We attended services at Cristo Rey (Christ the King) Lutheran Church in Santa Ana. Pastor Carlos welcomed us with a history of the church's involvement with Habitat, which goes back eleven years. Cristo Rey was the first Lutheran church to work with H4H and it was instrumental in enlisting the participation of the El Salvadoran Synod with H4H and Thrivent Builds.
The service had several moments that hit home. Mike read a section of Acts about Paul's trip to Macedonia - one he read on a TBW trip to Macedonia last year. Mike and Kirk helped serve communion, and then participated in blessing an infant who has a brain tumor. Near the end of the service, the "brigade" was asked to come to the front so the children could give us a gift - wooden crosses that they hung on our necks. Although they had no instruments to accompany them, they sang the hymns with vigor, making a joyful noise (actually, it was us making the noise - the congregation sang well).
Then we went to Lago de Coatepeque, a crater lake about a half-hour southwest of Santa Ana. A great lunch on at pier with two families who will be living in houses that we're building. That was followed by a boat ride across the lake to a black sand beach. Most of the team headed for the water, a few just laid out in the sun (or shade) - but Eric B enjoyed a brief futbol scrimmage with some of the kids. Then back to the dock and to the hotel.
Eric B also lead a reflection on faith that generated a great deal of instrospection and deep conversation.
Monday is a full work day, so the day was a great recover and reset to prepare for the week ahead.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Day 2 - On the site of Villa Esperanza
"The world needs ditchdiggers, too!"
102 degrees. Gallons of water. Concrete block houses. Friendly, patient masons.
After our dinner with Cristina, the architect of Villa Esperanza, and some of the other local team members, and an early night, we headed to the site at 7:15 this morning for our first day of labor. We met the masons we'll be working with, had a short devotion, and went to work. Some of us dug trenches for foundations, others filled in and packed gravel for subfloors, a few reiforced the concrete block walls with chizpa (a special cement) and your humble bloggers scraped excess chizpa off the walls in prepartion for painting.
Even with generous breaks and ready access to water, we hit the wall at 3:30, a half-hour short of the planned quiting time. Fortunately, a load of cement came in and gave us, and the masons, a reason to stop work and start cleaning up.
102 degrees. Gallons of water. Concrete block houses. Friendly, patient masons.
After our dinner with Cristina, the architect of Villa Esperanza, and some of the other local team members, and an early night, we headed to the site at 7:15 this morning for our first day of labor. We met the masons we'll be working with, had a short devotion, and went to work. Some of us dug trenches for foundations, others filled in and packed gravel for subfloors, a few reiforced the concrete block walls with chizpa (a special cement) and your humble bloggers scraped excess chizpa off the walls in prepartion for painting.
Even with generous breaks and ready access to water, we hit the wall at 3:30, a half-hour short of the planned quiting time. Fortunately, a load of cement came in and gave us, and the masons, a reason to stop work and start cleaning up.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Day 1 - from US to El Salvador
Appleton team: Met at Thrivent at 2:00 a.m. (picking up one team member at the Kohl's parking lot) and went to Milwaukee to catch their plane to Houston.
Minneapolis: Two flights - one group on Delta, the other on Contenental, both arriving at Minneapolis-St Paul at 3:30-4:00 a.m., and sitting unaware of each other on opposite sides of a display wall. Short turnarounds made connections exciting, but everyone, and their luggage, made it to El Salvador (as the team photograph attests).
Alex from Thrivent Builds-El Salvador met us with our bus and took us to the Hotel Sahara, where he gave an orientation on El Salvador and Thrivent Builds' activity in the country. Then to dinner, our first in-country team meeting - and our tired team is heading for bed. There's work to be done in the morning, and we need to be ready to roll at 7:15.
Minneapolis: Two flights - one group on Delta, the other on Contenental, both arriving at Minneapolis-St Paul at 3:30-4:00 a.m., and sitting unaware of each other on opposite sides of a display wall. Short turnarounds made connections exciting, but everyone, and their luggage, made it to El Salvador (as the team photograph attests).
Alex from Thrivent Builds-El Salvador met us with our bus and took us to the Hotel Sahara, where he gave an orientation on El Salvador and Thrivent Builds' activity in the country. Then to dinner, our first in-country team meeting - and our tired team is heading for bed. There's work to be done in the morning, and we need to be ready to roll at 7:15.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
One Day until El Salvador
Hard to believe it is only one more day and we will be in El Salvador. All 15 of us will be in El Salvador by noon on Friday May 7,2010 with the travelers from Minneapolis and Appleton meeting up first in Houston or Atlanta and then traveling together on to El Salvador.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Getting ready - T minus 3 weeks
Hola!
In less than a month Grupo El Salvador 2010 will be on its way to Santa Ana. Roles have been assigned, fees have been paid, travel has been booked, shots have been taken, reflections have been shared - and so much work still remains. Mike and Kirk have done a great job of bringing the team together, getting us the information we need and keeping us on course for a successful journey.
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