WHAT
HAPPENED TO
THE FIRST
SITE?
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Do you know what's standing
today in the place where the Padres built the first Mission of Santa Cruz?
There's a lumber yard
and a hardware store there now, named San Lorenzo
Lumber. The Padres really could have used that hardware store when they
were building the Mission, couldn't they? Still, you might wonder what
ever happened to that first Mission that they worked so hard to build.
Well, you might know what
it's like to move to a new school or a new neighborhood. It's exciting to
meet new
friends and see new places, but it can be a little scary
too. Sometimes it takes a while before you can find your way around.
Or maybe the rules are different, and you make some mistakes before you learn
them.
It was a lot like that for the Padres too. They were a long way from home, in a place where they'd never been before, and they made some mistakes before they learned the rules. Can you guess the first mistake they made?
You remember that they built the Mission near a beautiful river called the San Lorenzo. They wanted to be able to have water for drinking and washing and for their plants. What they didn't know was that it rains very hard in Santa Cruz in the winter. In a matter of just a few days, the beautiful, peaceful river they had built their Mission beside began to flood. It rose over its banks and washed the first Mission away, down into the ocean.
How very sad they must have felt! All of that work lost, because they made a mistake. How do you feel about that? Is it okay to make mistakes sometimes? Well, sure it is. That's the way that we learn, isn't it? When you were learning to ride a bicycle or to skate, you had to fall down a few times to learn how to get your balance.
That's just what the Padres
did too. They started building a new Mission right away. They
weren't
discouraged. Besides, they'd read in the Bible
about another flood that was even worse than the one they'd been through. Like
Noah in the Bible, they were men of great faith in God.
You know, there was another
mistake the Padres made that was funny. They forgot to put a stone
foundation under the Mission. What do you suppose happened? Right
in
the middle of their church services, gophers would pop
up out of the ground! That might make it a little hard to keep your mind
on your prayers.
So, you can see that the Padres had a hard time at the start. They kept right on working, though, and they built a new Mission that was even better than the first. They built this one on the top of the hill, so that they would never be flooded again. If you'd like to see what the new Mission looked like, just click on the bell.
