Today we returned to the church and we did not have any incidents with travel. We arrived to the site and began organizing buckets and doing last minute cleaning in preparation for the 50 plus people we would be helping throughout the day. It was especially loud and slightly chaotic because the roof was being welded and painted. You had to be very conscious of where you were walking for fear of sparks from the Arc Welders. The workers who we were assisting walk effortlessly on very thin steel beams. They made it look very easy. These men are very talented and can produce effective results with very little resources. BJ, Charles, and Joe, worked with these men and a translator all day to cut, measure, and install material. Rachael and Judy assisted our host along with the second translator in distributing, and educating the women about how to clean and how to maintain their filters. Kate and Tracy spent the day playing with the children. Some of the children wandered from the street while others were in attendance with their mothers. The children were tossing a ball in the dust covered streets. We also read Spanish versions of popular American kids books from movies like the Lion King. The children gathered around the books to see each photo and were wrapped up in every single word. We also blew bubbles and gave some to the kids to take home. The joy from such simple activities is absolutely heart warming.
We celebrated Joe’s Birthday with cake and ice cream- both were delicious and the staff was kind enough to locate an English version of the Happy Birthday song and blast it over the speakers for all to hear! We are so blessed by being able to help.
