juners: a tribute

For those of you who do not know what the term "Juners" refers to, let me enlighten you! A few years ago, Scott Meier, Tino Herrera, and Bryan Waldenville were conversing in Mexico about creating some type of extended Mexico mission trip that would immerse youth fully in the Mexico culture. After talking with our wonderful friend, Jorge Chacon, Juners was created.

Jorge!!! (circa 2008)

The first year Juners existed (2007), a group of 6 people lived in Rio Bravo, Mexico, for the entire month of June (hence the name). I was a part of Juners 2008, which was a truly life-changing experience for myself and the 8 other people who became my second family that summer. Unfortunately, I was unable to be a Juner for the summer of 2009, but the summer of 2010, I was blessed enough to lead this wonderful group of high school and college students :)

Juners 2010! At the FIRST graduation for the school that McFarlin built.

l to r: Nicole Waddle, Trey Pirtle, Gracie Conway, Lydia Frost, Maggie Rahhal, Maddie Chilless, Garrett Sickles, Britney Schumacher, and Kalli Wolf

My little amigo just after he graduated from kindergarten! (Please note how tan I am. This is a RARE occurrence in the life of Lydia!!!)

Speaking of tan lines... :) I've never known a red head to get so tan!!!

Juners 2010 after completing the third chunk of cement at the school (each chunk of cement was 20'x10' and used about 20 bags of concrete per chunk. Each bag of concrete weighs 120 pounds. You do the math!)

Thank goodness we had a mixer (note the freshly painted walls behind Trey and Gracie!!). And yes, Gracie is actually INSIDE of the mixer.

Pre-cement making.

Post-cement making.

G-Con and myself after a hard day of making cement. I don't think I've ever been so dirty in my life.

That is the CEMENT LINE on my ankles...I rolled my socks down a bit so you could see what color my skin was supposed to be!!

Hipolito, Mexico (about 6 hours south of the border) is nestled in the mountains. It used to be a very large town because of all of the trains that came through. However, now it almost feels like a ghost town. It did have some WONDERFUL photo opportunities though with all of the old, abandoned cars and train tracks.

Britney and myself goofing off :)

l to r (front); Esteban, Karla, Ana Elena, Maggie, Maddie, Andrea

l to r (middle): Gracie, Lydia, Kalli, Britney, Garrett

l to r (back): Trey, Nicole, and Ivan

While in Saltillo, we worked with the Chacon family's good friends, the Martinez family. The father is the pastor of a church in Saltillo, and there were a few things that needed finishing at his church. His daughters and son all came and helped out, along with Jorge's niece, Mariel, and Jorge's oldest daughter, Ana Elena!

Side story: the first day in Saltillo, we were working to lay block and remove some boards on a roof. About 10 am, we heard a series of BLOOD-CURDLING screams. As it turns out, Maggie Rahhal had a large nail go through her pinky finger while she loosening a board on the roof. The nail literally went in one side and out the other of her finger. She was fine later that afternoon, but it definitely was a scary moment for all of the Juners! We were blessed that it went in as clean as it did, missing bones and nerves in her finger.

Maggie's finger after she put a nail through it :)

In one side and out the other!!!!!!!!!

Juners 2010 in Hipolito, Mexico. Pastor Alicia (far right) and her husband (far left) drive an hour to serve the town of Hipolito. We replaced window panes in their 100 year old sanctuary and painted some of the exterior of the building. While there, we got to know Mariel's youth group from Saltillo because they came and helped pitch in!

Mariel and I were on the same Mexico team this past year during spring break. She is a wonderful young woman with a big heart :) It was a huge blessing to have her come help out!

Juners girls up on the roof that McFarlin poured 2 years on a college mission trip. I still have a few faint scars to this day from getting cement poisoning on my arm!

Right before we headed south to Saltillo/Hipolito, the girls decided to get our hair cornrowed. This actually ended up being a great way to keep our hair out of faces as we worked...but it did create some awesome tan lines. This picture symbolizes our feelings right before we took out our cornrows.

l to r: Lydia, Gracie, Britney

This is right after Maddie, Maggie, and Kalli took their corn rows out. Hysterical!!!

Our last project that we worked on was at the church that Jorge and his family put a lot of time into. It has a metal roof that is literally like an OVEN...so Jorge created this "false ceiling" that traps hot air in between the styrofoam and the metal roof, and lets cool air get down to the congregation. It truly was a 10-20 degree difference when you stood under the new false ceiling!

~Hope you enjoyed this tribute to J4 (Juners 4!)~