It's A Wrap

Suddenly it's Friday and there's so much to do. We spent the morning working on Casa Paciencia with the goal of painting as much as possible of the exterior. Unfortunately, the rains came again and put a damper on that. (Pun intended.) At a certain point we moved onto the back porch area for protection from the rain and to use up the paint still in our trays. After that, it was time to clean up, pack up and return tools to the carpentry shop. But of course, since it's Friday things got a little kooky at times as you'll see in the photos below.

A movie and game time was set up between 1 and 3 pm during which we watched all the kids while the Ranch staff had some recreational time together. Those kinds of things can only happen when a team is here and we were happy to make it happen. 

By 4:00 the rains had stopped, and the sun was shining again so the kids were on the campo. We went to enjoy one last time to play with them. But the big event of the day and perhaps the week was the hot dog roast over a campfire at the gazebo. Those kids consumed a LOT of hot dogs. They also got the cookies that were baked during the week. And yes, Tom and Martin finally got some cookies too. It was a beautiful evening. A sliver of the moon and Jupiter, Venus and Mars were all clearly visible in the night sky.

Everyone had a chance to share a few thoughts at the campfire, and it was really impressive to see a number of young children stand up and thank us for spending time with them and for making the various special events possible during the week. Similarly, some of the counselors (house parents) shared the same sentiments. 

The Nelson's invited us up to their house for a debrief of the week after the campfire. Getting to know the kids was one of the highlights shared by all of us. In particular, those of us who were able to spend significant time with our sponsor children really appreciated it.

Saturday is our travel day back to the U.S. Thank you for following us this week. We look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Adios

Painting

Friday Hijinks

At The Campfire

Living Life and Living Water

We ventured outside the Ranch for the first time this week and bounced down the hill in the buscito to the little town of Santa Cruz. Two of the older Ranch kids, Cindy and Angela, joined us to act as translators. We met up with Astrid, who was designated by the local church to lead us to the homes of the three families to whom we were giving water filter systems. A couple of the homes were out in the boondocks.

At each home we demonstrated how to use the filter system and shared how it served as a spiritual object lesson. You see the dirty water in the top bucket is like all of us. It represents our sin. The filter cleans the water just like Jesus cleanses us from sin. And the pure water in the bottom bucket represents our redeemed lives and the living water that Jesus gives us. 

The homes we visited were all very modest. The families are all members of the local church, and they were all very thankful for this new blessing. Not only will it improve their health it will also save them money.

Our last stop was with Maribel in her tortilla-making shop. She makes about 700 tortillas a day over a wood burning stove and sells them at the equivalent of 25 for a dollar. So, if she sells all her tortillas then she will make $28 dollars a day. A pretty modest living. 

Steve Nelson, the coordinator for Ranch teams, drove us into the city to have a special lunch at a very nice restaurant near the old airport. We ate family style. The food was quite delicious, and the presentation was very nice too. They spoiled us!

Later in the afternoon we spent time with the kids in the art room and at the playground at the Ranch's school, Ebenezer Academy. The more time we spend with the kids the more they open up to us. In particular, spending the whole day with Cindy and Angela gave us the chance to speak with them about their Ranch experience, their future plans and how we could pray for them. They will have both graduated from the Ranch by the time any of us returns on another trip.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Distributing Water Filters

Our Delicious Lunch

Artists at Work

  

Painting, Picking, Roasting, Playing, Power-Washing

Beautiful sunshine permeated much of today. The day was structured like yesterday, and once again we did a lot of different things. Darlene joined Brenda in picking coffee this morning while Martin, Jan, and Cheryl started painting the outside of Casa Paciencia and Tom finished power washing the house. The morning was capped off with a lesson and demonstration on harvesting and roasting coffee.  

We were scheduled to do some baking and book reading at Casa Bondad again today. Darlene led the baking effort again and the kids that came really enjoyed decorating the cookies. (Tom and Martin were not allowed to attend for reasons that were explained in yesterday's blog post.) The kids must have been wound up a little bit too much because the reading of Tikitikitembo by Brenda and Over In the Meadow by Jan proved to be a challenge. 

Since he was banished from the cookie-making, Martin made his way to the school to share some flash cards and read some books to the kids after lunch. Similarly, Tom went back to Casa Paciencia to finish the power washing, clean the grime off the gutters and downspouts, and make a comprehensive list of all the things that need to be done to put Casa Paciencia back into working condition. After a bit, Cheryl came back to Paciencia to finish painting the front wall at the screened-in front porch. By the time we were done, it had started raining and it was quitting time.

Miguel, the person in charge of Rancho Ebenezer stopped by to see our progress. He explained that the house will be used by some of the students who will be graduating from the Ranch in the next year. The students will begin to learn how to be on their own by cooking their own meals, making a budget and doing their own shopping and laundry. This pre-transition training will help them to have realistic expectations about what life will be like after they leave the Ranch. After they graduate, some students will take part in a transition program, some will be on their own and some may go to be with members of their extended family. A number of recent graduates have been coming back to the Ranch to see siblings and friends, and to offer input on what life is like after graduating from the Ranch.     

It seems that we are all moving a little slower in the morning. Generally, we are all healthy although a couple of us have had some brief intestinal issues. So please keep us in your prayers so that we can finish the week strong. Thanks!

Painting

Picking

Roasting

Playing

Power-Washing

The Cookie Incident

We had a balance of working on Casa Paciencia and interacting with the kids today. It all started with Cheryl leading chapel for the kids. She read a children's version of the story of Joseph who, like the kids at the Ranch, had lots of bad things happen to him even though he was loved by God. Despite all the abuse, he was still used by God to save his family.

Braving the wet conditions, Brenda cleaned coffee beans and picked coffee 'cherries' this morning, which gave her some one-on-one time with her sponsor child. The rest of us worked on Casa Paciencia. Since the weather wasn't allowing us to paint outside, we worked inside with a view toward prepping the interior for future painting. 

After lunch, led by Darlene we baked cookies and spent time playing and reading with the kids. There seems to be some confusion about why Martin and Tom ate one of the cookies. While we saw it as a public service to protect the others from potential harm, the ladies all saw it as being snitches. Darlene threatened Martin with a rolling pin and the rest is history.

Later in the afternoon we had an additional time of reading to the kids and playing with them in Casa Bondad. The house is set up for indoor activities like reading, music, art and cooking. If they aren't on the campo, then the kids seem to like to play at Bondad. They only get the chance to do that when a team is on the Ranch campus.

In the evening Cheryl led us in our devotional time, and we spent some time praying for our families and friends who are not pursuing a relationship with Christ. 

Cheryl also introduced us to the game of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, and we are all headed to the emergency room for various hand injuries resulting from the game. 

  Chapel

Coffee

Baking

The Cookie Incident

Reading and Playing

The Sensory Room at Casa Bondad

Working in the Kitchen