Update #3- Our First Work Day in Tusik, Mexico and VBS

A theme in all our doings that we've seen so far was the ways God and man communicate. Worship at Shalom church yesterday was wonderful! Familiar songs in an unfamiliar language was a beautiful reminder of the global family of God. For Nathan this was a particularly meaningful experience, since he helped pour the foundations of the Shalom building over 26 years ago! Work this morning was described by family members as "really fun" and "rewarding" as we worked shoulder to shoulder with locals in the tiny village of Tuzik, Yucatan to pour concrete for what will be the floor of their church sanctuary--a reminder that God is far greater than our own community and culture. Even our young boys (7 and 10) were able to pitch in; a reminder that God is honored by even our feeble mortal efforts. Afterwards, we visited a natural cenote where we experienced much joy & relaxation: the heavens declaring the glory of God and our enjoyment of the world he's given us. As we write, we're headed back to Tuzik to help with a VBS, hoping to communicate with the local kids how much God loves them and how he shows that love in Christ!
Shalom!
The Pettigrews

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Today, Monday, we had an early start to the day with breakfast at 6:00 AM. We then loaded into the vans and made the 30-40 minute drive to Tusik (or Tuzik in English). When we arrived at the building church we found local workers waiting for us, a building with exterior walls, and a small “pavilion” with a restroom which is where they are currently having services. We quickly got started with filling buckets with sand and others with rocks to help make the concrete that would be used for the floors. While this was taking place others formed a line inside the building to pass the buckets filled with concrete down to the workers and another line to take out the empty buckets. We were finished with pouring the floor by 10:00AM - just in time for a fruit break. Since we finished early and that was our project for the day, we took the opportunity to explore a local cenote that is not widely known outside of the locals.

After a refreshing and fun time in the cenotes, we loaded back into the van in our wet work clothes, sitting on top of trash bags, and headed back to our hotels to eat lunch, get cleaned up, and prepare for VBS.

Around 5:30PM we went back to Tusik to one of the local community centers to hold VBS for the night. We were told to expect about 5 kids, but we had almost 50 kids plus their parents join us for our first night. One of the highlights of the evening was to hear Sara W. introduce John 3:16 to them and they automatically started quoting it Spanish all on their own. What a precious sight and sound to see that they already knew such a wonderful verse. After speaking with the children for a few minutes we let them make bracelets, color pages, jump rope, play with bubbles, or even play basketball or soccer. It was a great evening. While the children were getting snacks, we packed up and headed back to the hotels for dinner, an evening devotional/team meeting, and soon we will all head to bed to be ready for another early start tomorrow.

Enjoy some photos of our worksite, our fun trip to swim in a cenote, and VBS in Tusik.