Wrap Up

Well hello folks, this is Rob here and I'm going to wrap things up a bit and bring this chapter to a close. After Wednesday night we prepared to head out again on the road and set course for home. We didn't leave until noon, which allowed us time for a "despedida" (goodbye) with our hosts from the ranch. They encouraged us with the work we had done and the way our group functioned and the attitudes of the group. They were very happy with the contributions we had made by way of work and expressed their thanks. They also gave us little Coke bottles with mini sombreros as a "recuerdo" (memory). We did some clean up, finished a few odd jobs, packed up, said our goodbyes to Manny, Beth, Monte, Gail and Lisa, and then left.

We (I) had postponed the decision of exactly what the going home plan was until that morning. We had thought of maybe stopping in Colorado Springs to look around as it is an interesting place, but it was hard to make the driving schedule work for it and we had experienced plenty already so I decided to drive through the night and camp in Miles City, MT. That leg of the journey took about 26 hours, giving us an easy 12 hour drive to Meadow the next day. We had a great time relaxing at the KOA, swimming in the pool, exploring, and having a time of singing and prayer around the campfire. The night of rest was good for all as we'd had a few sick people on the way until that point. Most were pretty happy to not sit in the van any longer, that's for sure. The trip was uneventful although we had a blowout on the trailer tire in the same construction zone as on the way done. Weird, but we were back in the van in less than 15 minutes, we were getting pretty fast at changing tires by then.

All in all we had a very positive experience. The contributions we made to the ranch were real and significant, as students moved into the rooms we prepared just days after we left. The local missionaries were encouraged by us, and we learned a ton about tribal missions and Chihuahua culture.

A big thank you to all who supported and prayed for us, and we wish we could have updated this blog every day, but as the girls explained it wasn't always possible. Thank you for your interest though!