On Thursday, three Korean ladies arrived at the Hogar to help with building the wall. When they came to tour the Hogar on Wednesday, they saw Eleanor hard at work and said if she can do that type of work, so can they. They helped shovel small rocks into the wheelbarrow and put small rocks into plastic containers used to fill the holes in the cinder blocks. One of the ladies worked with Debby and Eleanor in House #4 cleaning the walls and kitchen appliances. The ladies even brought Korean food to share with us. We enjoyed our time with them. The men continued working on the wall.
Thursday evening, we took three cars into downtown Santiago for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Santiago Colonial. We enjoyed a variety of meals – some with mashed peas and others had a Chilean dish called pastel de choclo. For dessert, we had a sampler of desserts served in Northern and Southern Chile. They were very tasty.
Work continued on Friday on the wall. We are making progress on the section where we had to dig the 3 foot ditch. We are at the stage where cement needs to be put in the ditch so after it dries, the cinder blocks can be placed at ground level. Debby, Eleanor and Diane continued spackling sections of the wall at House #4 in preparation for the painting job on Saturday.
Friday evening we had our traditional “Talent” show. This year we were honored with a surprise visit from Justin Bieber (aka Bob H.). The girls were so excited that Justin came to see them. Eleanor shared a little bit about her life with the girls, John W. sang a solo and the girls at the House of Hope performed a skit with a spiritual lesson. Some of the girls and team members participated in playing Telephone. It was interesting to see how much the original sentence had changed by the time it got to the end. We finished up the evening with ice cream sundaes. Before the girls returned to their homes, Kerry and John had a special treat for the girls. Women from their church had obtained quilts from an organization called “Wrapped In Love”. Kerry brought them down to the Hogar and each girl was able to choose their own quilt. On Saturday, many of the girls could be seen outside with their quilts. They really enjoyed receiving this gift.
Saturday we were joined by many people from the San Marcos area. Fourteen adults and 16 teen/children. In the late morning two teens from the Korean church came to help. Debby was in charge of overseeing the painting of the ceiling, walls and trim in House #4. Most of the ladies and children helped with this project. Kerry put the men and teenagers to work on building the wall: making cement, putting cinder blocks down, filling the spaces in the cinder block with small rocks and then using cement to top off where the small rocks had been places. Others pushed wheelbarrows of cement over to the ditch to fill it in and helped put larger rocks into the ditch in between loads of cement. Needless to say with all the helping hands today, we made great progress at House #4 and with the wall. The group stopped at 2 PM for lunch. We had hot dogs, chips and soda. The San Marcos church brought popsicles for dessert. They were a big hit with the girls at the Hogar.
After dinner on Saturday, the group walked next door to the San Isabel grocery store to purchase ice cream cones. Tom’s treat!
On Sunday, we will attend the local C&MA church next door to the House of Hope. In the early afternoon, we will travel by van to San Antonio, and do a little sightseeing and shopping. We will eat dinner in San Antonio before heading back to La Pintana.
We thank the Lord for sending us all the workers on Saturday. It was a true blessing. A big Thank You to those who have contributed towards the supplies for the wall. You are helping make this all possible. Please continue to pray for us as we work towards our goal of completing the task of building the wall.
In Christ,
Diane