Preparation

Today is a quieter day but we are doing preparation for our big youth event this evening.  We have invited youth from Dallas and Tara's community to come out with their friends to an evening of games, pizza and some skits we've prepared.

Yesterday we had a day of learning more about Guadalajara as we visited the market which included their cathedral as well as indoor and outdoor vendors.  We started with a picture scavenger hunt which forced us to interact with some of the locals and learn more about the city.  After a great lunch in a restaurant we spent some time shopping in the market.  A long, hot, tiring, fantastic day.

Below are a bunch of the pictures from yesterday.

 Lots of street vendors

 Austin thinks he's the knig

 Buying something to cool down

 Inside the Market

 Lots of neat statues you could sit on.

 One of our assignments was to get a picture of a shoe shiner so Diane took advantage and her shoes shined.  He was a nice guy who has only been doing this for 11 years because as he got older no one would hire him so he "had to find some way to make an honest living." (His words)

 The crypt under the cathedral

 Routonda

 Not something you see everyday in Canada.

 Enjoying a Rousa, an ice drink with salt, chili powder and pop.  An acquired taste which I did not acquire.

 FYI: The young Mexican girl in this picture is Paulina.  She is a neighbour of Dallas and Tara's who we met two years ago and she has been hanging out with us this trip as well so we invited her along for the day.

 The cathdral

 Our platter of food for lunch.  3 of these fed 22 of us, with leftovers.

Painting accomplished

Another beautiful day here in Guadalajara.  We split up this morning and went to two locations.  Half of us went to the school where Dallas and Tara's kids attend and met with the kids and prayed with them (sorry i don't have any pictures to post as i was with the other group).  The other group went to the Matthew Training Centre just outside of the city.  It had college aged students from all over the world who attend a 7 month training program geared toward missions.  We spent time worshipping with them and sharing some stories and then we split into groups to pray.  In the afternoon we went back to the orphanage where we finished our painting.  After supper a few went with John and Connie to their cell group.  A busy tiring day but a good one.  Tomorrow we head to the market to do some culture training and also some sightseeing and shopping.  A good break before a busy weekend of ministry programs.

 The finished project of the court.  See yesterday's post for the before picture.

 Singing with people from the Matthew centre

 Checking out their grounds.

A cool place we came across close to the Matthew centre.

Another great day

Today we worked at an orphanage where we cleaned up their court  and then began painting it to make it a basketball court.  Instead of a thousand words here's a bunch of pictures.

 Cleaning up the court

 Helping the kids with homework

 
 Playing some soccer with the kids (helped to keep them off the court)

 Taking a water break

 Finished the blue sections

 Almost done the green section.  we will be adding all the white lines tomorrow.

 Good job guys!
Keesha hard at work.  Actually if you look closely at her toes you will see all the blue paint.  All the youth worked hard both at painting and at connecting with the kids there.

Tomorow we will be going to two different places in the morning and then back to the orphanage in the afternoon to finish the paint job.