Monday

Day one of Ministry

We began the day with breakfast promptly at 8am. After which we divided up into groups one for home visits and VBS & the other for the work project. The group doing home visits met some very welcoming families and some with great needs. One woman Lativa, whose husband had just left her, had 2 boys 6 years and 10 mos. She had no job because she had to take care of her baby, who had a health condition.c
In the morning the work crew laid cement for the first latrine. The community members have dug the holes and then work along side the team. FFH team members Franco and Darrio, construction foreman and apprentice, taught the work crew to do the cement work for the bases of the latrines. We completed two latrines on Monday. On Tuesday the other group will work as Monday’s work crew does home visits and teaches the VBS.

The first day of the VBS brought about 40 kids from the community. The lesson was about when Jesus called the disciples to be fishers of men. They sang children’s songs in Spanish and made a craft of a fishing pole with a fish attached by yarn. The first day revealed many things we hope to improve on throughout the week, including better use of interpreters and better explanation of the crafts. But the children had a great time and learned about spreading the gospel.

In the evening we went with a local evangelist to another part of the community to take part in a service. Bob Chandler preached about Peter and his denial of Christ and subsequent restoration. It was well spoken and well received, despite the rain.

The community has been saying we have brought with us the blessing of rain. They depend on rain almost daily for household water needs and for crops and animals. There is a well in town for drinking water but all other water must be carried a distance or collected from the rain.

We are adjusting to the weather conditions. It has been very hot and always humid. For many of the guys the only time we don’t sweat is when we are taking a bucket shower. The work crew had to keep putting on sunscreen and so far we haven’t had any bad burns to report.

The team has been very supportive of each other. We are also bonding with our Dominican team members very well. Kelvin is the local contact for FFH and though he does not speak English we have enjoyed getting to know him as well. He lives in another community where he has been helping with development. He and his wife just had a baby boy. He drives here everyday to help with our ministry. Also today a new interpreter, Cheila, joined our team. She has never interpreted formally before. She has done informal work in bilingual classes. She just turned 18 last weekend and is a member of the church that Martirtes and Arismendy attend.