Wheels of Thunder

On May 13th, my racing team, the International Christian Cycling Team (ICCC) put on their annual criterium race in Golden, CO. The race takes place on a 1.3 mile closed course loop that the police use to practice/train in their squad cars which is located on top of a large mesa called South Table Mountain. I volunteered to help out the race and was asked to work at the registration table. My fiancee said she wanted to come help out as well and we got there early and worked the table together, entering every racer's name on the scoring sheets.

I also decided to race the Wheels of Thunder category 4 men. This was my first race of the season and only my third criterium ever. My race wasn't until 12:55 so I helped at the registration table until about 11:30 and then started getting my bike ready for my race and warming up. I had to change my tires on my spare wheels for the wheel pit (in case I got a flat during the race) because my old tires had holes in them and I had just recieved my new tires at the race. That took me a little while and then I got my bike all ready to go and put it on the trainer I got from my coworker to warm up. I had it in my mind that my race was at 1:00 instead of 12:55 so I rode the trainer a little longer than I should have. As I was taking my bike of the trainer and preparing it to race, I realized that I didn't have my race number on my jersey yet! I can't put it on myself while I'm wearing my jersey so I ran over to wear Kendra was working, but she was not where to be found so I found my closest team member (a guy from emmaus) and asked him to pin my number on as fast as he could. I only had a couple minutes until the start of my race! He did a fabulous job, then I ran over and grabbed my bike, hopped on it, and bike the wrong direction on the race course towards the start line, swerved off the road right before the pack at the line and went to the back of the pack. Right after I turned my bike around and got on it, they fired the gun to start the race! I almost missed my first race of the season!

That got my adrenaline pumping pretty good, so I was amped up for my race. As we started I let most everyone go ahead of me and just hung out in the back. I needed to get a little more warmed up before I tried anything fancy. My goal for the race was just to hang on and finish with the pack. After the first lap I felt that I had to work pretty hard to hold on, but I was still hanging. I started to feel a little better during the second lap and started to get into a rhythm even though I was still working very hard, and we had to race 14 laps! On the third lap I was feeling pretty good and started to work my way up closer to the front of the pack. I think it was on this lap when there was a crash right next to me! It happened pretty quickly, I just saw a couple guys collide and go down and heard the terrible noise of metal grinding on asphalt. I was very thankful that I wasn't right behind the crash. On the next lap as we were going through the S-turns on the far side of the track, the peloton (pack of riders) condensed very quickly and I had guys pressing up against me on both sides. It was pretty nerve wracking, but I kept my cool and we rode out of it without any harm.

Around the 7th lap or so, I found myself near the front of the peloton and feeling pretty good so I decided to push myself as we were approaching the finish line. I broke off the front of the peloton for a little bit and crossed the line in about 2nd or 3rd place. I didn't get any credit or anything for that effort, but it was really fun. On the following lap however, I was regretting speding that much energy and had to really push it to not drop off the back of the peloton. I was able to stay in the pack and recover over the next lap and then started mixing it up again. A couple laps later there was a small break away off the front. I was up near the front of the pack and we worked together to reel them back in quickly.

The next thing I noticed was the announcer saying there were only two more laps to go. I couldn't believe it! We were almost done and I was still in the main pack. I just had to hold on for two more laps to accomplish my goal. The race felt like it was going by really quickly too. So, I managed to hang in the pack for that lap and the following. As we were coming down the final stretch to the finish line I realized that I had made it! I had finished with the first group! Then I thought, "why don't I try to move up in the field a little more?" So I worked my way up a little bit and finished 22nd out of 58 finishers and 93 starters. I was surprised at how many racers had dropped out. Our average speed was about 27mph and it took us just under 45 mins to ride about 18.2 miles.

Complete results are here.

I actually had a blast in this race. Criteriums have never been my favorite race, but I really enjoyed this one since I didn't have a flat tire or get dropped like my first two races. As I look back I feel like I could have finished higher if I had pushed it a little sooner and harder as we were finishing, but I wasn't really trying because I was content with my performance. Part of me wishes that I had though. I guess I will have to do another criterium and go for the win next time...

"It's your weekend, you decide."

Back in the last weekend of April I ventured to Moab for my friend Rob's bachelor party. Basically, it was a blast! We spent the whole weekend mountain biking the sweet trails of Moab! We tried to go to Fruita, CO, but all the camping spots were full by the time we got there due to the Fat Tire festival that was going on that weekend. So, we continued on down the road to Moab.
Moab is basically the mecca of mountain biking. There are an amazing amount of really sweet trails. The first day we rode the Klondike Bluffs trail which is a good intro to moab riding. It has sand and slickrock and dirt riding. It is an out and back to the border of arches national park and has several dinosaur tracks on display in the slick rock. On our way back to the car we decided to ride some of the baby steps trail as well to get some more time in the saddle. This trail had one cool climb up a slick rock slope, but that was about it.
The second day Rob, Hughes and I got up early and rode the famous "Slickrock" trail as fast as we could. This trail is amazing. It is almost entirely on slickrock (which is sandstone that gives you an insane amount of traction) with a few sand crossings. It involves many really steep climbs and decents along the way with plenty of technical riding to keep your guard up. It took us about an hour and 14 minutes to complete the ~10 mile loop and then we hopped in the car and raced home. It was a great trip!

Birthday Gift From My King

So, I was born on this day, 26 years ago. Doesn't seem like it's been that long. Yet it does because I can't seem to remember anything before that event...

I love to ride my bikes. I don't have my new moutain bike yet. It's in the shop, I just need to pick it up and haven't had time yet. So... I rode my rode bike today at lunch. It's also easier to rode ride at lunch than trail ride. I thought it would be a great birthday activity to go out at lunch and suffer up one of our threatening climbs here in Boulder.It was a beautiful day out today and we had a great ride. (I went with some coworkers and others that work near Ball)

3 of us were planning to ride up sunshine canyon, maybe even to the top, but we ran into Bill, a guy I used to ride with a bunch but haven't lately, and he was heading up super flagstaff with some friends so we decided to join him. There were 7 of us that rode up flagstaff all the way to the top. We rode to the base of the climb at an easy pace, but as soon as we hit the climb the pace was raised quite a bit. I was hurting at the bottom, giving almost everything I had to try to stay on and got dropped about 1/3 of the way to the top. I kept pushing though and praising God (helps me get through the pain). and I was asking God to give me the strength to beat Bill because he is a good climber and I've ridden with him a lot and never outright beat him, but come close several times. anyways, he had already dropped me, but i spotted him and another guy struggling up the 'wall' and i was feeling pretty good at that point. I decided to keep pushing at a steady pace but not too hard. I was closing the gap and he spotted me at the last switch backs and put in an extra effort to try to keep me off. I almost gave up, but kept my cool and kept pushing at my steady pace. After I cleared the last switch back I stood up and pushed HARD up the last climb and passed bill and the other guy about 5m before the finish line! It was awesome! and painful! I ended up third at just under 34min behind a Rocky Mounts guy who did it in 29 something and kraig who finished in just over 31min. God is so good! what a great birhday present to finally out climb Bill. I haven't been climbing that great lately either. So far, it's been a great birthday!

so long XTC, thanks for everything

Last week, as I told you, I decided to buy a new mtn bike. Here's a picture of her! (you can click on it to enlarge) She's a Specialized Epic. Isn't she pretty? She should arrive sometime in March. I can't wait! I'm so excited! I was able to get a pro deal on the bike from specialized through the racing team I just joined: the International Christian Cycling Club or ICCC or IC3. We were able to get more than 40% off! It was a sweet deal. I guess now I have to race for the team this year. If we got bikes through their deal, we are obligated to race in at least 4 races this year. That's cool though, I'm looking forward to racing. I think this bike will help me out a lot too. I'm used to riding on a hard tail and last year I got torn apart on the downhills. A full suspension will really help me.

This bike has a sweet front fork (Fox F100RL) and a pretty high tech rear shock. It's the new 'brain' shock by fox and it is suposed to ride like a hardtail until you hit a large bump, then the shock activates and acts like a full suspension. Last year was the first year for the 'brain' and its downfall was that the first bump would really jar you because the shock was still stiff. This year they improved it so that the shock will absorb the first shock. I test rode one and it really works. Pretty impressive. This bike also has hydraulic disk brakes which I'm excited about. I'm used to mechanical discs and I think these will be much nicer and hopefully not as noisy.

I hope that I'm able to place better at races this year with my new bike. Not that I need to win to have fun, it would just be more fun. I think i'm going to fit my old mtn bike for my fiancee so we can go riding together more often. That will be sweet too!

BuffaloHead

Wednesday night my roomate and I went to the Sun and I had a pint of the Buffalo Head Stout by mountain sun. It was a good beer. Sweet, but not too sweet. They added some juniper berries to the batch which gave the beer a very slight earthy finish. I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it. It was a good stout, but nothing fantastic. Before we left we purchased a growler of brokeback stout. I'll have to try that and let you know what I think.

cherry dip

Last week I went to the Mountain Sun and tried their new Cherry Dip Stout. It's made in the same manner as their Belgian Dip Stout (with lots of milk and dark chocolate) except they also add a bunch of dried cherries to the mix. This beer was fantastic! It's on nitro tap so it is extra smooth. The chocolate makes the beer slightly sweet, but still slightly bitter. And the cherries add a very slight tartness to the beer. Amazing. I think this is my favorite beer I've ever tasted.

sappy valentine post

Consider yourself warned...
Last night, for valentines day, I had made plans to take my sweetie out to dinner and then watch a movie at her house afterwards. Not too ambitious or overly romantic plans, but a nice night out none the less. I left work early in order to be able to pick up a movie from Redbox, buy a couple roses and not have to rush to pick up my date. However, I also thought I could squeeze in some work on my tax returns before I left. You see, I was trying to see how large my return would be so I would know if I had enough money to buy a new moutain bike by the deadline (today, I'll explain more later). So, I still thought I left with plenty of time, went to McDonald's and got a movie (March of the Penguins) and then headed to Safeway. I was running a little behind schedule, but thought I still had time to buy some roses. Of course, safeway and its parking lot was packed! I ran in, nervously looking at my watch, grabbed 3 roses, and ran to the self checkout line (I noticed that the roses each had their own barcode sticker on them). There was no one in line at this one and the two ladies using it were almost done (yes!), I think they were preparing for a date night themselves ;-). Finally it was my turn and I quickly swiped my roses, saving my safeway card for last. No surprise, the roses didn't register and a clerk had to come assist me. After he got that worked out I swiped my safeway card and the stupid thing said that I had to wait for help again! I was starting to lose my composure at this point. I finally got out of there and raced over to pick up my beautiful date. The time was 6:30 when we left her place (the time I made our reservation for) and we still had to make it all the way to Buca di Beppo near Flatirons mall! We walked in there about 25 minutes late and the hostess said she had to give our table away because we were more than 15 minutes late! I couldn't do anything except stand there and stare blankly as my heart was bombarded with attacks and feelings of failure. I had ruined Valentines. However, my wonderful fiancee wasn't dissapointed by it at all and reaffirmed her respect and affection for me. She's amazing. :-) We got a table surprisingly fast and continued to have a great dinner. Afterwards we went to her house and watched our movie, which I think she was a little dissapointed in, but she still didn't let it ruin her valentines. It's not over yet though. In my selfishness, I tried to finish my tax returns while watching the movie. She didn't even complain once. She even helped my try to figure them out after the movie when I was confused and frustrated by them. AND, she was even sick during the entire night. So, I never finished my taxes, but I did acomplish keeping my sick fiancee up too late. I felt like I had totally ruined valentines day, but she still thanked me for a great night and reaffirmed her love for me. I don't know what to say, she is incredible. I'm glad am going to marry such an understanding and supportive woman.

***
So, I never figured out what my tax return would be so I had to resort to just praying and asking God if I should by a new bike and if He would provide the funds for it. I think that's what He was longing for me to do, but I kept resorting to my own wisdom and other sources for confirmation. I thought if my return would be enought to cover it, I should buy the bike. I even asked my fiancee to pray for me, but He didn't tell her. He wants me to just trust Him and Him alone. When I finally quieted myself and listened to Him this morning, I felt that He told me to go ahead with the purchase and not to worry abou the money. He is so good. When will I learn to go to Him first every time?

black gold

I've been busy over the last week or so, but I have been slacking here on my blog. I've tried several more of the delicious stouts at Mountian Sun, so I will summarize them here now.

Stone Brewing, CA: Stone Imperial Stout:
This imperial style stout was very strong (around 10abv) and therefore served in a half pint wine-style glass. At first taste it was very thick feeling and very sweet tasting. The sweet taste gave way to many complex other tastes during the extremely long after taste. This was a very intense beer experience. However, after getting a little over half-way through the beer, the sweetness was overpowering the rest of the beer and giving me a unpleasant feeling in the gut. I did enjoy this beer though.

Mendocino Brewing, CA: Black Hawk Stout:
This stout was a more traditional stout. It was very good with a nice body. It was hard to taste it after drinking the Stone Imperial Stout. That one sort blows your taste buds for the rest of the night.

Zomby Woof Stout:
This one is by the mountain sun and is the driest stout they make. It is very similar to Guiness and has a low abv. I did enjoy this one, though it was not my favorite.

Korova Cream Stout:
This is another mountain sun beer. It is tapped on nitrogen and is extremely smooth. They use milk sugar to make this stout which gives it a very creamy taste. This was one of my favorite stouts because it is so delicious and drinkable.

Avery Brewing, CO: The Czar 'o3:
This is another imperial stout and probably the mightiest of them all. It is very strong and robust. It is extremely thick and sweet with flavors of toffee, plums, dates, and mocha. Apparently they saved this batch from last year and have been aging it for a year. This one is very complex. Don't expect to taste any other beers after this one. A great after dinner beer.

Deschutes Brewery, OR: Obsidian Stout:
This was one of my favorite stouts from last years stout and I could not wait to have another this year. They tapped this batch yesterday at 4pm so I had to head over there last night to make sure I grabbed a pint before they ran out. This is and excellent stout. I can't say anything else...

Dogfish

Last week I went to the Mountain Sun with some coworkers for lunch. I tried the Chicory Stout from Dogfish Head Brewery in Deleware. The stout was average. Nothing special to speak of. The service was terrible though. It took me about a half hour to recieve my beer. It ended up being free though :-)

IDiot!

I just want to write to say that my fiancee is amazing.

I however, am an idiot! I always find some way of sticking my foot in my mouth whenever I'm talking to her. OK, not every time we talk, but very often. I don't know what it is... I'm just not very good at predicting how my words will affect her.

She is amazing though. Every time I hurt her in this way she always forgives me. I don't know why she puts up with me, but I'm glad that she does. I don't deserve her, she should have ran screaming a long time ago. One of the coolest things she ever said to me though is, "I know you're not perfect, but I don't expect you to be. I want the imperfect you."

The Crown Jewel

Last night I went to the Mountain Sun for the first night of stout month. I went with a good friend of mine and we shared a couple our thoughts over a couple stouts. The place was packed full of beer lovers so we hung out at the bar. We started the night out with a half-pint of Usurper Russian Imperial Stout. Mountain Sun touts this brew as the crown jewel of stout month 2006. It was the 200oth batch of beer brewed and mountain sun and it was collaborated on by all of their brewers. It's been aging for 6 months and it has an ABV of 10. It's only served in an 8 ounce wine glass style glass apprently because of its value and strength. At first taste I was amazed at the complexity of this "barleywine". There were tons of different flavors to explore with each taste, making every sip a unique experience. I was very impresed with this beer, it was phenomenal.

We finished up the night with a half pint of Double Chocolate stout from Young's Brewery in England on nitro. This beer is alway great, one of my favorites. After the usurper however, it tasted very simple and sweet. It was also comparatively, very smooth. The nitrogen tap also increases the smoothness of the beer. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the usurper, but it was excellent none the less. I think I will have to have a full pint some time without preceding it with an usurper.

Mud Water

Happy groundhog day everyone! That movie by the same name with Bill Murray is one of my favorite movies. I'm not sure why I don't own it...


This holiday also signifies the start of one of my favorite months of the year. Stout month! That's right, the Mountain Sun pub in Boulder declares February "stout month" every year. They save their best stout recipes until this month and reveal them all at once. They make about 8 - 10 of their own stouts and also bring in a bunch of delicious stouts from other breweries as well. Now, I really enjoy drinking beer, but stouts are probably my favorite style of beer, so I get really excited about stout month. I can't drink more than one or two per visit though, so I'll have to go a bunch of times this month in order to experience them all. Hey, maybe I should keep a record here of the beers I try and what I though of them...

They grow up so fast

My little sister is five years younger than me so we didn't spend a whole lot of time together growing up. We have grown a lot closer lately since she move to my home town of Boulder to go to college. Little sisters are great, they are such a blessing. I love and am glad that she move to Boulder so we can hang out more... Just over a week ago though she left to go down to Bolivia for six months. She went down there with Youth for Christ to minister to the people of La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia. I'm so proud of her, that is a huge step of faith to go down there for so long. I'm excited to see what she will experience down there and how much she is going to grow through the process. I know she will make some great friendships through the trip as well. Some times I wonder if I have the faith it takes to leave everything behind and move to another coutry whether it is for six months or longer. It's tough to move to another coutry so far away from you family and friends and away from the customs you are use to into some foreign society. She is keeping a blog of her time down there if you are interested in checking it out. It's called Aventuras Bolivianas. You click on the link to it in my "other cool blogs" section on the right of your browser or hopefully at the bottom of this post.

Te Dios Bendiga!

New York, New York!

During our break to celebrate the birth of our Lord, kendra and I went to CT to visit her family. We had a great time, they really took good care of us. I got to know her family better and their traditions.
One day while we were there we ventured to New York city. It was a great time. I am always amazed with how large that city is and how many people there are there. We took the train into town and then walked around and bought bagels and then found our way to central park. The park is a lot bigger than I had always thought. Here is a picture of Kendra and I in the park in front of the ice rink. After this we met her family for lunch and then went to see Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway. The show was amazing! Much better than the Producers which we saw last year. After that her family left and we walked around some more. We tried to go up the Empire state building, but there was a 3 hour wait!
(Here is a picture I took of the tallest building in New York that I really like. That's a fire truck turning in the forground. The empire state building is the one in the middle that is blue and white on top.) So instead we went and got some pizza at Original Famous Ray's Pizza. It was delicious. After pizza, we walked back to grand central station and boarded our train to depart. I can't wait until I can go back to the city again and hopefully stay longer!

Blue Hole

On December 3rd and 4th, my fiancee and I went diving in the blue hole in Santa Rosa, NM. She was going to get her open water certification and i was just going for fun and to support her. Our friends Shawn and Julie went as well. The blue hole is a natural sink hole filled by a natural spring. It is 80' in diameter at the surface and 100' in diameter at the bottom. The bottom is 81' deep. The water is a constant 62 degrees all year which is pretty darn cold, hence the imobilitizing wetsuits. It was a nice 60 degrees outside on saturday, but on sunday it was 36 degrees out when we got in the water! The first day I dove down to the bottom with another diver. There is a gate at the bottom blocking off some underground tunnels filled with water that connect to another lake about a mile away. There is a tombstone in front to the gate in memory of Joe Cool, a diver that died while diving in the tunnels. It read something like...

Poor Joe Cool, his bones lie here cold and blue...

What a shame for poor Joe. This makes me realize how fragile this life can be. We could meet our end at any moment with how crazy this world is. I'm so glad that I have faith in the One who has overcome death so that I do not have to live in constant fear of dying. Not just that, but I look forward to meeting my Father, face to face.

On sunday I dove with my fiancee as her dive partner. We did buddy breathing and rescue skills. Then we got to do a free dive together at 30' down. We swam around and checked out the 5 fish that live there, the rock formations, and a crazy toy collection. That was pretty fun, but cold. However when we got out of the water it was FREEZING! I hope that we get to go diving somewhere warm for our honeymoon so I can show her just how enjoyable diving can be. Enough of this cold water crap...

Is Wal-Mart the new evil empire?

So, on Tuesday night I went and saw a free showing of the new movie, "Walmart, the high cost of low price". It was basically a movie that tries to reveal all the evil practices of the Wal-Mart corporation. I have to say, if everything in this movie is true, then Wal-mart is the newest evil empire in our world. The atrocities that this movie tried to blame on Wal-Mart were horrible. They accused walmart of drive small family stores out of business with their low price tactics, treating there employees like slave labor, using shady, if not illegal, practices to prevent unions from forming, wantonly polluting our environment, creating sweat shops in other countries that resemble the sweat shops of this country's industrial revolution, ignoring their executives' cries for justice, and taking money away from the poor and schools to fund their new stores.

This movie was very one-sided and done much in the same way as Fahrenheit 9/11. After seeing the flaws of that movie revealed, I wonder if this movie uses the same tactics. One thing that made me wary was the way they presented their interviews. It seemed like they could have been taking comments out of context. In one place, it seemed as though they had totally cut and paste this woman's sentence together. Another problem I saw was their focus on the numbers of Walmarts faults such as crimes that took place in there parking lots and number of employees on welfare or dollars spent. Walmart is a gigantic company so of course they are going to have much larger amounts of these things than other companies. They didn't even compare these numbers to other companies, but I would have liked to see percentages compared to other companies. Another shady practice was while interviewing people who didn't speak English, instead of using subtitles and allowing us to hear their voice, which I think is the most honest form of journalism, they muted that persons voice and covered it with an English speaking interpretation.

So, I have to say that I'm disappointed with their journalism technique, but I think I do believe most of what this movie had to argue. I don't shop at Walmart anyways because I like to support local business and healthier food choices, and I don't think I will start shopping there any time soon. Walmart is making a rebuttal movie and I will be interested to see that.

One thing this movie didn't cover that I wish they had was how walmart uses "bullying" tactics to force their suppliers to give them large quantities of goods at very low prices which forces these companies to move their operations over sees. It has also caused brands to lose the "brand value" that they have spent so much time and money trying to establish. You can read more about this in the link below.

She said yes!

On Saturday, October 8, 2005 I got engaged to the girl of my dreams! Here's how it went down: I called her around 11 and asked her to go to lunch with me. I then drove her to the base of Sugarloaf Mtn and we hiked to the top (it's only about a half mile). I was carrying lunch on my back and when we got to the top we had a nice picnic (phase 2 friendly) with wine and everything. The weather was perfect and the view was amazing. After eating, I told her all the things I liked about her and then asked her to marry me. Can you believe she said yes?! I am so blessed. We have been dating for over a year and a half and gone through a lot. She has helped me to grow as a man and closer to God. She is perfect for me. I am so happy! Just thought I would share.

Campamiento

i just back from camp with the poblano church, familia fuerte. man, im
exhausted. we did so many activities and sports that i am completely
worn out. they did a great job of organizing everything and took good
care of us. the facility was excellent and the mexican landscape was
beautiful. i am about to go get cleaned up and then we are going to
have a team dinner together to celebrate our last night in mexico.

at first this trip seemed like it was going to last forever and was
going pretty slow, but looking back on it the time really flew by. i
cant believe that were going home tomorrow. im am definately ready to
go home, but i am also going to miss puebla and her people. i hope
that i can get back here some day. maybe in two years with the youth
group again. i really like mexico and the mexican people. and the
food. gotta run...

Outbreak

today i got up early and had breakfast while preparing to teach our team time today. it was the largest group i´ve ever taught and it was on being a servant as jesus was. it went really well, i think the kids actually paid attention. it was pretty easy to prepare too. the lord showed me exactly what he wanted me to teach.

afterwards we went to the same church again (familia fuerte) and helped to finish painting there building. well, it was almost finished but we ran out of white paint and they said they would buy some and finish it on their own. tomorrow we are going to a camp with them to play games and sing and go swimming. i am really looking forward to it as i have met lots of cool people there.

unfortunately two kids became sick today and had to go to the hospital: evan miller and brett hill. they both had a high fever. the doctors think it is a bacterial infection from some food they ate. they will have to spend the night there tonight and possibly tomorrow night as well. i pray that god will heal them quickly and not allow anyone else from our group to become sick. our leader, brian, will probably stay with them tonight and tomorrow, so the other volunteer leaders and i will be in charge for camp this weekend. uh oh.

this evening we went to two orphanages. at the first one most of the boys were gone for some reason so we didnt do much except meet the ones that were there. the second one was a pretty poor one and it was a little tough to be there. there were also some older mentally handicapped guys living there as well. they were a little creepy and it was weird to see them living with the kids. i helped on of them make a bracelet though and he seemed to really enjoy it. we also performed our skit for them and them alec, who is mostly fluent in espanol, talked to them in depth about the gospel and led them in prayer to recieve the lord. it was great. i need to go get packed for the camp tomorrow now.

Vamos a Pintar

today we helped a local church here in puebla repaint there church building, which is inside a mall in downtown puebla. this is the first time this church has ever partnered with an american church. they started out on their own and do not recieve any money from the states. they do this because when a church is planted in mexico by americans and they provide monetary support for a while the mexicans dont think that they need to tithe and then when the american church stops giving them money, they fall apart. this church is totally self supported. we had a great time painting their church and hanging out with them and attempting to communicate. i think we did a pretty decent job too, better than sharefest. we are going back tomorrow to finish it up. afterwards we went out for tacos together and i had a delicious taco arabe and a griga pastor. yum!

this evening we went to two orphanages in a row. the first one was all girls from about 5 to 15. they were so nice and sweet. i was befriended by yolanda and she showed me around their place: their bedrooms, dining room, study room, etc... i think she was 10 years old and i was able to communicate with her pretty well. we made bracelets together with them and then showed them our skit that interprets the bracelets and then showed them part of the jesus film, we didnt have time for the whole thing. when it was over we gave them some presents and then we had to leave. when we were leaving yolanda asked me when we are going to come back to visit them again. it broke my heart and i just had to tell her that i didnt know instead of telling her that it was probably never. i think that is the hardest part of going to the orphanages.

they are playing some sweet monster ballads in the internet cafe right now.

the second orphanage we went to was a very poor one in a bad part of town. this one was much harder to go to. i havent seen much like this before in my life. the boys were pretty cool and nice. all boys, ages about 7 to 16 or so. they had three level bunk beds and the place wasnt even entirely closed in. they had some make-shift roofs and the place smelled pretty bad. we all had a bad feeling when were went in there as well. a depressing, heavy feeling. there were also a couple homeless guys that were hanging out there. our leader eddy told us after we left that there have been reports of suspected physical and sexual abuse in the place. it was pretty sad and hard to endure that place. i hope that justice is brought to that place.