A Fresh Coat of Paint...

What a Wednesday! It was full, it was fun, it was fulfilling. Right after devotions at DeHoyos’, we headed off to Vista Hermosa, to work on the church. When we arrived many of us donned work gloves and started painting. Aside from a few breaks, the gloves remained in tact all day. We began by painting the window frames. Lovely frames, difficult to paint cracks, difficult to move windows, etc. all with a thick, sticky coat of white oil paint, the kind that sticks to everything and will not be removed without chemicals. After the frames, which of course took longer than expected or desired, we moved on to the front of the building. Much to our joy, this paint, while thick and sticky, was latex! It would wash off! The stucco on the outside of the building soaks up the paint like a sponge, and getting it into all the holes let to a motto for those of us painting, “No hole left behind!” However, once the outside of the building was done, we were by no means done painting. The windows were ready for a second coat of paint, back to the oil based. Then we discovered we had one more room to paint, once again back to latex paint.
Throughout this whole painting experience, the guys helped us some, trimmed the doors, finished the bathroom plumbing, washed the floor to prepare it for painting, and finished up many odd jobs and details. Once the bathroom plumbing was done, Breezy and I made the best fifty cent purchase of our lives! We walked to the tiny store on the corner and bought a bar of soap - we can now actually WASH our hands instead of slathering hand sanitizer on all day! We were thrilled.
When things were pretty well wrapped up, a competition started. We had several brooms to sweep the building and several of the guys and other kids began practicing balancing the broom handles on the palms of their hands. Once most of them had the hang of it, they began having races, if you lost the broom you had to start over.
Then it was time for the church service. Changing into non-painted clothes, we tried to freshen up and prepare for it. After singing a few songs several of us girls went into a back room with all the kids. There we told the story of Daniel in the lions den, David and Goliath, and at the end handed out glow sticks, which were a major hit. Daniel Miller shared with the adults, Josue translating.
Once the church service was over, we headed back to DeHoyos’ for a very late, but fabulous dinner. It was also Jason Lee’s birthday. So we sang happy birthday, attempted to say a Mexican birthday chant, tried to sing happy birthday in Spanish, and for a final number, Zelina and Kriss whistled happy birthday, harmonizing! Then we ate cake, and Jason experienced yet another Mexican tradition. Josue brought a piece of cake, and calmly told us all that this was tradition, and we were all to wish Jason many blessings, and Jason was supposed to take a bite. Then without missing a beat, he smashed and smeared the cake all over his face!! It was hilarious, and a very memorable moment. After enjoying the cake, we realized how late it was and headed off to the hotel to fall into bed.

~Jeanie