Monday, October 25, 2010

Thursday evening the team enjoyed eating dinner in downtown Santiago at a Chilean restaurant. Daniel and Jessica and their daughter Anais were able to join us for dinner. It was a nice time of fellowship.

Corey and John were feeling better by Friday morning. Friday was spent working on the interior framing and electrical installation. Willie and Tio Juan continued working on the plumbing installation. Friday night after dinner we held a concert for the girls at The Hogar who were unable to go home for the weekend. Mickey, Claire, Katherine, Claudia and Jessica sang several songs and Leonardo, the Director of the Hogar, played the bass, while Daniel played the guitar and drums. The last song of the evening was singing “Open the Eyes of my Heart” which the girls sang with us in English. After the concert, the girls enjoyed eating ice cream with sprinkles, syrup and whipped cream.

Team 2 with girls

It was cloudy and cold on Saturday morning – much different than the clear blue skies and warm temperatures we had been used to all week. The team spent the morning working with their sweatshirts and jackets on. Youth from two local Alliance churches came and helped with the construction work. Four youth came from the Penalolen church (Bob Fugate’s church) and 25 youth came from the First Church. Thirteen of those youth went down to The Hogar and had recreation time with the girls. The youth that remained at the House of Hope, helped hammer shingles on Willie and Patti’s house and dug up the concrete outside the gate to create a driveway entrance. That was hard work breaking up the concrete and then relaying it at the pavement level. By lunch time, the clouds had disappeared and the sun came out. The temperature warmed up about 15 degrees! All the youth joined us for a cookout at dinner time.

We took a group picture after lunch time with the youth that were helping with Willie and Patti’s house. One of the pictures was a silly picture and it just so happened that when Corey, the photographer, was climbing up a ladder to sit for the photo, the ladder became unstable and he fell to the gravel below. We weren’t sure if he had broken his foot or sprained it. It turns out it is just a very bad sprain and will take 6-8 weeks to heal. Corey is using a pair of crutches that the House of Hope had in the house and wearing a boot given to him by the doctor. He is being cared for by many of the team members.

Sunday we went to the Cordillera Alliance Church in Las Condes. The girls from the House of Hope along with Willie, Patti and Jacob also came with us. This church is one of the larger Alliance churches in Santiago. Tom and Daniel spoke about The Hogar and the House of Hope and Bob Howen gave a short testimony on why he and the other team members choose to be a part of Vision for Chile. After church, the team boarded the bus and headed to Pomaire for some shopping. We enjoyed eating empanadas on the bus that were made by Nellie, one of the cooks at The Hogar. What a beautiful day to spend outside in the sun! We enjoyed a nice dinner in Pomaire before heading back to The Hogar. Tom Morris and Caleb left for the States. We were glad that Caleb was able to spend an extra week with us and as it turns out, he extended his stay by another day since he did not have his passport with him Friday night and missed that flight home.

Today Kerry, Claire, Katherine, Ryan, Andrew, Andreas, Pam (from Pena lo Len) worked on finishing the roof (shingles and roof vent). Lee and Ryan have been working on the porch and roof detail. The electrical team has doubled in size with Dick and Dennis assisting Bob and Mickey (Debby has been helping when kitchen duty is finished). Carol painted the entrance doors to the House of Hope. They are now a nice white color. We will be eating dinner with the girls at The Hogar and several of us will be giving our testimonies. Once again, Tio Chocolate has made his famous fudge for dessert.

In His Love,

Diane