Campus Outreach '99
Sand, sweat and cement on an upper floor in Jalalpa

The Campus Outreach team on the morning of their last day's work at Jalalpa

They came prepared to get their hands dirty, which was just as well. At the end of a gruelling three days work first carrying (up a very steep flight of steps) and then mixing the ingredients for about half a ton of concrete, most of the workers in this team from Furman University and Presbyterian College in South Carolina were covered with cement dust and splatters of concrete.

Working for three days with the parents of the Transformation Course, the team built on the great efforts begun two weeks earlier (with the able assistance of the Nashville and Orangewood teams) to build a much-needed upper-floor extension at the Jalalpa Community Center. The first day saw a truckload of sand delivered to the Community Center entrance which all had to be shovelled into sacks and buckets and carried up by hand to the first floor; the second day

Mixing the first pile of cement

repeated the exercise only with a truckload of coarse gravel. On the third day, after joining with the parents in their morning devotional, they took on perhaps the hardest work of mixing enough of these materials - again by hand - with cement and water to make enough concrete to cover the floor.

This team didn't come to Mexico just to help at Armonia - they all came as part of a mission called Campus Outreach. They've enrolled in a two-month Spanish course in one of Mexico City's universities with the aim of establishing relationships with Mexican students and sharing the gospel with them.

The team put a huge amount of effort into their three days with us, not just in this building work but also in working with the children and preparing food. The floor is already getting heavy use by the parents on the Transformation course (and survived the recent earthquake with no damage at all!).

Nearly over (but they still needed to mix more cement)

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