpy mountain roads. Lots of stray dogs, children, and deserted cars were seen along the side of the road. Eventually, we ended up at the peak of the mountain, where two blue houses and a plain concrete court were seen. Oscar, the founder of the Hope Zone, greeted us with a warm welcome. For those of you who don't know exactly what Hope Zone does, it is a ministry which provides shelter, food, and activities for struggling families in these rural villages. They also help children from ages 3-25 by educating them on how to perform essential life skills.  After a quick prayer, our team divided into two smaller groups, to assist with different jobs. Group 1 was in charge of clearing out a bug infestation in the walls and installing a fiber-glass insulation for future concrete layering. Group 2 was in charge of digging holes each 10 feet apart and 2 feet deep in order for barbed wire fences to be installed. These jobs are crucial because recently, Oscar told us that there has been frequent break-ins at night. Although digging holes seemed fairly simple and easy initially to the common eye, it was backbreaking work which involved pickaxing and shoveling through hard rock and rough dirt, all while baking in the grueling sun. Our bus driver even helped single-handedly dig two of the holes. Many of the members developed calluses and blisters as a result of this menial labor. After a few hours of work, the local children began to arrive at the property. The first local child to show up was Luis, who had an interest in soccer and Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite language barriers, we were able to enjoy our time with him and play soccer. Allen was even able to learn how to say a few phrases in Spanish, such as mewing, which is 'silencio' in Spanish. Soon after, we ate lunch consisting of sandwiches, chips, cookies, and Gatorade in the house. This meal was well-deserved and devoured, as everyone was extremely exhausted. 

After lunch, even more kids showed up intermittently, and eventually we had enough people to play basic children's games such as Duck-Duck-Goose and Tag (but with a ball). Everybody had an amazing time, but we had to continue with our work. Thus, Irene, Kaitlyn, and Alyssa went inside to play with the children, while the guys worked on drilling more insulation into the walls. After a while, we had to clean up by transporting 20-ish remaining fiber-class insulation plates into a room. This lasted about 30 minutes and took all the men on property to perform. 

After that, we proceeded on our way back the the YWAM base. On the bus, everybody shared their 'highs', 'lows', and 'buffalos'(something unique or interesting) of the task. Elias, our translator, even taught me how to say a phrase in Español: "Mi sangre es roja, pero mi panzan es Mexicana", which translates to: my blood is red, but my belly is Mexican. In addition, everyone taught Elias and Silas(the yellow team leaders) how to speak in Mandarin Chinese. 

When we arrived back at the base, we rested and showered for an hour until 5:30 PM, which was time for dinner. We had reserved a fancy, all-you-can-eat, Korean BBQ place for the team and some of the YWAM. At the restaurant, we had to split into three tables. Allen, Thomas, Brian, Silas, Becca, Big Sam, Luh Samuel, Bri, was in one. Ethan, Alyssa, Elijah, Ollie, Keely, Connie, Elias, Connor, in another. Everyone else was in the other, bigger table. The restauraut was extremely fun. In my (Allen's) table, Brian was fretting over whether the meat would be undercooked or not. He also ate like 10 pounds of fat. Some of the best foods included the Caprisoju, "especial ribeye", sushi, and KFC popcorn chicken. Overall everybody had a blast, except Irene, who got a stomachache because she is constipated and fat. When we got home Ethan, Ollie, Kaitlyn, Jessica's older sister, and I had to go to OXXO to buy instant noodles, which probably made Irene feel worse. 

At 8:30 PM all of the CCIC group met up to worship, we then shared our feelings and thoughts about the previous lessons and experiences. Irene felt better later too.

(some things may be alleged and not true)