This last week we were able to take a trip to mexico with the Charity Anywhere Foundation. We had about twenty people in our group that went down to do dental work. There were three different dentists that we rotated between. We left Sat. August 9th at about 8 in the morning and arrived in mexico at about 10 that night. It was a really long drive but we eventually got there! That night we were taken to the place where we would be staying for the week. It was originally built to be a hospital, but when it was finished they didn't have the money to hire nurses and doctors so it was sold and now it is a doctors clinic downstairs and upstairs, where the patient rooms are, the charity anywhere foundation now stays when groups come down. There are also two rooms upstairs used for dentistry. Sunday morning we got up and went to two different sacrament meetings. We then had a sunday school lesson in English. That night, we drove to a town called Tecolate and went to an orphanage. Jason's family had given us bags of toys and clothes that we were able to give to them, then we played with the kids for about three hours. It was really neat, but they were very sad when we had to leave.
Then Monday morning we woke up and started doing dentistry at about eight. We cleaned many many teeth, assisted with fillings, and even did our own fillings and extractions throughout the week. It was definately different to see the difference in living here and there. Though most of us were doing dentistry, there were others who did other things. Monday, Jason, Houston, Annie and Tani Bree went back to the orphanage to fix the van and the ladies played with the kids all day. When we were finished that evening, we had family home evening and then most went to the beach while Rob, Annie, Jason and I went with Mirna (An amazing lady from Tiajuana) went and bought a bunch of food for four different families that needed them.
On Tuesday, We again woke up and did more dentistry. Jason went out to the primary president's house of one of the ward's we went to, and added onto her house walls with cement so that animals could no longer live under her house.
That evening, we were planning on taking the boxes of food to the families, but an unfortunate event happened and one of the ladies in our group got her purse taken from her while at the internet cafe. It only had eight dollars in it, but it also had her passport, her car keys, and her camera. Luckily Mirna was a lawyer and was able to take her to the consolate to get more papers to cross the border, and brittney's husband was coming to California and was able to bring a spare key from utah for her car. But, due to the business of Mirna that night, We all went to the beach instead. The water was really cold and it was an overcast night, but we still had tons of fun swimming and riding the boogie boards.
Wednesday, we were able to do a lot more dentistry and Jason was able to build a box around the water heater on the roof of the hospital, which he did for the rest of the week. The hospital didn't have any hot water because the pilot light on the water heater was constantly being blown out so they had Jason build a "house" for the heaters in hopes to have hot water at the hospital. I was able to do a couple fillings on my own as well on wednesday. It was really neat. We were able to help so many people to have healthier teeth and gums and hopefully inform them a little bit better on how to have better hygiene. It was very challenging though because not many of us spoke much spanish but it was a great learning experience in having to pick up as much as we possibly could in order to break that communication barrier. Wednesday evening, we were finally able to take the boxes of food to a few families. It was a very humbling experience. Many families down there live honestly with practically nothing. Lucky just to have food. While taking food to one of the families, we had another crazy experience. Jason was driving the big 15 person charity anywhere foundation van that they provided for us to drive around. One of the families we took a box to lived up in the mountains. We drove to the top of the hill and then had to go down a little bit to get to the house. The hill was pretty steep but we made it down ok. We gave the family the box and when it was time to leave, most of the group wanted to wait till he got the van turned around to get back in the Van. I stayed behind the van to direct him backing up. He went to turn around and started rolling forward. Then th wheels started spinning and he was stuck. He then had to drive down to the second little pad which had cliffs on all sides of it. He went down the hill, hit the brakes and skidded. Stepped on the breaks again and once again skidded. He doesn't believe me, but by the time he finally stopped, his tire was about half a foot from the cliff. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life. He finally got the van turned around and we got back home.
Thursday, we kept going with the dentistry and building. It was a very good day. Then that evening, we dropped off some of our group at the beach and the rest of us went down to the market. We were able to shop and learn more about the culture. We got some fun gifts and were ready to go back. We got back in the Van and started driving home. We were about twenty five minutes from the hospital and needed to go pick up the people at the beach. We got on the freeway which in Mexico, is only two lanes wide and the lanes are very small. Everyone is going fifty plus miles and swerving in and out of the other cars. There are off ramps, but there are also little ally ways you can turn into off the freeway. We were driving home and the van started shaking and making a clacking noise. Jason thought we might have a flat tire so we pulled into one of the little ally ways. He got out and looked at the tires and they were fine. He looked under the van and had me pull forward. He couldn't really see anything wrong, so we pulled back out and started driving again. About thirty seconds later, it started again and then we heard a big thud. We had enough momentum to pull into a second ally which was on an incline. Jason put the car in park and hopped out. The van started rolling backwards into traffic again. I had to jump over to the drivers side and step on the breaks. At this point we were all pretty nervous. The guys then got out and pushed the van farther into the ally way against a building. Here we were, in the middle of mexico, none of us speaking spanish, carrying all our stuff from the market (which included a life size Arial pinyata) with the driveline of the van laying on the ground. We said a prayer and called the people at the beach and told them to get a taxi. Jason then went to flag us a taxi and the one that pulled over "happened" to speak English. I think we were pretty blessed. He then flagged one of his buddies down and there were twelve of us in two little tiny taxies. But we made it home ok. We also had found out that the tire on our car was flat, but we didn't mind because it helped to keep it from being stolen.
Friday, we got up and did a little more work. All the other cars but ours were gone by two o clock, but Rob, Annie, Jason and I were there still doing some dentistry and then cleaned the hospital. Jason went that morning with a mechanic to the van and during the night, someone had stolen the battery, the rack off the top, gone through the van, and cut the gas line and stole all the gas from the car. Friday morning Jason couldn't find his phone and when he finally got the van fixed and back to the hospital, he looked everywhere for it then remembered he had put it under the seat of the van. We thought it for sure would be gone due to the robbery of the van. They had gone through the entire glovebox and everything. He went out and looked and sure enough there it was laying under the seat. We couldn't believe it. Jason then finished the project on the roof.
Jason put on the doughnut tire on our car and we said goodbye to everyone. We were very blessed to have such amazing people looking out for us and taking care of us down there. There was Mirna who I already talked about. Elle and her daughter Aralie who cooked and cleaned for us all week, and rick who helped us as well. It was hard goodbye's but I'm sure that we'll see them again.
We left about five o clock. We got through the border by six and drove into San Diego to get the tires fixed. We pulled into discount tire but they were just closing. They looked at our tire and were kind enough to open back up and change the back two tires for us. We drove that night all the way to Primm where we stayed the night. We got up and rode Buffalo Bills and had lunch. We then drove to Cedar City and stopped to see Chip and Nicole. We left there and finished the ride home and arrived in orem about eight thirty Saturday night. We had to drop off Rob and Annie and then went to Albertsons. We finally arrived home about nine thirty. It was truely an amazing trip with many many amazing memories. All the craziness put aside, we were able to help many people, but more than that, we learned SO much. Coming home to the US made us so grateful and also feel very very spoiled. We almost felt guilty for all that we have. We are so very blessed to live in this amazing country and have the rights and freedoms that we have. We are so grateful for this experience and wouldn't trade it!
They led me all around the kitchen to the fridge where there was a present, then to the closet where there was another gift, to the bathroom w/ another gift, to one of our pictures where there was another and finally to the living room where there was the final gift. He gave me some chocolates, a cute hat, a back message coupon, a facial coupon and a ring that I've wanted to wear to work that is flat so I can wear it w/ my gloves. 
