The day began....

The day began at 3 am.

Not for me...or any of the other members of our group.

The day began at 3 am for 20 men from the Horquetas congregation. They gathered together at the church and prayed for us from 3 to 5 am and then went off to work.

I was rudely awakened by a dog at 5 am...barking outside my window...but i rolled over and went back to sleep. At about that time many of the men headed off in buses to work in banana farms over an hour away.

So the day began at 3 am.

We arrived at the church, our worksite, at about 8 or maybe it was 830 and worked very hard all morning. From the pictures you can see just how much cement was put down. Many of our team worked at scraping and painting a metal fence. I believe it will all look beautiful when it is done. The kitchen that we will have paid for will be used to serve food to the young, old, and impoverished of the community. It is quite a ministry.

Pastor Don Carlos is a great man. I will tell you more about him someday. He works very hard to help the people of this community to live well. Yesterday we watched him hand out baby chicks to families here. 11 chicks each. They were to keep 10 chicks for themselves and sell 1 chick and use the money as a tithe to the church.

This afternoon we spent a few hours with children from the community. Crafts and soccer (football) were the order of the day. We were challenged by the disconnect in language, but the kids smiled so widely. It was beautiful to be with them.

Tomorrow will look a lot like today. We will work at the cement in the morning...putting on a finer top coat (this will involve sifting sand by hand!), more painting, and more time spent with the kids in the afternoon. Thanks for your support and prayer as we move forward. I assure you, with every effort we look to serve another in Christ´s way and with every moment we awaken even more fully to the holiness of life!