Guess what we did today. Work! Paciencia is the name of one of the houses at Rancho Ebenezer that would normally house kids. But it is sitting empty at the moment, and it needs a LOT of TLC. Today, our team began the process of rejuvenating it so that kids can occupy it again.
There are some lovely plants next to the house, but they are overgrown and blocking some of the windows, doors and walkways. So, the first thing we did was to ruthlessly trim the plants back. We also weeded the gardens adjacent to the house and then started power-washing it. We also repaired the exterior stair at the back of the house, started repairing the screens on the back door and filled in a window opening that was missing the window. Interestingly, we disposed of a lot of random stuff left behind by the kids that moved out of the house a couple of years ago.
Everywhere you look in Paciencia there are things that need repair. The kids tend to be very hard on their houses. Our primary task this week is to paint the exterior and to prep the interior for painting and other repairs. We'll keep you posted on our progress. Other teams will follow behind us and make their own contributions to the renovations.
We quit working on the house a little early today so that we could get cleaned up and then cook the evening's meal for the Ranch Kids and their house-parents. By doing this the three Ranch cooks were able to take the night off. Two Ranch girls provided excellent guidance and assistance as we prepared the catrachos. Our biggest task was frying tortillas, but we also put together a mix of avocados, hard boiled eggs, diced tomatoes, onions and cucumbers to put on top of the tortillas. It was pretty tasty!
Part of our evening was spent in conversation about prayer based on an Oswald Chambers devotion that Darlene did this morning. Afterwards, we spent a little time playing cards.
Working at Paciencia
Cooking Dinner
