We started off June with a Yugo staff retreat at the Rosarito Outreach center about an hour from EOC. We camped on site and had a great day of sessions, worship and time with everyone that works at yugo's different ministry sites.
Then we went camping! 3 more interns arrived and we went out to the prettiest place in the world to camp for 3 days. It was awesome spending time getting to know everyone and grow as a team. It was relaxing and we swam, hiked and sat around the camp fire :)
Then it was back to work! We have all been building together and getting to know more people and more families. Lately God has been showing me the reality of poverty here in Mexico. Sometimes when you live and work in one place something like poverty can become "the norm" so to speak. The last few weeks of building the Lord has been constantly reminding me of the reality of people's living situations. One day I sat down with a 24 year old woman who has 3 kids, and an alcoholic husband. Her 15 year old brother lives with her as well. She told me that she makes less than $10 a day when she works from 7-3, and to top it off she works in the fields. Which means it is hot and hard labor. Another time I was talking with a woman I built for in April. She was getting ready to give her baby boy, Alexsis a bath. She poured water into a bucket and set it in the sun to heat it up as well as putting a small pot of hot water on the stove. She pulled out a tub and a crate to create a bathtub and proceeded to put the sun-warmed water in the tub as well the water from the stove. She washed the baby inside the house with a bar of soap and there was no towel hanging around so she could dry little Alexsis once he was clean. The whole time I was thinking about how when I was little all my mom had to do was turn on hot water and I could take a bath. I had toys to play with and a clean towel next to the tub. Baths were easy, not a chore. The simple situation showed me the reality of how people live. Even though I have spent over 6 months in Mexico my eyes are still being opened to the way people live and how many blessings we have been given in the United States. I mean something like a washing machine or a shower is taken for granted as something we cannot live without, but millions of people do not have access to this in our world.
MY FAMILY CAME TO VISIT! I got to see my family for 5 days at the end of June. It was so awesome to be reconnected for awhile and to show my family what I love about this wonderful place as well as introduce them to the people I have been non-stop talking about for the past year! I took them to my favorite taco stand, to a local ministry-ran surf school (Where Cam, Paige and I tried surfing for the first time!) went to visit a family my dad had built for and just got to spend time with them. I was able to go to their hotel for the weekend so that was fun. My sister, dad, and grandpa came out to my work site with me on dedication day and it was awesome to show my little sister what I get to do and have her help alongside me. It went by way too fast but I'll see them in a few weeks!
