Wednesday

As I told you a day ago or so, the rest of our stay will be to continue to work on the community center in the Villa Hermosa barrio. Today we started to frame up the walls. We completed about 5 or 6 of them before the afternoon program. When I say completed....I mean actually up and attached to the posts. There are nother 5 or six ready to be put up, probably tomorrow. Very unusual the way the go about there work. But as we were told, do it their way! They don´t want us trying to change there methods. They have their ways so as they say, ¨When in Rome, do as the Roman´s do.¨

After lunch, we cleaned off the floor of the Community Center and set up for a story and craft for the kids. We must have had around 80 or 90 kids stop by. The got a chance to hear about Noah´s Ark and then did a craft that went with the story. They got a cloud, a sun and a rainbow. It was a lot of fun to see their faces as they completed the project. It was also awesome to watch as they ate their lunch. It was the first time this week that we were allowed to feed the children. More about food in a minute. We have handed out fruit to some of the local kids for helping us from time to time, but it was the first time we have actually fed them. That may sound a little cold but understandable. The idea is for these familys to understand that the need to help themselves. That they can´t count on handouts! I get it! It still breaks my heart to see them go without.

And then this afternoon....recreation with some of the teens and adults. Mixed team volleyball. It as so much fun to get together and play. Volleyball is very popular in Peru. This is the time of the day all of us love so much.....the interaction with the kids and adults. I told you more about food......well I did play some volleyball, but before I did, I sat in the stands with the kids and adults. I had a chance to talk(sort of...in my bad spanish) to a young girl. She always has such a beautiful smile for me when we show up. I sat down and tried to talk to her. I asked what her age was. I though maybe 8, 9....maybe 10. She told me she was 13. So petite...I couldn´t believe. I´ve got believe she is so small because of the lack of nutrition, but what a sweet young girl! We actually struggled through our language barrier and talk about our families. She has two sisters in the barrio with her and her mother. I told her all about my family. I realized I had a picture of Ashley on my cell phone and showed it to her. She looked at the picture for about 10 minutes. She thought she was so beautiful! The volleyball was fun, but I enjoy sitting in the stands trying to talk to the kids and playing with them more!!

More of the same tomorrow! Can´t wait to get back to the barrio! The work is hard! The rewards are amazing!

God Bless!
Mitch