Meet Team 1419 + Day Two (Sunday)

First, introductions are in order.  It was dark by the time we arrived at the mission yesterday, so it was this afternoon at our beach stop in Corinto before I (Diana S.) was able to photograph the team.  First, meet Lisa Marshall, our fearless team leader from Michigan.  Those of us who were on Team 1309 last year were thrilled when we heard from MOST that Lisa would be leading again.

Lisa is being photobombed by Audrey, the youngest member of Team 1419 and one-sixth of the Oregon group on the team.  Audrey (age 8) and her older brother, Adam (age 11), are here with their parents, Pastor Greg and Diana Strand, who were both of the team last year.  Greg and Diana were happy to be able to bring along Ray and Dianna Hart, two more members of Shepherd of the Valley in Corvallis, Oregon.

Rounding out the team is the group from St. John's in Darien, Illinois.  Pastor Dave Bottorff (below, center) was part of Team 1319 last year and this year brought (below, from the left) Andrea Medema, Bob Valentine, Cindy Matteucci, and Bill Peoples.

Our team this morning was blessed to begin our week with the people of Villa Quince de Julio in worship at Iglesia Nuevo Jerusalen (New Jerusalem Church), where we worked with Pastor Silvio and Teacher Paula and others last year.  

It was wonderful for the team veterans to see so many familiar faces.  For me personally, it was a huge blessing to be able to say, "Yes, we came back, and yes, we brought our kids!"

Speaking of kids, we knew that the language barrier probably wouldn't be much of an issue when it came to the kids playing together, but I think we were all a little surprised to see how quickly Audrey gathered a huge group of friends.  When we walked around the village just a bit after church, she had no shortage of new friends to hold her hands or walk arm in arm with her.

Before we did our brief tour of Quince de Julio, we had opportunity after church to celebrate Bob's birthday with the members of Nueva Jerusalen.  Pastor Silvio (center in the black shirt) called up Adrian for the congregation to sing to him and then found out that it was Bob's birthday, too.

Here, it's not just a quick chorus of "Happy Birthday".  They sang "Las Mananitas", a birthday blessing song, and a parody of "Happy Birthday" that started with the words "Queremos pastel" (We want cake.)  After that, the entire congregation came up to greet both men and wish them "felicidades" (congratulations.)

Before we left for lunch, we had a brief walking tour of Quince de Julio.  The name of the village means "July 15" and we learned that they will be having a big celebration of Tuesday as we saw the fair rides set up for the celebration.  We also were able to visit a couple of the homes we visited last year and even got to observe the making of fresh tortillas.

For lunch, we were able to eat in the town of Corinto, along the Pacific Ocean.  We had fun getting our feet wet and collecting shells after lunch, but Adam was especially thrilled that the World Cup final was on.  That was an unexpected surprised for a kiddo who has watched the majority of the games and lives to play soccer!

All in all, it was a great day to get to know the people of Quince de Julio and each other.  We're looking forward to starting our water filter project and classes tomorrow.

Edited to add: Happy Birthday, Bob! So glad we could find you some cake and ice cream!