Our projects are all done but the finishing touches, as we look toward cleaning up, packing, and traveling tomorrow to Mendoza, Argentina. We are amazed that it is over! The first week seemed slow and laborious, but the second week flew by, so that we are surprised it is time to leave! The work has gone well. Of course we have to share kitchen and clean up duties, learning to serve one another in the process of serving our Lord and, of course, the girls. Injuries have been few, but colds and intestinal flu made their rounds without deterring us.

Sunday, we did not work, but we split up to attend various church services in the community. We joined in the service, singing in both English and Spanish to our hosts.

Our evenings are full. Saturday, we were served a dinner in our honor at the local La Pintana Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. Sunday afternoon, we went to La Palmaire for a bit of shopping and another “carne” feast.
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We start out each day with an excellent breakfast (the food has been great, as our scales will remind us when we get home!), followed by a time of worship and prayer. It has been exciting to see answered prayer: team members healed, work accomplished, and fellowship developed. We praise God for all He is doing and will do.

The work is progressing well. Many of the projects are taking real form, as the new walls on the outside of the dining room are stained, interior and exterior of the kitchen storage facility are getting finishing touches, walls of the new offices and bathroom at the church are completed, and the new tile floors in the girls dorm are laid. We only have three workdays left! (more…)

Work, work, work. We are now in our fourth day of service, and everyone is working very hard. It is exciting to see walls going up, the play area painted, and new offices being built. But it is especially exciting to see the camaraderie build, and the teamwork amongst all. Anything to get the work done!

Tuesday night we were invited to visit the dorms.

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Chilé: We are here!

We all arrived safe and sound Sunday morning (all 49 of us!). We had no problems coming thru customs, but one bag (out of almost a hundred) did not make it. It only contained food, tools, and a few personal items.
We could see the Andes Mountains from the airport, on the road to the orphanage, and looking out over the buildings. Tom Orme reminded us to stop and look regularly. What a beautiful sight! There is snow on the peaks, but the palm trees at the airport contrasts with it as spring continues to come. We were all ushered to our living areas, the women at the orphanage dorm, and the men a couple of blocks down the street at a church. We were fed well, introduced to many people of importance and prayed together. We prayed especially for Team 1, which left Sunday after spending two weeks here. What a great job they did! We had an opportunity to meet a few of the girls on Sunday afternoon. We retired early for a reasonably good night’s sleep (there are a couple of snorers who have amazing volume!). Five o’clock AM came early for the “volunteers” who were assigned to cook breakfast in the morning. After devotionals and receiving our assignments, we went right to work on our projects: rebuilding the kitchen wall, adding a storage area for the kitchen, adding an office to the church, and restoring the playground. Others are serving by cooking. We have lots of food, and the grocery stores are better than those back home

More to come!

The construction is complete for this team!!!! We made a great deal of progress on all of the projects! Team 2 should be able to jump right in when they start Monday morning.

We leave for Mendoza, Argentina tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we will have safe travel and good weather as we travel over the Andes. We look forward to our two days of rest and relaxation.

Tonight is the fiesta!! The Tia’s and girls will be providing dinner for us and we will give them all gifts. Thanks to all the friends, family and home churches that provided all of the gifts for the Tia’s and nina’s. The gift bags are bulging!

Please pray for our health! There are quite a few of us who have colds and aches and pains from all the work. Please pray for safe travel on Thursday and Saturday to and from Mendoza. Those of us who are not staying for the second half of the month will be leaving Santiago on Saturday night. Please pray for comfortable travel for Donna and Allen as they travel with recovering injuries.

Ciao! Ciao!