November 12, 2007
Good Morning! What a way to start a day with Trini’s yummy breakfast! She had a ditto of yesterday’s menu ready for us to enjoy at 6am. We packed the van last night so that we could exit early. It’s a beautiful day with a clear blue sky, white fluffy clouds and a light breeze! I bet it’s about 68 degrees. We are packed into the vans (so I’m glad everyone had a shower) with all our bags, 13 folks, and coolers to be filled with ice and water. We’re off to Sonsonate at 7:00am. Eddie East slept through breakfast but managed to get in the van before it pulled off.
8:00am – Arrived at Sonsonate after traveling on an interstate type highway lined with sugar cane fields, a small brick factory, and a volcano. It seems to be a cleaner town. Just passed a store selling 4 foot tall piñatas. The hotel looks beautiful with palm trees all around the parking lot and a pool.
Unpack and back in the van by 9:05. Passed through town with street market featuring from cell phone chargers, bras, to heaps of yummy produce (bumpy road..can you tell?...) We’re out in the country where kids are in the creek swimming while mama was washing clothes. There’s a cell tower out here in the middle of a pasture. We see palm trees and a huge poinsettia tree. I guess the poinsettias are 10-12 feet tall. We saw fields of sugar cane growing.
We arrived at the church at about 9:50am. We were greeted by Pastor Luis, who was so happy to see us! Marco pointed out several of the houses that his mission teams had built. I think he said they were 20’ x 20’. They were constructed of cinder blocks and have 2 windows and 2 doors.
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| Pastor Luis |
We entered the church after being welcomed by six beautiful children ranging from 3-8 years old. Little did we know the joy and the heartbreak those little ones would bring to us.
Marco was disappointed to find out that the supplies and sand for our project had not been delivered. He quickly made some calls and sent Jeremiah and Darryl into town to order those necessities. Meanwhile, we set to work with pick axes and shovels moving the stone-hard red clay close to the base and up to the 2nd block of the cinder block wall. After that job’s completion we began leveling the mountains of clay and moving the clods to the more sloped area of the yard. They (Marco and Luis) said that we needed to fill in the base of the latrine between its back and side outside wall and the wall of the fence. (I had never been put in latrine timeout!)
After the men with pick axes broke up the clods, Faith and others shoveled them into the wheelbarrows. The kids were watching some of us with the wheelbarrows and throwing the clods of clay behind the latrine. They joined us, making the job much more enjoyable. Charlie showed little Napo once how to turn the wheelbarrow around, ready for re-loading. He quickly got the hang of it. That little 45 pound 5 year old must have walked 10 miles going back and forth from pile to the opposite side and back all day long. Once we saw him just lie down on the ground in a pile of ashes. He caught his breath for a moment or two and hopped up again ready for more hauling. I believe there were 5 other children who helped by throwing clods of clay on the end and behind the latrine filling it in about 4 feet high. It amazed me that they successfully did that without once hitting each other with the clay. We had such fun working as the kids took turns pushing the two wheelbarrows back and forth across the yard.
Eddie East was a hit. Later he spoke with the kids thanks to Marco. At that time they were so interested in the wheelbarrows that the story of Zacheus failed to keep their attention. We’ll try another story today.
Lunch time was about 12:30. Marco had warned us to pack our sandwiches at the hotel, taking just enough for us. Past experience had taught him that we would give away the food budget the first day if we took the “fixins” to the jobsite. Word would get out and children would gather around expecting to be fed. Marco said they had food at home but wanted what Americans had. Many of us had problems with eating our sandwich while one little guy (probably 3 years old) pulled up a chair and pointed to the coke and sandwich with long big beautiful brown eyes. Marco reminded us that once we shared with him 45 more kids would eventually surround us. Darryl reminded us that in order to work effectively we needed to eat, rather than give our sandwiches away. It was a heart-wrenching experience for all of us.
After lunch we got back to work on our landscaping project. One little naked fellow (2 years old, maybe) and Marti became fast friends. He liked Marti’s wooden cross necklace. He tried to get Marti to let him put the tiny armless baby doll down her shirt. We think he wanted it to nurse Marti.
We heard the sounds of a guitar coming from the sanctuary. Lance entered to find a teenage boy strumming the guitar. They played a few tunes taking turns picking away.
We continued working until almost 3:00pm. Faye, Pastor Luis and I joined the children around us on the church floor. Pastor Luis read the story of David and Goliath and Noah. Joy and Jerry Roberts had graciously donated money for the purchase of those and many other books. I’ll never ever forget the joy of those moments knowing that God’s power and His story was for all of His children. Those rich with material things as well as those with soulful wealth and material poverty were graced with His love and power.
After picking up tools and belongings we piled back into the van with “Mañana” assurance to our new friends.
We bumped along the road making our way back into Sonsonate. We all welcomed shower time! After getting clean and refreshed we joined together for liquid refreshments by the pool. We walked about 4 blocks to a restaurant then back to the hotel. We shared worship and reflected on the joy of service and the heart break of need and injustice.
The average weekly wage is $5.00. A man makes $1.00 for cutting 1 ton of sugar cane. No wonder immigration is so prevalent to the USA!
What a great experience this is! All of us are grateful for a loving church which entrusts us with sharing the love and stories of our Savior!
3rd day Scribe – Millie Griffin
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