Wednesday...

Wednesday was a great day. After our usual 6:30am breakfast, we had a sweet devotional on "the rock" which is on the edge of Villa Gracia and overlooks the countryside...very beautiful. Then we headed to the food bags we had prepared on Tuesday and tucked Bibles into 100 of them and loaded them onto the bus; everything assembly line style. God has brought together such a good group of people and we work so well together. I literally have not heard one complaint the whole time, and we have been WORKING HARD! 

Once the food bags were loaded onto the bus, we were off to Mi Esperanza, a center dedicated to the empowerment and education of women. They offer classes on computers, sewing, salon, and pinata making. It is a wonderful opportunity for women that otherwise have a pretty bleak future ahead of them. The vision and opportunities for expansion at Mi Esperanza are incredible and I am very excited to hear about future endeavors there. I guess maybe I enjoyed it so much because there is tangible change there, the proverbial 'give someone a fish'. There is always a waiting line for classes and they are hoping to start doing remote classes so they can reach out to the people in the community and relieve some of the burden of transportation to the school. 

After Mi Esparanza, we headed to Casitas Kennedy (I'm sure I spelled that incorrectly) to have a VBS and pizza lunch with the children who live there. This visit was a little rough in that Casitas is the very first place children are sent when they become orphans, rather by their parents not being able to care for them any longer and leaving them there or somewhere, or because their parents have died, or whatever the circumstances may be, the children go to Casitas before they can be transitioned out to other Childrens Homes. The children here are pretty rough. They have been picked over and not chosen and have a strong history of sexual abuse. This was obvious in the way they interacted with us. Most were starved for our attention, but some were very reserved; it seemed to be one extreme or the other. They all called me Tia (Aunt) and were constantly asking for things that we had, bubbles, crayons, playdough, etc. It was so hard to refuse them but it was in their best interest to not keep giving them things, as it puts them at risk when they go back to their rooms for violence from the other kids. I do believe that most of the children received some small gift from our visit and the most important thing is that we spent time with them. We put on a VBS there and had a skit and a craft to go along with it. We presented the story of Jesus and the apostles and feeding the 5000, and Nathan was gracious enough to translate to the kids. They seemed to be pretty receptive, some of their little faces were very engaged and it was heart-warming. I mean, just if they get one thing...if even one child gets one glimpse at who Jesus is and how He loves them, that's what it's all about. 

After Casitas, we headed to Casa de Esperanza, a privately owned childrens home. Going from Casitas to Casa was like night and day. It was such a stark difference. For one, there are less children, but also it's like a giant family. They children are so well taken care of and loved and it was a positive note to round out the visits. While we were in Santa Ana (where Casa is located), we drove up into the mountains to deliver food to people. The area itself is gorgeous. The mountains and views are breathtaking, but its rural and the people are definitely in need. We met one family in particular that were so welcoming and receptive of the food bag and had at least five little ones running around in the yard. The father was expressing his gratitude and again telling us how faithful God is...um, aren't we the ones supposed to be encouraging him in HIS faith? And here is, yet another example of how their faith far surpasses mine. He prays for his family and God provides. End of story. He expects it. He believes it. He trusts in it. And this day when he asked God for provision, a group of people brought his family two weeks worth of food, and he was gracious and thankful, but not so much surprised. Because he prays to the God of provision, and he knows that his God will provide. Amazing. 

After the visit to Casa and the delivery of the food bags, we shopped a little in the small business are of Santa Ana and then headed to Sam and Jen's for Taco Loco...um, in a word? Delicious. It was a very authentic catering of tortillas, rice, beans, chicken and salsas. And I could probably eat it every day for the rest of my life. It was a nice time of fellowship with the group. It was one of the first times we have let loose and just hung out and watched a little bit of a soccer game on tv and ate. It was very relaxing and needed. 

After dinner we headed back to Villa Gracia and went to sleep! Which is what I am about to do now, because I am worn out...why am I worn out? Well you'll have to check tomorrow to find out all of the craziness that went on today...and it was a FULL DAY! 

Keep the prayers coming! Remember God said that if His people would humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, He would hear their prayers from heaven and HEAL THEIR LAND! 

Mucho mucho mucho love!