We started the day knowing that we only had 7 hours to finish up our projects.
We had decided to quit early at 3 p.m. today and would all visit the Managua
City Dump. The children do a church service at 4 o'clock each Friday and we
wanted to witness this. More later...
The
painters had to put a real push on their work as the main house and porch
were also to be painted. Anyone with any spare time on their hands was
recruited and given a brush. Anyone finishing up was given a brush. By day's
end the house looked magnificent. There were a few spots on the inside of
the porch area that didn't get the mortar painted but I'm sure another team
will finish it. Pictured here is Penny-Jane at the top of her ladder putting in the
finishing touches.
Our
resident Mechanic/welder, Graham, was busy again welding the running boards
back onto Larry's pickup truck.
John
Hamilton brought quite a number of donated soccer balls and today they were
put into use at recess. The kids love playing soccer and those that don't
will find other games to play. Here also, is a class of boys posing proudly
with their new ball.
The
computer lab is finally finished. Those that prepared the room by putting up
the walls, wiring the lights, installing a door, painting the walls and
ceiling and making the desk around the perimeter had all completed their
jobs and it was time to move in the computers.
After four trips to the warehouse in the pickup truck we moved everything
over to the new location. After plugging them in and booting each one we
felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Larry went into town and, as is
Larry's style, he negotiated a deal on 25 headset microphones and came home
quite happy. Everything is complete and the kids can start their English
lessons.
Over
in the "apartment" Garrett Southworth and Eric Jolin were still installing
the suspended ceiling. They ran into a snag when they discovered the
supplied tiles were not the correct thickness. That will be a minor
deficiency to be finished by another team.
The Medical Center has come a long way - not finished 100% but the
ceiling is complete to the last row of tile as there was an issue with the
wall to tie into and not enough hours to deal with it. Again, a small
project for another team to tackle.
At
three o'clock we dropped our tools and brushes and went to the dump for
service. Pictured to the right is the church which is built inside the city
dump.
Larry
& Donna feed over 200 children every day at this location and as stated
before; every Friday the kids take over and do a service. Pictured left is
the Keyboard player reading scripture. The boy in the blue shirt was the
leader this afternoon and all did a good job. Even though I didn't
understand a word of what they were saying I could tell they spoke with
confidence and didn't have any of the shyness you might expect from people
this age.
The following are some pictures taken before the service as we mingled
amongst the residents handing out candies and balloons.
Some of the gang were wandering about and made contact with a family next
door to the church. They were invited into the house and met a very elderly
lady and her family.
Maria
Jose Otegra is 90 years old and just loves Jesus with all her heart. She
opened her house to this small number from our group. She praised the Lord
for bringing us to her environment. She told us it was the Lord's purpose
for her to be there in the dump and that the Lord never forsakes you. Penny
suddenly realized the woman was absolutely filled with joy. They were so
blessed to have our interpreter Edgard with them or they never would have
heard her testimony.
We're all looking forward to tomorrow as a day of well earned rest. We
will be visiting the volcano and look around in the market for a while
before lunch. We then plan to have dinner again by the Pacific Ocean as we
have done in the past and watch the sun go down.
