St. John's Youth: Photos

Mexico Mission Trip - August, 2007

Before departing from St. John's Scott demonstrates his dance moves.
The whole group poses for a picture before loading up for the drive to Tijuana
Melanie Bomar - Road Warrior
We travel one of the better highways in Tijuana after crossing the border
Calvin and Kyle can't wait to get to camp.
The Amor Ministries campground entrance
Mauricio? Where'd he come from? In the background, Kyle patiently teaches himself to work a zipper.
The loveable knuckleheads claim their tent.
Mel's mom sets up her tent.
OK, camp is set up. Now what do we do?
Mel demonstrates how to pop lock and drop it.
Philip gathers wood for the evening's fire.
Nobody wants to sit next to Scott, who has had unfortunate experiences with youth group fires in the past.
Apparently everyone but Scott noted the warning sign on the way into camp.
This is Jonathan, our Amor Ministries representative and all around nice guy.
A snapshot of daily life in our own little camping universe.
The Amor Ministries restroom facilities were somewhat less than pleasant in the scent department.
At the end of the day, luxurious bucket showers awaited us. All you have to do is dip the water out of the open container and pour it on yourself. Fun times.
Every night we gathered in small groups to get to know one another better.
An extremely rare photograph of Philip choosing not to use a chair
Here's the unstoppable food crew who provided our meals during our stay in Mexico.
Rebecca attempts to sweet talk Sergio in hopes of getting an extra tortilla.
What would you like to drink? Water or water?
We all gather 'round the camp fire at the close of our first day.
The field adjacent to our camp didn't seem to grow anything but tarantulas.
Scott cheerily greets the morning at 6:00 am on the first work day.
Noah, in the disorienting moments of the early morning, mistakenly washes his face with fire.
Nick and La La prepare their lunch for the first day on the work site.
This was our container of clean water for hand washing and tooth brushing. Kendelle notes that she has successfully tied her own shoes this morning.
La La prepares for her first big day at the work site.
This is the concrete slab that will become a 11x22 foot home over the next three days.
Scott gives instructions, but everyone is so distracted by his duct tape shoes that they can't hear his words.
Phil, Caio, Calvin and Kyle get down to work.
One of the challenges at the site was finding enough work space.
Pablo Vazquez, the man whose family will live in the home we're building, helps Kendelle and the Kim sisters prepare sand for concrete mixing.
As we begin framing the walls, Jeannette is board. Get it....board? Because she's carrying a BOARD!?!?!?!?!
Olivia Eichenseer - back from Ohio and ready to work!
Noah, Ryan, and Tyler take a load off while Jeannette and Olivia do all the work.
Olivia mistakes this 2x4 for a magic broom stick while Tyler and Duncan prepare to saw the heck out of it. It's anybody's guess what Jeannette is doing.
Even though Mauricio had to head back to Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, he paused just long enough to reaffirm his sawing skills from the 2004 Amor trip.
Noah attempts to tell Ryan funny jokes to distract him from his sawing prowess.
Kim-possible.
With Jonathan's help we begin to frame the first wall.
On the work site, Kendelle really "measured" up!
Fortunately, with all this bending over, we did not have beans for dinner the night before.
Duncan focuses moments before asking this 2x4, "Who's your daddy?!?!?!?!?!"
What am I supposed to do with this?
Oh, girls.
This high tech state of the art saw horse is designed to look like a chair.
With our first wall completed, we move on to numero dos.
The Culver Presbyterian group completes their first wall.
Since the Culver kids won't stop calling her Pocahontas, Jeannette just gives in and braids her hair.
Put your back into it, Rebecca!
Olivia says "hi." Or mabye she says, "Get that stupid camera out of my face." Hard to tell.
Tyler's favorite color is blue.
"Celebrate good walls, come on!"
"Yeah, we built these walls. Respek."
Philip, Lydia, Ruth, and Jonathan are takin' it to the streets.
Ruth makes the best of sawing on the sand.
Cowgirl Mel
Ani makes friends with Aron, one of the children who will live in the house we're building.
Abril and Pablo are two more of the four children in this family.
Abril helps Kendelle brush up on her Spanish.
Ruth does her best Richard Nixon impersonation while Aron pretends to be Spider Man.
Abril and La La decide to be friends.
Ruth, Lidia, and Micheala give peace a chance.
The Culver boys attempt to look intimidating.
Time for a short break!
By the end of the first day we took that slab and turned it into.....a mess?
Pablo and Maria (on the left) will be moving into the house we're building adjacent to Pablo's father's home.
At the start of day two, we raise the walls.
Hey, this thing is starting to look like a house!
Sam assumes a supervisory role.
Sam puts his skills of gigantic tallness to work.
Now that the walls are square, Noah nails them together.
You can get this one in two hits, Noah!
Without Jonathan, this work site would have been what experts call a "catastrophe."
It's getting exciting now.
Small nail. Big man.
Kendelle helps attach the frame to the foundation.
Da girlz.
Ruth and Lydia spread world peace in Tijuana.
OK, OK, we get it. You built some walls!
Sam searches for an escape route out of the house.
The walls are up, so bring on the roof!
Check out Sam's new hit single, "I'm bringin' sweaty back."
Hope everyone remembered their deodorant!
Beautiful.
Noah kneels for a brief prayer.
This looks very similar to what a house looks like.
These girls are getting some important work done on the roof. Hey, where's your hammers?!?!?!?!?!?!
Philip likes the house so much he goes in for the full body bear hug.
Raise the roof, ya'll.
Ryan Smith - Bandito de Hammer-o
Rebecca just after measuring her bicep.
Tyler searches for the elusive tricky hammer angle.
Don't fall Kendelle!
Tyler Davis and the hammer of justice
Jeannette in da house! (literally)
Kyle and Philip get some perspective.
Everyone in this photo seems to be pulling a nail out. Hey guys, we're supposed to be putting them IN!
Mel and Micheala choose to ignore Kendelle as she tries to moon them.
Is that Scott or Crocodile Dundee?
It takes a lot of nails to put a house together!
What did the house say to the youth group? "I've been framed!"
Hammer time.
We did it!
Time for lunch!
Hey, how come Micheala gets so many lunches?!?!?!?!
Noah chooses to escape the smell of his fellow youth groupers.
Abril and Micheala chat it up.
This is Pablo Sr. with his youngest grandchild, Fabrisio. The new house is adjacent to his current home.
These women came by every day to try to sell us their goods.
Calvin takes some time to read a story to the kids.
Caio asks the children to teach him to read.
Nick attempts to defend himself against the attack of a three year old.
Awwwwwwwwwwww!
We had to put wire all around the house as the first step before putting on stucco.
Man, it was hot!
Carol and Jeannette bring over the roof.
Scott prepares to hand off the roof lifting duties to the tall guy.
Hey guys, if we put on the roof, we can get some shade!
Puuuuuuuuuush!
While the roof crew is at work, it's time to begin putting up the tar paper in preparation for stucco.
Mel and Carol are the tar paper queens!
Sam makes a new friend.
Who's face is dirtier?
Oh, the captions that could be written about this photo! I'll refrain and be nice to myself today.
Mel's mom shows a nail who's boss.
Caio daydreams about what life might be like in the new house.
Sonnnn!
Precarious Carol
I believe I can fly!
Jeannette and Philip put the final touches on the tar paper.
Duncan just hangin' around.
Abril was quite popular due to her insane cuteness.
Noah's hammering skills are very elevated.
It's finally time to put on the stucco!
Calvin demonstrates how to stay clean on a dirty job.
Mixing cement, sand and water for stucco is hot and tedious work.
Mel's mom gets the mix just right.
Stucco was the theme of our final day!
Culver's fearless leaders!
Scott isn't afraid to get his hands dirty sometimes. OK, just a little afraid.
Lidia and Ruth bring over a fresh load of stucco.
Carol laughs at the thought of the stucco trying to get the best of her.
Good job on that stucco work, Ruth!
With the first coat of stucco completed we had to take a two hour break to let it dry. Where would we go?
Tacos El Gordo (aka "The Fat Tacos") - a perfect place to wait for drying stucco!
Jonathan enjoys what appears to be a very small taco.
Duncan shoves a whole taco in his mouth while Phil stands at the ready for emergency assistance.
Two generations of taco lovers
Sam is either eating a lime or really getting into a soul song that he's playing on an invisible piano.
After some tasty tacos, it's back to work!
Making stucco for the final coat
You wouldn't believe how many wheelbarrow loads of this stuff it takes to stucco a house!
It's the last day, guys! Let's kick out the jams and finish this sucker!
Philip is definitely going to need to wash that shirt!
Pablo poses with his youngest son, Fabrisio.
We're so close to finishing this house that I can taste it!
Almost there!
Reading is fun!
The Vazquez family just after we presented the house
The finished product!
The whole gang
Kyle gets festive on the streets of Rosarito.
Tacos El Yaqui - Rosarito's answer to Tacos El Gordo!
The Smith brothers offer a toast to Mexico.
Belly full of tacos = smile on the face.
Kendelle wishes she was a Kim, too!
La La prepares to gobble down her taco.
Don't bother me! I'm eating tacos!
Jeannette gets recruited to cook at Tacos El Yaqui. Hey, watch that hand taco man!
I'm not sure what's going on here, but it looks painful.
Nick descrates Tacos El Yaqui with his vegetarian Subway sandwich.
But he then redeems himself by paying homage to the fine sport of Mexican wrestling.
I think Noah's probably the most mature and responsible one in this bunch.
It took an hour to get back across the border into the U.S.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip that none of us will soon forget!