TUESDAY Stop 1

 

 

 

 

Tuesday will rank right up there with one of my VERY favorite days in team history. I LOVED it!!! I can't tell you the number of times I have been at the hospital for visits now...but it's ALOT!! This was by far the neatest visit that I've had. We had the privilege of having one of the doctors from Hospital Escuela come and we had devo that morning in the foyer of the hospital. She shared some about her experience working in a place with limited resources and how much she loved what she does. We had a donation from some very sweet folks as well to use at the hospital and so Doctora Sandra was able to take a few of us across the street to the medical supply store where we were able to buy two shunts for hydrocephaly children that will essentially save their lives. The tremendously humbling and difficult thing to grasp is that one of these shunts costs about $250 and the families watch their children die often because they can't come up with $250. I can't even grasp that. So to know that $500 was spent to save two children's lives was a really touching experience. Doctora Sandra led us all around the hospital and took us to see the hydrocephaly children and to present the shunts to the head nurse on staff (the doctor was in surgery). We stood in the room of the children who will likely receive the shunts and placed our hands on them and prayed over them their families and all who work with them. It was a beautiful/heartwrenching way to start the morning. Extreme sorrow and extreme joy living in exactly the same moment.

A couple years ago Momma Grose visited a little girls room while on a hospital visit and laid a single flower on the little girls bed and watched her eyes light up and a smile break over her face as she noticed it was the only thing with any color in a very dull room and how that one little flower brought so much joy. While talking about our trip this year that idea just mushroomed into...let's go to a flower stand really early one morning and buy most everything they have and take it to the hospital and make little cups of flowers to put beside the beds of the kiddo's. So, as God would have it, we had a flower expert with us and so Brian worked with a few other people to make little arrangments in plastic cups to take to the children. You should have seen the people coming by asking for one. They were beautiful and it was so much fun to watch a plastic cup and some flowers turn into something way better than that.

 

 

 

 

Monday we had a packed day and built a house for a family out near the dump. We had heard about this family through another guy Marlon who had a house built for him a few months ago. A man wanting to help someone else he knew that needed help. It is touching to watch people become missionaries to their own people when given a chance to extend God's goodness and explain to them that God will provide and then help to make that happen. They worked alongside us all day long to help build their own house and be a part of the gift that was being extended. I love watching that happen may I just say.

We took a break at lunch to go and serve at the dump. For some of our team it was the the first time that they had laid eyes on this place. A difficult day no matter how many times you've seen it.

In the afternoon when the house was about finished we went back for another load of water in a bag and delivered a second time to those working in the dump. The heat at this time of the year is horrible and they beg for more water every single time we come.

It was a hard day but it was an honor to come alongside some people who praised God for a cup (or bag in this case) of water and a roof over their head. For the least of these Father...thank you for them and the way it helps us see you.

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning we worshipped with the church in Sector Ocho which is a very needy community where we found Sarahi, Marisol and their family in great need a couple years ago. We knew they were one of the poorest communities we spend time in and so we loaded up our clothing for a distribution and after worship allowed the community members to come through. We had blankets, shoes, and clothing. I wish I could express to you how humbling it was to see them all DART for the blankets. They are cold and often without anything to protect them from that. It was great fun to watch the team helping people "shop" for themselves. A great way to start the day before we were off to Didasko.

Easter Sunday

 

 

 

 

As is our tradition we spent Easter Sunday afternoon with the sweet bunch at Didasko. We did our annual Easter Egg Hunt which they have grown to love so much and we also did a project this year where we bought each of them new pillows and had one of the Mi Esperanza ladies make a pillowcase for each one of their sweet little heads. Our hands and messages were traced with markers to put on the pillowcases so they could be reminded that while they slept we would be praying over them and carrying them close to our heart. This is one of those places with VERY limited resources that has captured our hearts and the relationships that have been built there remain long after the 10 days we spend in this country. I saw a grown man and a 17 year old kid cry hard when they hugged each other and tried to leave. I saw a teenage girl who has had her life changed literally by the knowing that a family cares and loves her consistently even from far away. When people question why short term missions matter I don't need to look for a reason very long...they matter because the effects are anything but short term. They live on in a little guys heart who remembers your name every single time he sees you. They ripple over to sweet lives who know that they matter and they capture our hearts into believing that we must or are compelled to find ways to love on them all year long. We are watching the effects of that. It was a sweet day to witness the lives of some kiddo's and some big people who have been deeply changed by loving one another.

More to come stay tuned... :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOLA...

Hello friends and family...everyone arrived all safe and sound and I PROMISE you this is the first breath we've had to sit down and try to share with you the events of the past few days. They are jam packed full and late when we get home and we have LITERALLY fallen into bed when we get there. Right now we are sitting in a fast food restaurant for a very quick lunch before we head to Didasko.

I of course am thrilled to pieces that these precious folks have landed and are now sitting near my heart and we are loving getting to do this together once again. We miss some of you who are normally with us so much and are carrying you with us in our hearts every single place that we go.

I will attempt to post some pictures from yesterday if I have time before the bus loads again if not I promise to put them on there tonight.

Thank you for your continued prayers. We're off to Didasko soon for our annual Easter Egg hunt and to love on them for a while.

Love and blessings,

ALL OF US :)

AND WE ARE OFF...

ONLY A FEW MORE HOURS UNTIL MY PEEPS ARE HERE....yayyyyyy and we'll begin another journey to attempt to be the hands and feet of Christ to those He places in our path. Please pray with us over the next few days as we finish making preparations and perhaps work on the most important preparation of all - our hearts.

I am also attaching a copy of our itinerary here on the blog so you'll have some idea where we are and what we're doing and you'll be able to follow the ones you love vicariously through the journey. More importantly I am attaching it so that you'll be prayerful for us in the locations that we believe God has placed before us this year to go and serve. Please ask Him to teach us and show us and grow us in ways we can't even imagine yet. Pray that the people who see us miss us and see Jesus and that we meet them with a humble heart wherever they are and come alongside them. Please ask God to use us to be a remedy for those who are impoverished most of all for love, knowing that He put all of who He is in us and if that's so we carry His love with us and it covers their deepest need. We covet your prayers and appreciate you joining us on the journey.

ITINERARY 2010 - APRIL 2-10

FRIDAY 4/2/10

12:00 PM Teguce Team Arrives - Mark/Lori/Sam Pick Up
12:00 PM SPS Team Arrives - Jen and David Pick Up
12:30 PM Group eats lunch across from airport
SPS Team - Eats lunch on way back to Teguce
2:00 PM Arrive at Mission House - Unload luggage
Help load wood on truck (TGU crew)
Go to house site to unload wood at house site (TGU crew)
Fill easter eggs for Easter Egg Hunt at Didasko (TGU crew)
6:00 PM Team from SAP arrives
8:00 PM Team Meeting - Devotional


SATURDAY 4/3/10

7:00 AM Breakfast
7:30 AM Load bus
8:00 AM Arrive at house site (family who have been burnt out)- devotional on site
4:00 PM Head back to Mission House
5:00 PM Dinner at Mission House
6:45 PM Head out for Mass with Larios Family for those who want to


SUNDAY 4/4/10

6:30 AM Breakfast
7:00 AM Load bus
7:30 AM Organize clothes for church members - Sector Ocho
9:00 AM Worship
11:00 AM Clothing Distribution
1:00 PM Travel to Didasko
2:00 PM Lunch/Easter Egg Hunt/Pillow Case Project
5:00 PM Back to Mission House
6:00 PM Dinner
7:30 PM Jesus Statue Devo


MONDAY 4/5/10

7:00 AM Breakfast
7:30 AM Travel to House Site - devo on way at water collection point
9:00 AM Arrive at house site (Near dump)
12:00 PM Break for lunch to serve in the dump
1:00 PM Finish house
3:00 PM Travel to Bencaleth - special needs orphanage
5:00 PM Travel to Mission House
6:00 PM Dinner at Mission House
8:00 PM Devo/Discussion Group


TUESDAY 4/6/10

7:00 AM Breakfast
7:30 AM Load bus
8:00 AM Hospital Escuela - (flower stand on way)
10:00 AM Elderly Home - (possibly take Paola with us to give haircuts)
12:00 PM Mother Teresa Home - (take veggie tales movie in Spanish and popcorn machine)
2:00 PM Casitas Kennedy - (think of something to do with them)
3:30 PM Travel back up mountain
4:00 PM Early dinner before meeting Amber
4:45 PM Load bus for stadium feeding
8:00 PM Head back up the mountain


WEDNESDAY 4/7/10

7:00 AM Breakfast
7:30 AM Load bus
8:15 AM Meet up in city with Mi Esperanza
9:00 AM Arrive and help Mi Esperanza unload
12:00 PM Lunch with girls - spaghetti
3:00 PM Load up - pass out hygiene kits to the girls
4:30 PM Arrive back in the city - Shop at Mi Esperanza
6:00 PM Dinner
8:00 PM Devo/Discussion Group


THURSDAY 4/8/10

7:00 AM Breakfast
7:30 AM Travel to House Site - San Miguel
8:00 AM Arrive at house site/unload wood, etc.
3:00 PM Play with kiddo’s at day care in San Miguel
5:00 PM Organize and pack up
6:00 PM Dinner
8:00 PM Devotional/Discussion Group


FRIDAY 4/9/10

8:00 AM Breakfast
10:00 AM Load bus for Good Shepherd
1:30 PM Load bus for Ojojona
3:00 PM Ojojona
4:00 PM Play with Casa Kiddo’s
5:00 PM Have a cookout on Casa property
7:00 PM Head back to city
8:00 PM Devo/Discussion Group


SATURDAY 4/10/10

4:00 AM Head to SAP airport
9:00 AM Head to the Teguce airport
10:00 AM Check in at airport in TGU
Check in at airport in SAP
12:00 PM Everyone flies out minus Andrew, Teresa, Jessica, and Adrian

 

 

 

 

A few of my very favorite faces. This family has come a long way but still needs your prayers and support. Thanks for walking alongside them and us. We appreciate you!

 

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!! We never get this boy to smile for a picture. He's in a stage where he'd rather pose in cool mode and not so much show the sweet soft guy that is buried underneath...but the other day we were at a build site and I had my new camera with me and I said oh smile Eduardo and he did and this is what turned out. :)

I look at it and remember a day several years ago sitting in a village with a sweet little boy who grabbed a hold of my hand and my heart as we sat on a cement floor and sang all day long while a team built his family a new house. I remember a hundred times when he hugged me and meant it. I remember many times when he has asked for my help or my advice. I remember the times when he has allowed me a glimpse into his heart. I remember the good stuff...

Amazing when I look at this picture how I really sort of forget the moments that have felt like frustration or failure or hopelessness. I have sort of just been pulling it up every couple of hours over the past couple of days since I took it and feeling a flood of hope when I see those eyeballs and remember there's a heart behind them that I love a WHOLE BUNCH!!!

I continue to covet your prayers for his heart as he is attempting to find his way in a culture that doesn't necessarily encourage soft and kind...I continue to beg God to seal His heart in ways that He can never turn from.

As always I appreciate you journeying with us...this ministry is the effort of so many and we couldn't do what we do without you.

Love and blessings.