First day at the work-site!
Our first day at the work-site was awesome! After a delicious breakfast of eggs, papya, watermelon, beans, rice, toast and iced tea, we loaded up in the van for the drive to Ticuantepe! We were all very excited and looking forward to what God had planned for us.
We were greeted by the workers from the church. They were interested in learning our names, and we talked about baseball teams and The World Cup. One boy seemed to enjoy teasing Pastor Dan about how the Yankees were better than the Phillies. One of the boys wore a shirt that said SPAM. We explained that SPAM is from pigs. They seemed to get a kick out of that! A young boy showed up at the work-site with two parakeets. They were his pets. He was eager to show us how to get the birds to perch on our fingers! We also saw 4 day old puppies that one of the cooks brought for us to hold!
They quickly started to show us what to do. The foundation had been finished and block walls were started. Some of us shoveled dirt to level out the floor. Others learned how to mix cement with stones, dirt and water. They also taught us how to bend small rods into a squares to go over re-bare, and then twist small wires around the squares to hold them on the re-bare. We worked until lunch time. Ladies from the church had a small covered kitchen near the church building and made us barbecued chicken, rice, and freshly squeezed juice. We were hungry and it was very tasty!
Soon after lunch, we started to prepare for the childrens’ ministry. A few of us went for a walk thru the community with the Sunday school teachers to invite the community children to come. We ended up with about 100 children! We quickly decided we needed to go to Plan B and split them into two groups according to their age. One group colored while the other group filled plastic eggs with beans and dried corn. After all the children had made eggs, we sang a few childrens songs using the eggs as shakers. Then we had a short dance class to Open The Eyes of My Heart. After all that movement they were ready to sit down and listen to two bible stories. We then thanked them for coming, and asked them to return the eggs so we could use them tomorrow. After they returned their eggs, we gave them each a piece of candy! They love the candy for sure and seamed to really enjoy it! We discovered that many of the children enjoyed playing soccer.
We said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel for supper. Pastor Miguel and his wife Layla (from Piedra Menuda) joined us for our meal of beef, mixed vegetables, and big surprise…rice! After supper we had our debriefing, and spent a lot of time planning our second day of childrens’ ministry. We decided doing a skit about The Good Samaritan would be an easier way to communicate a bible story to the children. Violeta is going to read the story in Spanish while we act it out!
We then read over all the comments on the blog! Keep them coming!
Please pray for our day tomorrow. Pray that we would be able to communicate God’s love to the community children as well as their parents! Tomorrow after our work day we are planning to attend an evening service at the church! Continue pray for our health, safety and strength!
Adios!
Wow look at you guys! You have a week off from work and your doing more work than me! Keep up the good work, I hope everyone is having a great time and enjoying their new surroundings!
wow! Sounds like you guys are having a blast! You all are still in my prayers! Can’t wait to hear more!
Boy that food sounds good. Its gotta be better then what I’m eating with my awesome wife not cooking for me. Sounds like you guys are accomplishing a lot at the church as well as having a successful VBS. I pray that this continues and that you have the strength to keep up the good work.
Thank you, this is such a great start to my work day, those pictures are just magnificent! Your joy and the joy of the people there just light up my heart. I will be in prayer all day for strength and safety for you, have another great day. I love you all and thank you for such a great message you have carried with you. Jann those blue gloves are something! Love you.
Whew Marshall is using a broom & a shovel, how did you get him to work so hard
? That is so awesome that you had 100 kids, what a praise…and quick thinking on your part to split the group. Thanks for sharing the photos and an update on the work so far. Give Sugey a hug and tell her we love her! Praying for the team as you head out the the worksite again today.
Jeremy: Marshall says he can pose for anything. You should know that as a photographer! Marshall wants to know if you made breakfast in bed for your new bride yet.
Hey all! It sounds like you are all getting involved in a variety of wonderful activities. I’m glad that you all seem upbeat so far with no major problems. There appear to be many friendly people who enjoy interacting with you.
@Kira – that red thing looks like the tuk-tuks in Cambodia. Do you ride them often or just pass them a lot?
Wow, You guys seem to be having such a great time and all the locals seem so thankful. Praise the Lord that 100 kids got to learn about him! Keep up the good work!!!! We will keep praying!
Looks like they are feeding you well! Good to see all those muscles ladies!!!
Keep up the good work. Love to all.
Wait, stop. Pastor Dan has a hammer in his hand? Way to go Big Daddy. It’s great to see everyone doing their part. You guys are an inspiration. I was just thinking, all we need is a plot of ground for your team to build us our own church at The Table.
Hey Kira. You were right, your guns are bigger than Mason’s. Take care all. See you soon.
DRM
Looks like a great time is being had by all. Love looking at the smiling faces on the pictures–plus those strong ladies muscles! It was great to hear 100 children showed up for their program. God’s work is being done by you and we thank you for it.
Janay-was driving today and saw cornflowers all along Charlestown and thought of you.
wow 100 kids! that’s awesome. looks like the work is going well. constantly praying that God’s will and love is shown through all of you. hope the rest of the work days are just as productive! definitely.
Hey everyone! Looks like you are all having a great time! The pictures are great and helpful with actually seeing what you guys are doing. Keep up the great work. God bless!
Kira: When will we see those guns at home?
Love seeing the pictures! How come everyone looks healthy and happy?? Must be all the physical hard work and the sweating! I hope you all have your clinical strength deodorant! (If not you can borrow Amy’s!!!)
Love, Chris (mom)
Oh my stars…the pictures of the little birdies were soo cute. and the food looks quite…interesting!
way to try brave it out and try something new guys!
it looks like youre having lots of fun…without me…thanks…cool! =D hehe Karla misses you so when you get back…every. waking. moment. will be spent with….your favorite person…..MMMEEEE!!!!!
Kira, i loved your shorts in that one picture…so adorable!
Hope you guys have a supercalifragilisticexpealidocious day today!
You are in Karla’s prayers tonight.