Preparing

There is so much planning that goes into a trip like this.  I just want to say that Mitch and Heather Robey are amazing for coordinating this the past 14 years.   It's taking both Baleigh and I to cover for all the things that Heather normally does, and that's with her help! Thank you Heather!!!

The drive through the mountains from Roswell to El Paso is so pretty.  Definitely one of the favorite parts of the trip.  At one point, we were able to see the "Gulf of New Mexico" (also known as the mirage of the desert against the sky.  Sorry Melissa!  We thought you knew Mitch was kidding). 

We made it to El Paso where we are staying at a gorgeous "new" (very old building but new to the church) that is perfect for our group.  There's lot of rooms to explore, a piano on the porch, a parking lot for Frisbee and plenty of space for us to sleep.  It is a definite blessing that we were able to use it and we're thankful to Paseo Church for opening it to us!

Kayla, Ryan and Matt braved the Sams Club run with Mitch and I.  They close at 6 and we ran through the doors at 5:50.  I asked the guy who was greeting at the door where to go to pick up bulk orders and he didn't speak any English. (Mental note: learn Spanish before next year's trip).  We found someone who spoke English and the Sams staff had everything pulled for us already.  It was very helpful and saved us so much time.  

We went out for dinner with our Casas team leader, Jason Laffan, and his family, along with Nick Nagy, a FSU His House alumni who has been living in this area.  Jason's Deli was a great dinner spot with healthy options for the girls and meat loaded sandwiches for the guys.  They also had free ice cream for dessert! Yum!

We ran through Wal-Mart (much to the amusement of many other customers and employees).  We only loaded 7 carts this year, but the clerk still looked surprised when Mitch said "Wait, that's all?" 

It's midnight here and almost everyone is in bed for the night. We're leaving here at 6:15 in the morning and hoping to be crossing the border around 9.  It all depends on how things go and how fast we're able to travel.  Crossing the border into Mexico is pretty easy usually - the joke is that Mexico will take anyone.  We'll set up at our host church in Juarez and then go with Jason to our build site. 

Thank you for your continued prayers.  While the traveling is hard, its the next few days that will be the most challenging with a lot of work that need to be done each day.  We'll update the blog again once we cross the border into the US sometime on Thursday. 

We love you guys!