Monday through Thursday went something like this... Breakfast at hotel, bus ride for an hour into Villa Tapia with a devotional on the way, work/VBS/home visits, lunch, work/VBS/home visits, back to Santiago to clean up, dinner, fellowship, & bed.
We were expecting to begin building a stone wall/protection fence around the center, but when we arrived they had already finished laying the stone. So our group started putting up the metal chain fence on top of the stone and cementing it to stay in place. That took about a 1 1/2 - 2 days to finish. Then we were busy Wednesday and Thursday putting on a VBS for two groups a day of at least 75 kids in each group. They were taught by science experiments tied in with Bible lessons in the church by Dave Lafon (a.k.a.- Professor Puff-a-lup-a-gus). Then they went to their normal classrooms along with their teachers and did crafts. We had some neat crafts, one including a duffle bag they decorated and then later brought home goodies in it. We came bearing candy, bubbles, games, and toys! There is such a blessing in giving!
On Monday we also started visiting homes in the village. We broke the group in half so some worked while others did home visits. We had to keep the visits to just the kids that had sponsors within our group and some that had sponsors from Crossroads Church, in Avon. Mark and I went first with the morning group. We were blessed to witness and be a part of visiting the children in their homes. In every home we were warmly welcomed. We brought each home a big bag of staple foods. We had a translator, Yunior, with us at each visit. All of us were able to chat and pray with our sponsored child and his/her family. Each child received many gifts as well. It is a pretty big deal to be able to meet your child and their family that you are supporting, not many have this opportunity. It was definitely something that we will never forget!
We were up! Mark and I grabbed our bag of food and bag full of gifts! We were walking up a big muddy hill to get to our sponsored child, Junior's, home. We were stopped by a neighbor before we walked too far. The neighbor explained to us that Junior's mother, Alexandra was not home. We were saddened to find out that Alexandra and her children had just lost their husband/father only 4 months ago. He was killed...there was some misunderstanding. Jose' would have been 31 (my age) on September 30. When we signed up to sponsor Junior, we did not know this information. We knew that his father was a farmer. Knowing the family needed financial help then, made us aware of how much more they need it now! I am so glad God led us to pick Junior when we signed up for a child. Jose' died right about the time that God started stirring Mark and I to want to go on a mission trip. This particular mission trip led us to Junior & his family. I pray that God will lift them up and comfort them through this terrible time. I know that God can use us to help them and lighten a financial load that they have...we are blessed to do so!
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