Saturday - Sept 27th

The hotel is Tuxtla is super nice. Some of the design elements from the states are cheap here, like tile and stone - so they are used extensively. I got about 6 hours of sleep, getting up around 7 for an 8am breakfast. You can change a man's pais...pero you can't change his sleeping patterns! I definitely could have used more! At the clinic there is supposed to be a rooster, so we'll see how that goes tomorrow morning!
We went back to the same restaurant as last night for breakfast and after a brief welcome to mexico - don't drink the water team meeting we packed up to head west. It was about an hours drive to the medical clinic where we'll be staying for the week and was actually a helpful time. There was light conversation, but mostly time to myself. I dozed off a couple times but was able to spend time thinking and praying. After the challenges of the past few days it was good to take it to God. This past week my friend Travis was praying for me and I remember him praying that my travel would go smoothly and keep me excited for the rest of the week. This was so helpful to have in my mind and repeat to myself as I needed something to keep me focused despite the distractions. The travel frustrations had left me a bit discouraged and even with a few "i don't want to be here" thoughts last night and this morning.
On Thursday a song came on my iTunes at work based on Psalm 145. It caught my attention enough for me to read the chapter this morning. It talks about praising God - him being great and worthy and was a challenge to read. It was good though - to intentionally choose to pray through that and worship him. On the van ride I was thinking through all of this and talking with God about what I was doing here. Feeling a bit lost & out of place, it was so great to have the time in the van because it forced me to process with God. There was no outlet or distraction to turn to, but rather I was immersed in thoughts. God totally blessed this time!
Naturally, as we were driving I was comparing everything to what I've seen before - different colors, architecture, traffic, etc - but as we left town and traveled the countryside the surroundings became for familiar. We were traversing a large, flat agricultural area surrounded by lush mountains. It was incredible b/c when I looked at the mountains I instantly felt a sense of peace and connection. I always feel most at home in the mountains and here found comfort in being among them compared to the very foreign urban landscape. This revelation brought a sense of peace and the feeling that everything was going to be OK. I feel it was God giving me a sign of his presence and his promise to me. He used the mountains to say "Hey Bryon, I'm here. I'm going to take care of you." What a huge blessing and turning point that was! It reminded me of the rainbow God sent as a sign of his promise to Noah. It's a powerful image in my mind that I hope to carry for a long time.
We arrived at the clinic - a small compound (for lack of a better term, although it is fenced in) which contains a medical clinic and some homes for visiting doctor teams to stay in. It's just outside of a small town called Cardenas, and the closest larger town is Cintalapas. The guys are staying in a duplex style building with 5 guys on each side. We found out they have satelite internet, so hopefully that will help keep everyone posted!
After unloading we left for the ranch site, which is about 10-15 minutes from the clinic. We ate lunch there and spent time doing a preliminary walk-through with Bill. We walked around for a few hours, seeing and hearing about some of his initial ideas for development. This was a bit nerve wracking because everyone was speaking in somewhat absolute terms - saying this is the location for this and that. I'm thinking, OK, so why am I here? I was relived when Bill said to me - there are our ideas but you've got to tell us. It was good to hear his openness and I tried to offer confirmation by encouraging that it was best to view the big picture and take a step back to filter ideas before getting too sold on one. He seemed to agree. It's so interesting to be here with the team of professionals all at once. Typically I'm used to a slower process where the survey, the master plan, and engineering are done in sequence. Here it's all going on at once! It's kind of interesting being the planner (an early step in the process) and having others ready to jump into very specific tasks like digging holes for perc tests when I have no clue where the buildings will go. It's kind of hard having to be so non-committal so it will be interesting and challenging to balance the systematic process I'm used to with the nature of trip. It will much more collaborative and integrated which I think will be a good learning experience professionally - although a part of me feels the potential to be hindered with the design. I don't want to have a 'tail wagging the dog' so it will be challenging to balance all aspects . The prayer is for unity in vision here! I pray God works it out and that it go smoothly.
After leaving the site we drove about one hour through some gorgeous mountains down to Arriaga where the orphanage is. It's a medium size town and a fairly urban setting. The kids are really nice and you can tell they really respect Bill & Tammy. We had a tour of the home and on our return to the downstairs we were greeted by 'Carmelo' with lemonade. We were nervous about drinking it because it wasn't clear at that point they only used bottled water and bagged ice. We'll find out in a few days. =/ We were sitting around chatting and it was fairly quiet because a lot of the (16) kids were napping. We weren't having our program meeting because Bill had to leave to get our van looked at. Jane - an architect on our trip instantly connected with the kids and soon left somewhere with them. I'm pretty sure I hadn't talked about playing soccer with anyone - but for some reason Jane came back and told me the kids wanted her to ask me if I would play soccer with them. I was so surprised..how did they know? It was a God thing - He knew it was something I wanted and needed! They have an enclosed back yard, with a small concrete court with tall walls on 3 sides where we played. It was so hot! I was on a team with Carmello and we played (with a bunch of others) against a kid named Jordan and a house helper from canada named Fronz. The game grew quickly and soon included Jonathan. He's so small I almost didn't recognize him! What a fireball! That kid has so much personality and spunk - he's got to be a handful! Apparently he is hilarious but he speaks so quick in 5 yr old spanish I couldn't understand! Actually they don't know how old he is...they asked who told him he was five and he said "I told me." Umm humm...a handful.
We had dinner with the team - rice, beans, chips and some type of chicken - cooked in a broth like chicken noodle soup. I took some pepto, and so far am OK. It was good but I limited myself and stuck to a small portion and ate more chips and rice than anything else. I'm probably going to stick to that plan - I've got some clif bars to supplement if needed. I may be a little hungry and may lose some weight, but I'd rather lose it from not eating much that from getting sick. Keeping my fingers crossed and taking the precautions.
After dinner we had a meeting with Tammy and Bill to discuss the mission and vision for the ranch. I mostly led the discussion as it's something I'm accostomed to from working with camps. I think it went well and others agreed. We got a lot of info that we'll use to start the master plan - the goals, objectives and design drivers for the facilities. More to come on that.
Bill drove us almost all the way back to the ranch - where his truck was at the property manager's house in a nearby village. That way we could only drive a short way at night and he'd return to Arriaga. So that he wasn't alone he brought along Jonathan and Carmelo - who ended up on my lap since our van is full. That village was authentic mexico! Off the beaten path for sure. A dozen gringos in a big van sure can turn some heads. We came back to the clinic and were pretty quick to bed. Brenden - a surveyor from Canada - who's been here a few days ahead of us - had his laptop out so I was able to post a quick hello. My side of the duplex was quick to sleep but I showered and sat outside to write on the porch. It's a cool night with breeze and light rain. Occasionally some mist blows in which is awesome. I've (obviously) been out here writing for awhile = it's such a gorgeous night - another sign that reminds me 'Hey Bry- this isn't that bad..you can do this." More later...this is time intensive to update!