March Update

The season of groups has ended, so we are trying to recuperate and catch up on things around here.

There was a group of 9 people from Kentucky that were here. They were working on a woman named Consuelo’s house in Linda Vista. She was getting a small addition onto her house to be able to wash clothes. It was almost completed.

A team came and was both living and working in Dulce Nombre, finishing the church. It is still not completed, but they were very successful! They did a bible school for a few days, and had up to 70 children. That was unexpected because there are not very many families that attend that church.

While that team was in Dulce Nombre, we had two teams here! A group of 25 youth from Mt. Airy Christian Academy in MD, and a group of 19 from Georgia. It was extremely busy! The GA team did construction and bible school in San Francisco. One of the nearby churches is closing its doors, so this Pastor is expected to have more people coming within the next few weeks. So they were painting the church and putting the floor and sidewalk for the building next door that will be the Sunday school building. There was a group back at Eva’s house, working on her septic tank and building the whole and the place for the tanks and tubes. Consuelo’s house in Linda Vista is finished! She has a new area for the laundry room.

The MD group had the chance to help out and see the feeding program that a church in Kentucky is financially supporting in an area called Barrio Chino. Many of the families that live there are single mothers, the fathers have left them. There are also many immigrants from Nicaragua that have moved south. Some days they have up to 100 children, ranging from babies to teenagers. The Pastor shares a message with the children and prays with them, and then they are served a meal that has been cooked and brought back to the house. (A woman has opened her house as a place for this ministry, she uses her outside patio and they are adding more cement flooring and a roof to expand!) The group of youth had the chance to share a bible story and music and a craft with them before they served them the food.

It has been a very blessed time, it’s always nice to see the physical accomplishments of the work that’s been done! I am planning on coming home sometime in April, within the next few days I will be buying my ticket. Time goes by so quickly!

God is good and faithful. I’m learning that He truly is our fulfillment in life, and what will bring satisfaction and not leave our hearts empty. If we go to Him, He will come down to us and be near.

Project Photos: Grandma's House

These are the photos from "Grandma Nelly's House". Everything in her house, including electricity is finished!
There are also photos of her daughter, Eva's house. All of the walls have gone up and she can move in, but still does not have electricity.

Project Photos: Dulce Nombre Church

These are some photos of the progress of Dulce Nombre church, Pastor Liber is also the Pastor there.

Maryland and South Carolina Team

Hola!

Today we said goodbye to the South Carolina team, and last Saturday I said goodbye to my Dad, cousins, and the team from out church and Maryland. It was so fun to have them around, and I cried a little when they left! Thank you to all of you who came and worked so hard, none of the work was in vain and the projects are continuing while you're gone!

The first week with the Maryland team, they did a variety of projects. (I unfortunately don't have any pictures yet!) They began the church in a place called Dulce Nombre, which is another one of Pastor Liber's preaching points. The congregation told him that if he didn't have a good building to meet in, they would stop coming. The second team from South Carolina also got much of that finished as well! When I have pictures I'll put them up to show the progress!

Both teams worked in "Grandma's House", repairing the old and putting up new walls, as well as painting them and putting in electricity. (They got the lights working in her home!) They also began putting up walls for her daughter, Eva and her family. They were living in a "home" next to Grandma's, that had dirt floors, was very filthy, and had electrical wires all around, very dangerous. So she is planning on moving into this other house nearby and moving her things from the other, which happens to be on top of the septic tank! This family was extremely appreciative of this work, and Grandma could not believe that she was able to choose her own wall color inside and out.

Bible school was done with the Maryland group in El Mirador, which is always great! So many kids who are growing up yet remember specific people! There were around 100 children for those 3 days. The other two days were in San Fransisco, and we also had a large number of children. The South Carolina team had a very intense bible school program for three days. On the last day, they had a community dinner, as an outreach to the families and to welcome them to church. The families were able to come and see what their children had talked about, and the Pastor spoke to them all to invite them and remind them that they are part of a big family of God. This team also put in a wheelchair ramp from the church to the bathrooms to make it more accessible.

It has been very busy, and we now have a team of 9 people from Kentucky to work throughout the coming week. God bless you all!