This week in Mexico 7-24-26
Here’s a glimpse of our week of outreaches in Mexico. Our escuelita has a brand new member – Citlali just had her baby! And we had our messiest project pivot yet with Menita’s bathroom build.
Quick links to the other parts this week:
Happy weekend, GTF fam! I’m so excited to share our outreaches in Mexico with you today! ♥ First a praise!
Citlali and Alejandro had their baby!
Here he is, brand new!
Here are mom, dad, and big brother from our last home project!
Mom and baby (over 9 lbs!) are healthy! They’re in the general hospital in Tijuana, and she needed a C-section, so dad is only allowed in with them for a couple of hours per day until she is released. It’s the same as when Erica and Israel had baby Melany. It’s amazing that they can have this care and not owe a dime, but it has its challenges.
It’s hot and was a bit stressful for them. She’s in a hot room with no windows and so many other laboring moms, but not her husband or other family. So she’s praying she’ll be released tomorrow. Alejandro is the only one who has been allowed in to see her, so their 5-year-old hasn’t met his baby brother yet. 
It’s the first time they’ve navigated the system in Tijuana, and it can be tricky, especially for Citlali, being alone for most of the time. The doctor said that if she’s able to walk and move around well enough, they might let her go home tomorrow. At home she’ll have her husband, and so many aunties to help, and it’ll be quieter and cleaner!
Our kids group – Escuelita
We are spending most of the time at the park! A dear friend sent the kids some toys that have come in very handy this summer! Pickleball! And jump ropes! And frisbees! And skip-its! These light-up balls on a rope that attach to one ankle and you spin it around and kind of jump rope with yourself!
More Escuelita
It’s summer, we’re doing a lot!
Project Menita
We are so grateful we can build her a working bathroom! (We began building her a ramp so she won’t be housebound, you can see more here.) We are coming along with this project! It was going so smoothly and so quickly, and then we had a bit of a hiccup, but we are great at pivoting! I’ll explain more below.
A look at the inside
Progress outside
Plumbing
And here’s the hiccup! All projects will have some unexpected hiccups and pivots. This is one of the reasons we chose to build the bathroom on the other side, instead of trying to redo her current bathroom. So the only hiccup so far was when we went to connect the new plumbing for her new toilet to her septic tank line. 
Her current bathroom doesn’t have running water to the shower. We saw the buckets there that Menita has to fill and then use to bathe. This was one of the biggest things I wanted for her, having running water finally! Especially now that she has one arm in a cast. I didn’t realize there was also no running water to the toilet, so that bucket was also used to flush the toilet. The 5-gallon bucket filled with water would weigh over 40 pounds (20 kg), and Menita is so small, she must weigh under 100 lbs. It’s not something she could do on her own, even before she had a cast on one arm.
So our guys ran the new plumbing, but when they went to join it to her septic line, we learned it had been blocked, and was under great pressure! A fountain shot up, got all over our crew! They had to get that under control, and then get themselves cleaned up. One of our guys had to go to the doctor when he woke up the next morning with an eye infection.
We discovered that the line had sunk over the years and then had to travel up hill to get to the septic tank. Years of tree roots and the lack of water pressure with no running water didn’t help, it all just began backing up. So we’ll replace the whole thing, not just connect the new plumbing to it.
It’s not the worst pivot we’ve had to do, but it was the messiest! Thank you all so much for praying for our guys and these projects!
God is doing amazing things here, and I’m so grateful for your prayers and support that make it possible. Thank you so much for praying with us for those we serve together! ♥
Quick links to the other parts this week:
Thank you for your love, and your prayers for those we serve around the world! It’s absolutely amazing what happens when we come together and follow the Lord’s leading. I’m beyond grateful for you all!
If you’d like to see more than we can share here, email me for access.
Thank you for keeping us, this ministry, and our outreaches in prayer, and thank you for your support! We couldn’t do any of this without you.
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God bless you!
♥ Samantha