(Part) 3's company

Keepin' on keepin' on, whether you schmucks read this or not, here's...

Day Two: Brick Your Back
The concrete beams we raised yesterday were the support for the approximately 500 cinder blocks, each weighing about 35 lbs, which constituted the main portion of the roof. We formed a mostly stable pyramid of blocks upon which three of us stood while several more more brought them blocks from the ground and an increasing number of people on the roof passed them on to Luis who quickly slapped them down into place. Props to Luis who was up there all day in the sun. I spent about half my time on the ground crew and half up top, with only a little on the top since I lack the upper body strength to hoist them above my head. Props also to Peter, Matt, and Joel, who did a lot of that. Alicia and Sara got into the act, being athletic and enthusiastic, and we much appreciated the extra teammates. Even anna, Jeff's 17 yr old daughter heaved bricks with us. It got interesting later when we were down to our last few bricks and we had to use up the pyramid. Fortunately the church had a surplus of wall bricks (which were a different shape) that we could use to build a (less stable) backup pyramid. Lunch that day was tacos which none of us will quickly forget, as they were mind-alteringly delicious. Maybe it was in part because we had already burned up our daily 2000 calories by then. No matter. Once again home for a cold shower and siesta, then back at 5 for VBS again. Alicia and I were sneering religious leaders in a skit about Jesus's healing of the paralytic (we borrowed one of the little boys) his friends lowered through the ceiling. Apparently everyone loved my facial expressions and comically condescending demeanor. I guess being weird has its advantages.

After dinner Armando, one of the church's deacons told us a little about himself and some background of the church. He migrated illegally to the states some years ago and worked and saved and sent money home to support his family. Then he moved back and opened a hardware shop in town. He's been blessed richly by a successful business there. His brother is an illegal immigrant working in Oregon and sending money back to his family in the village. He hasn't been home in over a year. Many of the men do that because there are simply no jobs in that region. Farming is hard because the soil is very rocky and small villages do not have tourist income to support them. Canada has a trade agreement with Mexico whereby Canadian industries hire Mexican workers directly for fixed terms, and pay their wages and living expenses for that duration. Unfortunately no such agreement exists in the states because labor unions would never allow it. However, 90% of illegal immigrants are people like Armando and his brother, who literally risk their lives to come work in the states so they can provide for their families back home. Anyone could tell you that Mexicans constitute the majority of the agricultural workforce, and here in CA, a majority of the construction workforce too. Think about that next time someone brings up immigration laws.

The church, which is Presbytary of Mexico, used to be the authoritarian regime of the former pastor and his cronies. One of them was even caught in adultery and he tried to cover it up and downplay it to retain his position of power. Finally some of the members, including Armando, worked up the gall to report them to the presbytary, which is a collective of elders from Presbytarian churches in the region that oversees them as an adminstrative body, including disciplinary action. They removed the former pastor and his comrades and replaced him with Pastor Ulysses, who is a very kind and godly man who preaches straight from scripture and clearly loves and glorifies the Lord in all things.