Blog 2011 Day 4
We have reached the middle of the week. It was a very full and fruitful day. We ended this evening with a group time of sharing. It was good to gather together as a team, including our Food for the hungry hosts. We had just completed an evening service where, following Dale’s testimony and Bob’s sermon, three young ladies came forward to accept Christ. We were able to pray for them with the pastor and church leaders.
As a team we have become a good unit, bearing each other’s burdens and drawing encouragement from each other’s strengths. Greg, Misti and Corianne spent the day at the work project. It is so exciting to see the anticipation in the family as the father, Carlos, and his cousins and neighbors work alongside us. Today we laid 2 courses of cinderblocks on the foundation that Dale, Zach and Bob laid yesterday. Tomorrow we expect to be erecting walls and possible some of the roof. The FH crew thanked Greg for keeping things straight and level.
Home visits today brought the rest of the team to the same houses that they visited 2 years ago on our first trip. It was a blessing to hear how people described the positive changes that have happened in the 2 years FH has been working here and we have been visiting. In the afternoon Dale and Zach visited some of their sponsored children, while Lori and Bob led the VBS. The VBS continues to be a special time of teaching and celebrating God in fun songs from the Bible. We are very thankful for the FH staff who makes it all run so smoothly.
We stopped all of our activities early this afternoon in order to meet with the community leaders. They shared with us the projects that have been completed in just a few short years with the support of FH. There has been a new grade added to the school this year, 6th and they hope to soon have 7th and 8th. The shared with us that the government has set aside money to build a high school nearby, but they are trying to raise money to buy land in the approved area. Pray for this, it costs families $100 per month to send a child to the available high schools which are over 25 km away. Many kids are not able to go. They also shared of their hope to add a 2nd well and water supply system so that half of the community won’t have to travel so far and that the existing system can have relief. They also hope for a baseball field to keep the young men out of the bars and occupied so they don’t do drugs. They have great vision for this community and believe that God has brought FH and us to them so they may develop and become independent. One of the other concerns is that they can develop cottage industries to create jobs in the community. Recently FH provided a training course for people to learn how to make cheese and yogurt from locally available milk. 25 people were certified and hopefully these industries will be supporting whole households here soon.
Already some of the team are feeling the sadness of departure looming. We have grown greatly in our relationships with the people here. God has blessed us greatly to be connected with these people! God is using Cornerstone in great ways. Pray for the local church, it’s leaders, and especially Pastor Segundo. He a gentle and loving man of God
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