Tuesday

So let me apologize a bit. This has been an incredibly busy week. I’m not apologizing for that, but what I am apologizing for is the lack of “blogging” that’s to come. Today is actually Saturday, July 16th. What does that mean? Well, if you have been reading the blog, you know that I’ve not updated for several days. We’ve been getting up about 7AM and are constantly on the go until 9-10PM at night. That does not leave a lot of time to blog. So my plan today while the students do some cleaning up around the center is to catch you up a bit on what has been happening this week. The days tend to run together a bit, so forgive me if all of my thoughts aren’t clear.


So Tuesday we got up and spent time doing our devotions and then went to breakfast. After breakfast, we broke up into our work teams again. Paint…check. Cliff crew…check. Road crew…check. The paint team started painting the outside of one of the large dorm buildings here at the center. They encounter a wide range of bugs, but they pressed through it. The cliff crew continued to move dirt…and they do it well! The road crew continued to fill in potholes. It seems like a never-ending task. All of the teams worked hard. The weather was hot, but not unbearable.

One of the things that have happened here at times is power outages. Not because of storms, but just random (and sometimes planned) outages. Tuesday we were told that the power was going to go down. There were some workers taking some type of pump out at the center, so they needed to shut the entire power off. When there is no power, there is no water. When there is no water, there are no showers. So as the crews finished up working, they got to jump in the pool to cool down. It wasn’t a shower, but it was nice!

We all got cleaned up (as best we could) and headed to lunch. After lunch we jumped on the bus and headed out to Iglesia Bautista II – Cana de Galalia. (Canaan of Galilee 2nd Baptist Church). Many of the kids were waiting for us to arrive. The students started mingling with the kids and I began to set up the laptop, projector, and sound system. Once that was ready to go I popped in a Veggie Tales dvd (in Spanish of course) and sat back and watched all eyes focus in on Bob and Larry and the gang. At 3PM we shut off the video and began our opening assembly time. We got everyone moving and singing and then broke into our 4 groups.

The weather was beautiful. The rec teamed moved into a yard across the road from the pastor’s home. It was nice to have them so close so that we could watch the kids enjoy the games they were playing. Again the place was packed. I don’t think I mentioned a number for Monday, but we had about 50-60 then and about the same if not a few more on Tuesday. As we began to pack up, the pastor was thanking us for coming so far to minister to them and the children. We were able to present them with a gift for allowing us to use their home. It was great to connect with a sister church so far from home. It was hard for many of our students to leave. Children they had connected with came and hugged and kissed them and didn’t want to let go. Our students were amazing. Pouring out so much love to children they had just met. Not wanting to put them down or let them go. But the weather started to turn and once again the rain (and tears) began to fall.

We made the long journey back to the center (about an hour and 15 minutes). We had dinner and then spent time debriefing again. I love the fact that these students love to share about their day. It is so cool to hear how God is working in their lives and how they are listening. I am excited for you as parents to sit down with them and go through their devotional books with them so they can share with you how God moved.

Our “quotes” are starting to diminish. I think that all of us are trying to be more aware of what we are saying so that we don’t become the one that gets quoted. It is a riot to be with these students and adults. They have been a blessing to me all week! Thank you so much for praying!

Pressing On,

Dale