Tijuana Volunteer Opportunity with the Gridley Family

Charity Anywhere Foundation (EIN 82-0494672) founded by Gordon Carter, from Bountiful, UT was the guy Cathi worked with on this activity.  The idea is that we will go to Tijuana, and be presented with a selection of families in need of a new home.  Our goal would be to build one under the direction of Alex O., a construction expert that lives in Tijuana.  He would oversee our entire week there and support us.

Details:

On August 4th at 10:30pm my family and I flew from SLC to San Diego to prepare for getting picked up on Saturday morning.  We stayed at the Best Western Yacht Habor Hotel not far from the airport.  We were able to Uber our entire group in two vans for about $25.  The hotel was very nice and exceeded my expectations.

 Saturday, Aug 5th: We arranged for a pick up at 9:30am from a driver Alex sent and we waited at San Diego for Kylie, another volunteer, to join us.  We crossed the border relatively quickly and made our way to Alex's house.  He gave us an orientation and assigned us to our rooms which were the second floor of his house.  Very well furnished and provided for all our needs.

Our task for the day was to go shopping at a local grocery store, buy food for three families which would last about a week.  Boy do I wish I knew Spanish.  I used Google Translate alot, but it wasn't extremely helpful.  I noticed many of the grouping of foods were similar to back home so that made it easy.

We delivered the food and visited (despite our lack of Spanish abilities Alex translated a little) the families.

At the base of this picture taking the "selfie" is Alex.  He was AWESOME. The woman next to Oliver was recently bitten by a Violin Spider which is a nickname for a Brown Recluse.  Her leg was bruised up pretty good, and she had a small limp, but was getting better.  She was a neat little lady.

We got back and took Alex's son Isaac with us to play a little soccer
and get an ice cream.  Alex soon joined us.  That was fun.

Sunday, Aug 6th - we attended church and rested. Didn't understand a word. Nice people though.

The "tire stairs" about a 50 foot climb.
Very Steep.

Preparing the foundation by sweeping
it clean.

Passing the 2x4s up in an assemly line.

Framing the front wall

Monday, Aug 7th - first day of work.  Carried lots of wood and supplies up the "steps of tires" to the work site.  A few weeks earlier at a family reuinion, Jacob broke my left ring finger in several places and I was in a cast and limited in my grip strength as a result, but Jacob made up for it as he doubled everyone else in what he was able to carry.

Jacob impressed everyone with his strength.

 Some time in the afternoon, I heard Cathi yelling "Go! Go!". She had arranged a competition to see who could climb all those stairs the fastest.  I stopped to go watch, and Oliver ran up those stairs in about 24 seconds.  Jacob was able to jump up those stairs in just over 10 seconds.  He tried several times to beat 10 seconds and wasn't able to.  Kylie was the second best with just under 11 seconds.  I tried it, and got a 17 seconds.  Austin also got 11 seconds. Fun times.

 At the end of the day we were able to get two walls completed.  We had enough in the day to go visit the beach.  The kids loved it.  The water was quite cold, but that didn't stop them.

Cathi froze the whole time.  It was a little breezy.

Tuesday, Aug 8th

On Tuesday, we continued the framework and got two more walls done and got all four walls put together.  Still no roof.  That is Wednesday.

Tuesday evening we went to the Tijuana Temple. Lucy, Jonas, Isaac and Sam were able to do the baptismal temple work for five people each. I had to perform the ordinances reading from a card in Spanish.  I kinda butchered it I think cause they gave me an English card soon after. What a beautiful temple!

Wednesday, Aug 9th

On Wednesday we hauled up more wood.  This time big sheets of 4x8 plywood.  Jacob again impressed everyone as he could take 2 and once he took 3 sheets in one trip!  I was only able to take one.  We then proceeded to put an internal wall separating the inside into two rooms.  The entire building was 18 feet by 20 feet.  We then nailed the entire side walls together with the internal wall and did the roof framework.  Jacob was again the hero with the ability to just sit on top of the framework of the walls as he worked to put together the beams for the roof.  Then we nailed the roof sheets on and got the tar paper laid out on the roof.  Way easier than shingles.

Every day at lunch Vanessa (the owner of the new home) would make us an authentic Mexican lunch.  So good!  

Kylie Pyne, the youngster that joined us.

Wednesday evening, we went to the church for a youth activity: Handing out the school supplies that Isaac collected for his Eagle Scout Service Project, as well as give out the Soccer balls.  Isaac had put together 48 individual school supply kits.  Each kit contained a box of pencils, pens, markers, scissors, pencil sharpener, sheets of ruled paper, crayons.  We transported 3 large 40 pound totes full of the supplies.  Even though we presented all of Isaac's paperwork to the Delta check in folks at the airport, they would not waive the $25 charge for each bin even though I was told over the phone that the fees would be waived.  That was annoying.  Thanks a lot Delta. Customer service at its finest.

Then it was followed up with some international Volleyball! Little did they know they were dealing with a ruthless player... Jacob.  As you can see he broke my finger in four places, essentially shattering my knuckle:

Alex is such a fun guy. We thoroughly enjoyed I time with him,
and truly appreciated his hospitality.

The church grounds were immaculate and had a fantastic view.

But no accidents happened so that's good.

Thursday, Aug 10th

 On Thursday, with all the framework completed and the panels on, we because to nail black paper to the outside of the walls.  This was quite time consuming to get every inch of outside wall covered, and then we started putting chicken wire on top of that layer.  This was especially frustrating with my broken finger.  Those little nails are quite short.  We weren't quite able to complete that step and left a little of it for tomorrow.

Cutting the sheets to just the right size and then laying it out smoothly was a struggle especially with the upper layers that required a ladder.  We only had one ladder.

Allison is Vanessa and Ruel's daughter. She'll be a great
big sister to the newborn coming later this year.

Teamwork at its finest.

Almost there!  It's starting to look like a real house.

On Thursday night, we went to Tijuana downtown to do some shopping.  I got a new leather rifle case.  It's big enough to almost fit Oliver inside!

Friday, Aug 11th

Today the plan is to finish as much as we can be about 2pm so we can get on our way back to the US by 4:30pm.  It takes quite a while to get through the border.  So we finished up the chicken wire.  Jacob and Alex and many of the other kids worked on the electrical. Then we got all the drywall up on the inside walls.  We installed the window.  We worked to the very end of our time.  I wish we could have had another week to get all the details completed, but we've done a TON in one week and I'm amazed at what we were able to accomplish.  We grew attached to this cute family even though our communication barrier was quite overwhelming.  

I would highly suggest this trip to anyone planning a vacation.  We had a lot of fun, were able to use the funds to build a home and help feed other families.  We are planning to come back for another project next year!!

We felt so grateful for this opportunity! We felt so happy to come here, enjoy the culture, work together, make something that would be a real help to this family.  We'd love to come back and visit them next time we make it in to Tijuana for another project.  Thank you Gordon Carter and Alex for allowing us to do this! We'll never forget it.

Why I am no longer going to drive for, or ride with Uber

A couple weeks ago I thought it would be cool to try ridesharing while I'm out and about running errands.  I was able to be a driver for three people over that time and earned a total of about $25 including tips. It was kinda fun providing this service and getting paid for it.

I was emailed about possibly attending a conference with Uber while they were in SLC.  But for me, being an Uber driver was initially done out of a curiosity rather than a real need for extra cash.

I just received an email this morning regarding the official rules of conduct of being an Uber Driver/Rider.  Here's the standards: https://www.uber.com/legal/community-guidelines/us-en/

I totally agreed with everything until I got to the section:

Firearms Ban
Uber prohibits riders and drivers from carrying firearms in a vehicle while using our app. You can learn more about our firearms prohibition policy here. [1] If you violate Uber’s firearms prohibition policy, you may lose access to Uber.

For me, having a stranger in my car required me to be prepared should my safety be in jeopardy and I need to defend myself.  I simply refuse to trust anyone to enter my car to be compliant with the Uber standards.  If they get in my car and attempt a carjacking, I want to be prepared to defend that action.

It's not as if I would openly carry it or have it visible at all.  For those three rides, I had my firearm easily accessible but completely out of sight.  In the United States, we are finding more and more of an attitude that by simply banning firearms, that bad-guys will respect those rules.  That is a false and dangerous ideology.  Banning firearms on private property, fine.  But what I have in my car, that is completely legal in my state, is NOT for Uber to decide.

So goodbye Uber, I am done with you.  You need to rethink the rights of your riders and drivers to carry firearms in a concealed manner by permitted users.

It's Salty!

(Taken from a letter I wrote to Austin on his mission)

Last Friday I took the day off work to attend Jacob's CHS Graduation.  He sure has done well in school his senior year.  The last two semesters he got straight A's.  Pretty awesome.  Not bad for a kid who did his fair share of sluffing, and sleeping in a few times missing his first period.  

This last Saturday was the Great Salt Lake Race that I help Josh Green manage.  We had 15 one mile swimmers, and 13 10K swimmers.  I was able to talk Isaac into swimming the one-mile the night before the race.  At first, he was reluctant, but I used a little bit of reverse psychology on him.  I mentioned that it sure would be cool if he could swim it.  He instantly said no way.  And then Mom perked up, "C'mon Isaac you could do it!".  I paused and said, "Maybe he's right Mom.  I mean he's never swam in the Great Salt Lake and a mile sure is a long way."  After a few seconds, he said, "I could do it.  OK.  Sure.  Yeah, I'll swim it."  Pure awesome.

It was funny after he and the other swimmers did their 100 yard jog in the ankle deep water at the start to get to a swimmable depth, I heard Isaac yell out at the top of his lungs, "It's Salty!"  Haha.  You think?

Can you find Isaac in this group picture?

Cathi helped me paddle for a 10K swimmer.  That race consisted of three big loops that started and ended at the marina.  I paddled the first loop (which took about 1.5 hours).  I also had Sam and Oliver on the kayak with me.  It was tough.  Then Cathi took the second loop, while I took pictures of the one-mile swimmers.  Then relieved Cathi for the final loop.  Everyone was dead tired, including the race volunteers.  Cathi, Oliver, and Sam were zonked out on the way home in the van.  Isaac, however, was on a "swimmers high", as he sat in the back thinking about the race and every once in a while talk about what he was thinking/feeling during the race.  I'm so proud of him.  

As soon as we got home, Cathi took Jacob and 5 of his friends up to the cabin for the weekend. Grandma and Grandpa also being up there.  Mom spent like 5 hours preparing food on Friday night for this.  Jacob was gone and had no idea how much effort she put into making his "Senior trip" a success.  He's getting pretty serious with this girl from Spain, Natalia.  

Last Sunday Sam bore his testimony.  He did so right after one of Slagle girls did.  He always does it right after her.  So I knew he's got a little thing for her.  But he said something in his testimony that demonstrated his lack of understanding of Heavenly Father and Jesus.  So we had a family home evening lesson helping the kids understand the difference between them, and the common misunderstanding that people have on what role they have, and the names they go by.  With their purpose all being the same it is understandable how they can be intermingled.

Yesterday, Mom received an email about someone in the family that renounced their faith in the gospel and left the church.  While I'm not bringing this up to judge, it made me think. Sometimes I wonder about Cathi's spirit.  This might be considered blasphemous probably by Catholics, but I think she may be made of the similar spiritual strength as Mary.  Almost every day I catch her sitting on the toilet reading her scriptures out of her very worn quad, with printed programs, and pamphlets intermingled in the pages.  Or finding her kneeling beside the bed in prayer for seriously 10-15 minutes.  What the heck!  And she is constantly building people up around her and saying kind things.  I totally married up.  I joke every once in a while, that I totally have a free pass to heaven as long as I hold her hand nice and tight.  What an angel.  I'm so glad she's so strong in the church because there are a few things I've determined in my life that I will never even consider:

1) Divorce

2) Going inactive

They are both actually interdependent.  If my faith in the gospel diminished, then so would my belief in our eternal marriage.  If I turned my back on my marriage, then my dedication to the gospel would obviously go to pot.  Both go hand in hand.  I love my wife with all my heart, and I love this gospel with every (pardon the cheesy cliche) "fiber of my being".  haha.  Seriously, though.  Not a chance I'll turn my back on either my wife or the church.  

Please do me a favor and listen (or read) this conference talk:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/faith-is-not-by-chance-but-by-choice?lang=eng

Some thoughts to consider:

1. When we are obedient we strengthen our faith.  When we justify disobedience we plant a little thorny black stinky seed, compared to the tiny mustard seed of faith.  This thorny black stinky seed grows to be a nasty old weed that bears all sorts of gross fruit:  Cynicism, Justification, Pride, Gluttony, Lasciviousness, Worldliness, and Idolatry.  
2. I love the statement he makes, "Your faith is either growing stronger or becoming weaker."

Kroger - selling drugs and then leaving the addicts high and dry

Update:  I've found that this is supplied at a few Smith's stores, but not all.  So I'm buying them out whenever I visit and stockpiling this.  I know, I'm nuts.

So I've been buying literally dozens of boxes of this energy drink over the past year.  I've tried several different flavors and brands, and after finding one that is just perfect.  I used to clean out various stores of their inventory as I'd stockpile this flavor.  I especially like this drink because it keeps me awake in the morning.  Getting up at 3-4am to swim and then go to work requires a pick me up, and being Mormon, I can't exactly start drinking coffee, except I might as well with the amount of caffeine this stuff packed.

I've gone to 6 different Smiths stores in the valley, and none of them have it.  I called and talked to a Smith's buyer and it's confirmed.  They are officially discontinuing this product. This is probably the last unopened box in the state.

I've tried to find an alternative similar to it, and can't find anything. Typically Kroger brand is some knock off of another more expensive brand.  Not so in this case.

Don't know whether to save this for the day when predatory aliens arrive, or to save it and sell it on Ebay for hundreds a year from now, or what.

I want to cry....

UPC: 01111084567

Cathi's decision to be obedient

For many years Cathi has had a dream to work for an airline as a call-center employee working from home.  Why?  Because it meant she could get tickets to travel to marathons at a fraction of the cost it would take to purchase a ticket.

She applied several times, and failed to capture the job.  But this time around she did.  It even involved a background check which required her to prove that she was unemployed while she was a mother.  I can understand proving that you were employed at a specific place, but to prove you were unemployed?  How and why in the heck is that an issue?  She had to get a letter from the dentist explaining that she was a mother working as a mother for her children and was not employed during the times in question.  Dumb.

But after all this work to get the job, she ultimately turned it down.

She looked at the shift she would be required to take for the first year.  They all included working on Sunday.  She immediately was heartbroken.

Of the nearly 120 marathons Cathi has completed so far, only one involved running on a Sunday, the San Diego Marathon back in 2004.  She has never trained on Sunday leading up to that marathon, and this experience made her feel so guilty that she vowed to never run on the Sabbath again.  This requirement to work on Sunday even though it could be done from home, was still breaking the Sabbath.  Why does the Lord ask us to keep the Sabbath Day Holy?

According to Elder James E. Faust in this talk, he suggests:

1. To allow our bodies to physically recover.
2. To renew and strengthen our spirits by attending our Sunday meetings
3. To respect his commandment to rest on this day.  To be obedient.

Even the Savior rested after the creation.

Surely answering phones can't be all that physically straining, and she would probably be able to work a shift that allowed her to still attend Sacrament meeting.  It would be fairly easy to justify moving forward with the job.  But those two justifications wouldn't be able to explain away the fact that it would still be disobedient to a commandment.

I'm proud of her decision to turn the job down despite her overwhelming desire to get that job with the special perk of free airline travel.  It shows a great level of trust in the Lord, and she is a great example to our children of faith and obedience.  I feel very blessed to have such a strong woman as my companion!  She definitely is the center of our family!

Isaac's 12 year old birthday poem

By Grandma and Grandpa Low -

Dear Isaac,

We know it is your birthday -
And want to wish you well
Because you are our grandson
And because you are SO SWELL.

This is a SPECIAL BIRTHDAY
For you've just turned 12 YEARS OLD
And you're going to have the Priesthood
Which is "worth its weight in GOLD!"

You've learned so much in primary
And given service too.
The Articles of Faith you learned
And been a Cub Scout too!

You delight in helping others
And you seem to always know
The perfect way to lend a hand
And then your love you show.

You are so very organized
And a hard worker too.
There's no job that's too much for you
And nothing you can't do.

For once you set to mind to it,
You're off and running fast,
And leaving others in the dust
Until the job is past.

You're taking swimming lessons
 And are getting very good.

And that's because you practice
And do the things you should.

You've learned to be a swimmer
Who can really stay afloat.
And we hope that you'll be with us
If we ever sink a boat.

We think if you keep swimming
And learning from your Dad,
You'll be a CHAMPIOIN SWIMMER,
THE BEST THIS FAMILY'S HAD!

You're ONE GREAT FOOTBALL PLAYER
Who can really "KNOCK 'EM DOWN"
And we love to watch you playing!
YOU'RE THE BEST PLAYER IN TOWN!!!!!

Your smile is truly radiant
And your face is handsome too.
You radiate the Savior's light
In all you say and do.

Our poetry is lacking
But somehow we had to tell
HOW VERY MUCH WE LOVE YOU!
& HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO AS WELL!!!!!

We couldn't have asked for a more wonderful grandson than you, ISAAC!
All our love,
Grandpa and Grandma

Rex Singing Telegram

Halloween was a hoot at our house.  Practically all the boys (including myself) got "Morph Suits".  They're full body suits.  Most of the suits are just one color (like black so you look like a shadow), but some have a design.  Sam for instance picked one that made him look like a mummy.  The rest of the boys had all black.  I found one that looked like a farmer, a redneck.  I wore it to work and scared quite a few people.  The face is pretty disturbing.  Not scary in a gory kind of way, just really weird looking.  I was roaming the halls at work talking like a redneck holding my chicken in my arms.  Got laughed at pretty good.  The front yard I setup a large caged area with the turkeys and handed out the candy while bluegrass music was playing.  Fun times. The day after Halloween Jacob was asked to a girls choice dance.  He asked me to answer for him by doing a singing telegram.  Here it is

Cathi loved it.  She didn't think I would be able to act that well.  Guess I'm a redneck at heart.