Catch Up

May 27, 2010

Time to do a little catch up on the blog before heading "into the wild" for the next few days. Tomorrow I take the mission team that is here camping on the farm (where the future children's home will be). The original plan was to sleep under tarps but a tropical storm has moved in and we have been getting rain for several days straight and it is supposed to continue. This kind of rain is usually seen at the end of the rainy season and not in May. At any rate with the kind of tarps we have and the severity of the rain (not to mention the frequency of thunder and lightning) the sleeping otuside does not seem to be a good idea. Plan "B" is to stay in two of the buildings on camp which are still rustic and will lend themselves to an "out of the comfort zone" experience for the youth. We are praying that the rain lets up (and the driveway dries out) for Saturday so that the children can come out to the farm for an outing. Otherwise the team will be going to the home and we will do indoor games with the children. But it is good for both the staff and the children to get to leave the home and have more space to run around.

Today I was out at the farm working with the team to slow down the erosion that is happening. Lots of area was graded for construction and now that soil is being carried away. On Monday an Environmental Engineer will be bringing some supplies so that on Tuesday we can do a more permanent job with stopping the erosion. Today was only a temporary fix as we dug channels to divert the water from its current path and moved lots of soil. It was fun to work in the rain for a change instead of being under the blazing sun.

I just realized that I never wrote nor posted pictures from my awesome hike at Volcan Izalco the other week. I will have to do that when I return from the weekend with the work team and children. Life has been very busy and e-mails and blogs have gone by the wayside. I have continued to enjoy some good connections with the children at La Casa de Mi Padre. We had another Family Visit Day last Saturday and I again helped with the logistics and an icebreaker for the new Parent Group. Many in this group of parents suffer from lower IQ or psychiatric illnesses and so the activities have to be adapted for their comprehension level. It went pretty well though. One of the sad things going on with several of the families right now is serious health issues. The mother of 3 of the chidren here at La Casa is in the last stages of terminal cancer. The children had the opportunity to go to visit their family last week but they have a long road ahead of them as they prepare and then grieve. And we need to figure out how to best walk with them through this journey.

One other thing that has been happening these past 2 weeks has been the opportunity I have had to share my faith with a girl I got to know through the guesthouse where I lived this past month. I sense that God's reason for having me there was so that I could begin to plant some seeds in her heart. She went to church with me last weekend and on the ride there I was able to share the gospel message with her. She has been curious but not with a curiosity of searching for the truth. It would seem that her she is content with her life as it is and does not see a need for God. She will be leaving in a week for Spain again and I am praying that as I hang out with her one or two more times that she will hear what she needs to here and then that the Lord will bring other people into her life to continue planting and watering seeds until the time is right for a harvest in her heart. It is in His timiing and not mine.