Casas Por Cristo Day 6

Friday, June 15

 “I was surprised at the raw impact of the week’s work on the families’ lives.”

We got to sleep in a little this morning. The Green team’s house dedication took place this morning while the Blue team packed up the vehicles. Then we were off to the market. Some of the group found the bargains (and the bargaining) to be a lot of fun. Others were less impressed, although all of the brave souls who sampled the food agreed it was muy bien. [picture?] Then we spent about an hour-and-a-half on the hot pavement, without A/C, waiting to get across the border, before heading back to the Casas headquarters in El Paso. It seemed like a lot longer than four days since we’d last been there. Those four days had changed us all profoundly.

After a tearful departure from Amber and Kelsey (who were a true inspiration to all of us) [picture?], we headed towards home, thankful for what we had been privileged to experience, as well as the fact that no one had been injured, or even gotten sick. Well, not so fast . . . Before we were out of El Paso we experienced our first casualty of the trip, when one of the vans inexplicably pulled off at the wrong exit. Turns out one of the youth had gotten sick all over everything (and everyone). After a quick cleanup, we headed on to the luxurious Fort Stockton La Quinta without any further problems (other than the intermittent engine smoke coming from one of the vans). There, the youth had a well-deserved opportunity to unwind at the swimming pool with some pizza.