Home Again

I would call this the hardest bestest trip ever.
We set record temperatures and I went to the hospital for dehydration.  Remember soda is not water!
We had a great time being Las Manos de Dios en el Mundo bringing Hope and Peace to Youth Haven Ranch.
-Chad

Hatch adventures

Eating chili in Hatch, NM 

Uncle Green Chili Sam

Bus ride over

Lobster Man strikes again

Lookin good on the bus ride over

Best buds

She is strong as a bull and works like one too

Buds work better together

Leaders

Terry is a hard worker and fun to be around

Matt moves blocks and motivates all at once

Tent buddies

She is the one putting it together

The dynamic duo strike again

Friendly faces

Smiling and squinting

Holding the fort up

The woodcutter

He is the woodcutter 

Hard at work

Hacking away at the ground

She is a hard worker

Smiles all around

Two thumbs up and a smile... I WIN!

Sunny Smiles

Worker bees

A crew that worked hard and got work done

Brothers

They work drink and act like brothers... but they're not!

They are brothers at heart

Muscle man

He is the muscle behind this operation 

Bob

Bob the Builder

Friends

Best friends that work hard together

Working hard together

American Gothinc

Our version of American Gothic

We are currently at lunch for day two.  We have been moving bricks all morning and finishing trenches all morning.  This afternoon we will hopefully get to cement and get started actually building walls.  We are sore and exhausted, but having so much fun while doing all this hard work.  It has been amazing seeing God through all the team work and excitement.  This is going to be an exciting week.


- Lauren Renken -

Mike

Mike works hard and encourages all

Say cheese

Say Cheese!

Hard worker

Hard workers have to have fun

The infamous mister

The mister strikes again keeping her fellow workers cool and refreshed

LeAnn

LeAnn at her finest

Pickax mom

Pickax mom! 

Sweet heart

Taking a quick picture break

watching the work

Working hard is hard work

rocking the shovel

Taking a break from the hard labors of shoveling 

Posing for the camera

We all have fun posing for the camera... some of us just enjoy it more than others

victory

Victory was achieved by many yesterday in many different forms

Look away

We bent a pick ax and even the biggest and brightest couldn't make is quite the same again...

so close and yet so far

So close and yet so far... 

Chillin

Chillin under the tree (named Harold Ishmale) taking a water break and havin some fun!

Wow! yesterday was hard work!!

Day Two

It's the beginning of the second day of work. We just ate breakfast and are getting ready to go to work.  Yesterday we got a lot done.  We dug footings for the wall and today we are going to get the first layer of bricks set down.  It's hard work, but still everyone seems to be able to keep a smile on their faces.  Well, time to get to work!
-Grace Wiele

So I think the funniest thing about this trip is how we've had to survive off of rattlesnakes and javelinas. Haha. Anyway, it's the morning of May 29th and everyone is finishing up breakfast. We got a ton of stuff done yesterday. Everyone in my small group was like, "Yeah, I'm really surprised that we got so much done." But I wasn't that surprised. I'd be more surprised if we didn't get that much done. Solomon says, "We had fun doing it." And I'm pretty pumped for today's work day. We're gonna finish the footings and stuff. It'll be great. Yeah, so adios and have fun doing whatever you do back in Albuquerque. 

~Amber Arquitola. 

Today, Monday 28th 2012, was the first day that we actually went to work.  The first half of the day was spent  digging footings for our walls in Arizona's beautiful 90 degree weather.  Even though it felt like an oven, and every one was tired,  we still managed to have fun.  People were singing songs while shoveling dirt out of these little trenches.  It was truly a fun time despite the harsh conditions.  All goes well and we've only lost a couple students so far.
(Totally Kidding, everyone is perfectly okay :D )

- Eric Blumenschein

We're here at Youth Haven Ranch!

We made it here safely with no problems.
On Sunday we went to Kartchener Caverns.  It was awesome to see God's creation in a whole new way.

Today on Monday we dug almost 400 feet of ditches for our footers that we will stack the blocks on.
Everyone worked hard and worked together to accomplish more than we thought possible.