What an amazing way to spend Thanksgiving! We woke up to fresh cinnamon rolls and a “rich man’s” breakfast made by the other group that is here. We went out to the work site and some of the kids helped sand benches for the church. Right next to the worksite was a house that had 2 dogs. One of them had died and the other one was slowly eating his buddy. Gross. Some of us ran around and got supplies for the church service, some of the guys and kids went around and knocked on doors in the neighborhood to pass out fliers for the service tonight. Lots of people here have dogs so they had fun trying to dodge attacking dogs while inviting people to church. They went to one house and they could hear a woman sobbing and weeping. They knocked and could hear her feet come over to the door but no one opened it. They knocked again. A man came around from the back and they handed him a flier. They had no interpreter with them so they could find out why the woman was crying. They never did see her. Domestic violence is rampant here.
A while later, we went to the soccer field with the group and they handed out a couple more bags of shoes and jackets. They just pulled up in the van and opened the back and the kids came from all around. The shoes were a very big hit. The older boys were very excited about all the soccer stuff. They got a little rowdy, but they were fun!
We had an opportunity to go to an orphanage and just visit briefly. I have to just state right up front that I know nothing about this place and they may do amazing work, I am going to state my OPINION and my IMPRESSION. We pulled up to this orphanage and they opened the gate. I have never seen any place like this. The facility is huge. They have a HUGE playground. There is a beautiful marble church with a projector and a huge marble stage. There are large tile courtyards with what looks like a covered dance floor or party-type area. There were huge planters (for flowers) everywhere and there was landscaping. There are dorms for all kinds of visitors to come and stay. There was a library and a beauty shop that was for training the girls. There was a HUGE kitchen that was being repainted. The facility was a very large compound. It looked absolutely nothing like any of the surrounding area. To say that it was in stark contrast to anything else we saw would be an understatement. There were people in cars driving in and out. There were several ladies working there. This was an incredibly beautiful place. There were about 3 children. They said it houses 30 children from age 3 to about 12 (for boys) and 18 for girls. There was no one on the playground it was surrounded on all sides by fencing. We asked why and they said it was because there was no one to watch the kids out there so they wouldn’t let them play. The library was locked and the kids weren’t allowed in it. When we asked why we were told there was no one to watch the kids and so they couldn’t go in there. The beauty shop was open, but there was no on in there. They have groups of Americans continually visiting and staying there and running ministry from there I guess. You can definitely see all the American influence.
God brought us to that facility on exactly that day at exactly that very time for a very specific purpose. We would find that out the next day.
A group of the guys went to a recovery house and spoke to the men there to encourage them. Alcoholism is a big problem here as it is everywhere really. That night we had a Thanksgiving feast of tacos at El Chipilon. They are so good! We ate until we were about to burst and then went back to the house and ate pumpkin pie that the other group was so kind to give us!
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