Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Breaking Ground
Lisa and I broke ground on our first project at Ranchos de los Ninos this last week!
For the last couple of weeks we have spent a majority of our time praying and planning how we are going to most effectively use our year in Mazatlan. Our main area of ministry will be with Ranchos de los Ninos; however, we are also a part of a local church called Vida Nueva ("new life" in Spanish), where we will be serving as well.
Before we left for Mazatlan I spent a lot of time praying for direction as to where I would put my focus on with the kids at the Ranch. Since I am still learning Spanish it would be difficult for me to teach along side Lisa. I felt like creating a sustainable agriculture project would be the best path to pursue. It would meet a continual challenge for the home (nutritional food), be a good use of the land, have potential to be reproduced throughout the city, and make use of my physical abilities. I didn't realize, that while I was praying through this direction, Denny had been working with someone from Lansing to come down and help get a garden project started.
Mary Richardson helped design the garden project and was here on the ground to help break ground. We decided to use an existing steel and concrete structure on the property. It was a pig pen many years ago. We are going to use chicken wire to keep unwanted rodents out and shade cloth to protect the plants from the harshness of the Mexican sun. All of the plants will be potted and watered by a drip line that is set on a timer (so I can't forget).
We had to battle some wicked thorn bushes surrounding the structure before we could begin. Lisa, Ann, and Mary ended up enduring many thorns through the shoes while working on the project.
Right now we have the seedlings starting back at the ministry house. In a few weeks when they are read to go (or when Mary tells me) we will move them over to their new home in the garden.
Until that happens Lisa and I will be digging a 40ft trench out to the garden so that we will have a consistent water supply, and finishing securing the chicken with tie wire. We also need to actually get the planter boxes ready to receive the plants. Look for more updates to come. I'm new to gardening so make sure you are praying for this project!
Ian
For the last couple of weeks we have spent a majority of our time praying and planning how we are going to most effectively use our year in Mazatlan. Our main area of ministry will be with Ranchos de los Ninos; however, we are also a part of a local church called Vida Nueva ("new life" in Spanish), where we will be serving as well.
Before we left for Mazatlan I spent a lot of time praying for direction as to where I would put my focus on with the kids at the Ranch. Since I am still learning Spanish it would be difficult for me to teach along side Lisa. I felt like creating a sustainable agriculture project would be the best path to pursue. It would meet a continual challenge for the home (nutritional food), be a good use of the land, have potential to be reproduced throughout the city, and make use of my physical abilities. I didn't realize, that while I was praying through this direction, Denny had been working with someone from Lansing to come down and help get a garden project started.
Mary Richardson helped design the garden project and was here on the ground to help break ground. We decided to use an existing steel and concrete structure on the property. It was a pig pen many years ago. We are going to use chicken wire to keep unwanted rodents out and shade cloth to protect the plants from the harshness of the Mexican sun. All of the plants will be potted and watered by a drip line that is set on a timer (so I can't forget).
We had to battle some wicked thorn bushes surrounding the structure before we could begin. Lisa, Ann, and Mary ended up enduring many thorns through the shoes while working on the project.
Right now we have the seedlings starting back at the ministry house. In a few weeks when they are read to go (or when Mary tells me) we will move them over to their new home in the garden.
Until that happens Lisa and I will be digging a 40ft trench out to the garden so that we will have a consistent water supply, and finishing securing the chicken with tie wire. We also need to actually get the planter boxes ready to receive the plants. Look for more updates to come. I'm new to gardening so make sure you are praying for this project!
Ian
Sunday, March 13, 2011
One week, with more to come...
Well, we survived our first week here in Mazatlan. We finally got internet in our house on Thursday afternoon, which has made things so much easier. My (Lisa) Spanish is getting better and better the longer that we are here. It's been so long, I'm really out of practice. Ian's is also getting better everyday. The more we get to experience life here, the more Spanish we are exposed to and are forced to use. It's great :)
Today marks Daylight Savings Time in the United States, but here in Mazatlan, we don't spring forward until April 3rd. So make note of that: for all of you in the Eastern ST we are THREE hours different and for those of you in Central ST we are TWO hours different. Weird, I know.
The weather has been beautiful here. We wish you all could see it. Let us know if you have skype so we can try to video chat sometime!
Today marks Daylight Savings Time in the United States, but here in Mazatlan, we don't spring forward until April 3rd. So make note of that: for all of you in the Eastern ST we are THREE hours different and for those of you in Central ST we are TWO hours different. Weird, I know.
The weather has been beautiful here. We wish you all could see it. Let us know if you have skype so we can try to video chat sometime!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
We have arrived!
We just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know that we are here safely in Mazatlán! We have been getting settled, unpacking and getting our bearings in the city. We even made it to church this morning all on our own! Currently, we don't have internet at our house, so we are updating from a coffee shop down the road from our neighborhood.
It's a little crazier here right now because they are celebrating Mardi Gras. Hopefully next week, the city will be calming down a little.
We will be doing a lot this week to get all settled and acclimated. We will also be going to visit one of the children's homes that we will be working closely with, Rancho de los Niños, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week.
The next post will include pictures and (hopefully) will be done from the comfort of home :)
It's a little crazier here right now because they are celebrating Mardi Gras. Hopefully next week, the city will be calming down a little.
We will be doing a lot this week to get all settled and acclimated. We will also be going to visit one of the children's homes that we will be working closely with, Rancho de los Niños, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week.
The next post will include pictures and (hopefully) will be done from the comfort of home :)
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