Sunday - A Great Lord's Day

Sorry to everyone who anxiously awaits my blog updates....Saturday was long and tiring and we have not been around Villa Gracia today. I will try to update you quickly on the last two days....It is 11:30 now and I should be in bed.

Saturday we built 4 houses. Three of them were within shouting distance and you could see them. Most of our group was building and a few others were on a wood moving crew. Two of the three houses were up a steep hill so they wood had to be hand carried up. After they finished that daunting backbreaking task, they went back to Villa Gracia to load up bags of food and delivered them to people in another village. God is merciful and good because even though the three houses were started at different times, we all finished within about 30 minutes of each other. The house site I was at was for a young couple. He is 20, she is 16. They are expecting their first child in August. They were very grateful (as all the recipients are) for their new house! Our very own Margaret Rickard was co-foreman on one of the houses "up top" and I hear she did a fabulous job! Way to go Margaret!

On every work site I have been on, our kids are working so hard and there is no whining! I continue to be so proud of them. We had a little meeting tonight and they are all healthy, having fun and glad they are here. For that, I thank God. My biggest prayer request is that you continue to pray for their health. Last year was so hard on them and I just want everyone to stay healthy.

Today we left Villa Gracia around 8:30 to go to Los Pinos to church. It was a wonderful experience. We outnumbered them by a ton and the preacher apologized for the size of his crowd. They had had a revival last night and it didn't end until 4 a.m.! Ryan Connell Hernandez' husband, JC, acted as translator today and he did a great job. We were told that our contribution to the church today was around $1,200 - their contribution is usually around $10! Wow! What a joy to be such a part of a blessing for them!

After church we went to a large mall called Cascades. We ate lunch and had a small amount of time to shop - mainly at the new Walmart there. That was very interesting! A lot of things you would normally buy in a large package, you can actually buy in small packaging such as cookies, candy and granola bars. We left the mall and went to shop at Mi Esperanza - personally my favorite part of the extracurricular activities here ! Lori just finished moving the storefront into a larger area and the things the ladies have made to sell are amazing! Honey - don't look at the credit card bill! Ha! Lori always gets a kick of how much I buy - I just can't help myself :)

We came back to Villa Gracia for a short time and then headed back down the mountain to town to a friend of Mark & Lori's house who has his own ministry here. His name is David Lowe and he is the nicest guy - I mean how many people would invite 130 people over to their house for dinner? Taco Loco came and catered it and the food was incredible! Amy Castleman and myself sat on a little table out on the patio and watched everyone go by getting their food. We were making sure there was enough guacamole left for us! It was soooooo good and the portions were huge. Then a short devo there - that is why we were not on ustream tonight - and back to Villa Gracia. It was very hot today and even though we did not work, we are tired.

it is late, very late and tomorrow will be another long, hard, rewarding day of the Lord's work, so i must sleep so that i can keep....

running on faith,

lee