Cake, Cookies & a Gang of Green

Friday morning was off to a bit of a slow start, but eventually we got to work organizing the storage area in the La Viña Vineyard Church. The Vineyard Church is the hub of the La Viña ministries in Mazatlan, and they´ve amassed quite a collection of equipment and, well, stuff over the years (all of which has been or will be used in good time). Needless to say, the storage area was in dire need of some organization, but team Suitcase made quick work of that. To everyone´s surprise, Trent and Tyler also resuscitated the church´s ancient Plymouth Satellite and took it for a brief spin around the block... where it stalled again, to no one´s surprise.
The Vineyard Church is located on Av. Camaron Sabalo in the heart of what´s called "the Golden Zone" -- an area that´s considered the safest and in which most tourists confine themseves. It is here that we meet each morning for breakfast and to calibrate ourselves for the day´s challenges as we step out of the Golden Zone and into the various other colonias served by La Viña (of which there are 10, I believe, with a vision for expanding to 12). I´d urge anyone travelling through the area to take the opportunity to visit La Viña and have them share with you their vision for their Mazatlan ministries... maybe even take you for a quick tour outside of the Golden Zone so you can see what life is really like for the people who call Mazatlan home. Not so golden.

After a brief rest and a sampling of some local fare near the church, we returned recharged to prepare for our farewell party in a neighborhood called Francisco I. Madero. This would be the third and last time we would visit this specific colonia this year. All of the kids are pretty familiar with us by now and as we return each time they come rushing up, grabbing at your arms and hugging you around the waist; a bunch of toothy smiles, laughter, and bare feet.

The concrete busting crew of the previous days set up to start cooking in the kitchen and, in an example of efficiency, churned out 216 hotdogs, each on a plate with some chips and toppings. The team got them out to the kids and we regrouped to attack desert. Swiderski engineered a perfectly orchestrated dissection of the rather massive cake, cutting it 20 times in one direction, and 10 in the other to net us with 200 pieces. The man is gourmet. The kids each got some cake, ice cream and some animal crackers with these ambiguous looking shapes - is that an elephant, a hippo, or a rhino? No one was really sure, but they tasted just like animal crackers do in every other country in the world - to quote Tyler, 'derrricious'.

As desert was being prepped the kids were receiving their very own bright green Project Smile t-shirts, and before we served the sweet stuff we rallied everyone around to take some group photos. Towards the end of the evening some of us cleaned up the kitchen while the others engaged in some very high energy, sugar fueled, final night hi-jinks with the kids. You could look out the window of the kitchen and see the floor of the church teaming with an army of green clad kids running around laughing and playing like kids need to be able to do. And as we left this place for the year, all piled in the back of this big, 1/2 tonne truck and rumbling out of the dusty alley towards the hustle of the night time streets, the kids all lined up on a concrete embankment, each reaching out to the open back of the truck for a series of full-team high-fives. I looked back and laughed as Trent maneuvered the passenger van close by the kids and embankment so that he could do the same.

We drove by the Madero community this morning, Saturday, en route to another colonia, and we could see some of the kids from the previous day waving at us. Word was that most all of them were wearing their Project Smile t-shirts that next day.

RH & KR