Monday, June 15, 2009

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

This is Dona Paulina. She is an elderly lady in our village that you can always find sitting in her doorway. She has no children and little family at all to take care of her. Paulina needs a cane to walk and can't see more than two feet in front of her. At least once a week I go sit with Dona Paulina. She loves visitors and always wants to know how everyone is doing.
When Rich's parents were here I took them to Paulina's for a visit. We asked what is the most important thing she had learned in her life. Her response "Una vida con Dios," a life with God. Rich and I look for ways to help her out with food or clothes. One of the huge blessings of the youth missionary camp is that we are able to do work projects to help people like Paulina.
Park Plaza was able to help Paulina by painting her house, reinforcing some of her walls, and building a cement walkway to her out-house. She said she had fallen a couple of times when trying to get to the out-house and she was by herself. Paulina was so excited to have these little repairs done and especially about the pink trim on the house!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Technical Difficulties

In the middle of blogging the other day our computer turned off and hasn't turned on again. Please be patient with us. We are trying a few tricks and are praying that we don't have to send it to the States for repair. We'll try to check our e-mail when we can but, we will be out of touch for a few days more. Sorry!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Surprise!

Rich and I are both involved with mentoring the older kids in the Children's Home. Rich works with John Carlos, a sixteen year-old, teaching everything from mechanics to well drilling while trying to instill a good work ethic and a love for Christ. Instead of paying him cash we put a little money aside in an account for John Carlos to buy his own tools. In the Children's Home we most certainly want the kids to have a relationship with God and Christ as their savior, and in addition, we also want to give them some life skills.

I work with two of the older girls Yania and Rosmery. Mostly we do fun things because they have a ton of chores to do in their house and they are both very good students. Usually, I try to do something that helps the creative part of their mind. The first time they made jewelry it was overwhelming to have so many choices and didn't know where to start. Now they are always excited to try something new and are becoming less and less timid. We chat about their lives and different questions that they have. 

The girls really helped us out getting camp ready this summer and never asked for anything in return. I decided they needed a treat! Yesterday I picked them up around one in the afternoon. They had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. We stopped in Gasper at a clothing store and they got to pick out a shirt for themselves. (I figured they didn't want to buy tools.) 

Rarely, if ever, do they get to pick their own clothes. Groups and sponsors are very generous with the kids and they love what they receive but, they were really excited to get to pick something out. After they decided what they wanted, they decided that I also needed a Dominican shirt. Being that they know I like neutral and classic styles, of course they picked out a hot pink t-shirt with rhinestones. Although I felt ridiculous, they assured me that it looked really good. I'm sure we will all be the talk of the town.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Finishing Touches

This week the interns have been putting the finishing touches on at camp. Yesterday they painted the group dormitories. Today our first group arrives, they are Park Plaza from Tulsa, OK. Park Plaza is the sponsoring congregation of our teammates Kyle and Vicki Graham. 

This morning for our devo time we said special prayers of blessings over this summer, the staff, the teams traveling in, and all the activities we will be doing. Please join us in praying for God's work to be done this summer. We are ready and excited to start the summer missionary camp!