We thank the Lord for his protection over the structure of House #5 on Saturday night. While we were all up at the House of Hope, the dog house behind House #5 caught on fire. The flames reached high enough to scorch the concrete wall of the house and the metal stairway landing that leads to the second floor. The fire was put out and everyone is safe. It is unknown at this time what caused the fire.
Sunday morning after breakfast at the House of Hope we headed next door to the C&MA church for Sunday School and Church. Our team lead the congregation in singing I’m in the Lord’s Army – in English. For Sunday School, most of us joined the girls from the House of Hope in their Young Adult Sunday School class. Lissette translated the lesson into English for us. She did an excellent job! The lesson was on I Chronicles 28 and we learned about David and the temple and being a man after God’s own heart. We attended the beginning portion of the service and sang a few choruses in Spanish. Around 12:00, we left to get ready for our afternoon in San Antonio, a port city located south of Santiago. Daniel, Jessica and Anais joined us for the day. Most of us took a boat tour around the port. San Antonio’s port is the largest port in Chile and has 9 docks/piers. We saw many pelicans and seals. We walked along the boardwalk and did some shopping. For dinner, we ate at a restaurant that served a variety of meats. Some ate fresh salmon and Chilean sea bass. We had a relaxing day in the sun and were refreshed for a new week of work on the wall and painting.
Monday morning, Bob H. led us in a devotion on Micah 6:8. He expanded upon being kind to one another and walking humbly with our God.
At the work site today, the men continued putting cinder blocks on the wall. Bob H. and John S. continued making cement. Bob M., Dick, Marco and Kerry continued placing the cinder blocks in the wall. A new task was given to Claudia, Diane and Eleanor. We needed to shift the sand as there were too many small rocks in the pile of sand that had been brought in last week. The small rocks were causing issues with the mortar used in between each cinder block. About 30 minutes into this project, Eleanor was offered a job promotion in helping Debby continue painting House #4. She quickly jumped at this opportunity as the benefits were better than staying in her current role. One of the ladies and two youth leaders from the San Marcos church came to help today. Karen helped Debby and Eleanor paint in House #4. Barrett and Aaron help load cinder blocks in a wheelbarrow so they would be closer to the wall. They also helped put the cinder blocks on the wall. What a blessing these three were to us today! We received a delivery of small sized rocks that are used with building the wall. We are currently waiting on an additional delivery of 1,100 more cinder blocks. They were supposed to be delivered on Monday, but were not. Please pray that they will be delivered on Tuesday so progress can continue on the wall.
Tonight we ate dinner at three of the homes at the Hogar. These were the homes with the oldest girls at the Hogar. Tom, Bob M. and John S. shared with the girls. The translators were the girls from the House of Hope – Estephania, Lissette and Kati. They did a great job! We shared with the girls about our love for them and prayer that they would have a desire to live at the House of Hope once they turn 18.
Tom has given a challenge to the girls at the House of Hope and to the team. Tuesday and Thursday this week will be “English only” days, and Wednesday will be a “Spanish only day”. Tom has asked Kathy Cerda and Daniella from the House of Hope to lead the devotions on the English only days. At the work site today, some of the team members were practicing the few words we know in Spanish. All the choruses on Wednesday will be sung in Spanish. Please keep all of us in prayer on these days as each of us will be stretched in this growing experience.
We continue seeing answers to prayers in regards to God providing us just the right amount of additional workers each day to work on the wall and paint House #4. Continue to pray for safety and health – some of us have been having issues over the past few days with the pollen.
In Christ,
Diane