Update #8 - La despedida

January 3rd

The family did the usual painting, playing, and serving.

Unfortunately, I was in bed all day. I have hundreds of bug bites and some of them seem to be infected. My legs and arms are swollen, there is blotchy redness everywhere and many of the bites are forming blisters. It has been unbearably itchy and painful. I started antibiotics last night and am hoping for some relief soon so that I can get back to doing God’s work. I’m resting today so that I can get back at it tomorrow. Elevation and icing has helped the most so far. Creams and oral medicines (like Benadryl and ibuprofen) are not helping. 😢

During the day, a portion of our team was able to return to Jocotillo and build a house for a mother and child that we had met a few days prior.

In the evening, Casa Bernabé put on a program for us to thank us for our service. I am so glad that I crawled out of bed to go because it was the most beautiful gift I have ever received. Each house presented a song or a card.

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Day 1 - Surprise!

We are deeply saddened that one of our teammates became very ill and her and her husband can no longer join us on the mission trip. They have spent countless hours in meetings and preparations and our hearts are broken. A few hours after we found out this news, Caleb said, “Maybe Timmy and I should go?” An hour after that we were changing names on the airline tickets and doing laundry and they joined the team! God is full of surprises. I would never in a million years imagine this would have happened. I’m so excited to have our whole family serving together again! We have landed in Miami and are waiting for our connecting flight. Praise God for travel mercies!

Day 2

We were able to get started on projects today. Some of the team worked on building some reinforcement walls for the canal/water system which involved mixing lots of concrete by hand. The mixer was broken but one of our handy team members was able to get it fixed after a few hours. It’s so cool to see how the gifts of different people become highlighted on trips like these. Our family worked on painting some of the classrooms. They needed it!!! After lunch, we were invited by some house parents to their home because they wanted to pray for us before they leave. Their family’s last day will be December 31st and we have grown to be dear friends. Casa Bernabe will not be the same without them, but that’s how life goes, right? The ministry will continue and a new couple will carry on loving the boys in that house. Please pray for the transition for boys in the house and our friends who are starting a new chapter. We were so touched that THEY wanted to pray for US. This is just one shining e...

Day 3

These children are “Jesus with skin on.” They don’t care if you are tall, short, American, Guatemalan, fat, skinny, young, or old. They will walk right up to you, give you a hug, and take you by the hand as if you’ve been friends forever. We were able to attend church with the community here and it is always an uplifting time of hearing God’s Word. After church we had lunch and the team split into two groups - one to continue painting the school and the other to sort donations. I joined the donations group and the rest of my family was painting. The missionary liaison has a list of the needs for specific houses so we laid the clothing out in order and fulfilled their “orders.” Most of what YOU donated is going directly to a child and we will probably see them wearing the items tomorrow. It’s kinda cool. Our team raised some extra funds this year so we will be able to purchase the remaining needs at Walmart before we leave. I didn’t take a single picture today, but that’s a good thing b...

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