Trujillo is a study in contrasts. One minute we are sweating under a burning sun; the next, roaring thunder drowns out the sound of pelting rain. We walk along the beach at 6:00 in the morning and delight in watching jellyfish, starfish, crabs, and even giant rays floating in the clear ocean water to our right; we glance left and see garbage, beer bottles, and other refuse littering the sand. We dine in fine style at a beach front restaurant one evening; the next day, we count ourselves fortunate if we can find fruit and vegetables that aren’t withered or partly spoiled. We enjoy authentic Italian pizza in a cabana over the ocean on Sunday; on Monday, we eat tortillas, bean paste, and strong grated cheese at the ministry centre. We visit with our kids over Skype, taking advantage of high tech communications at minimal cost one hour; the next, we find ourselves without power or water. We pass a shack roughly constructed of old boards, crumbling cement and rusty tin; out comes a young woman dressed in the latest fashion complete with high heels. All this in the same small city!

We have enjoyed settling into our little suite. We have 2 plastic Adirondack chairs for our living room furniture with a hand carved wooden coffee table between them. We have a vintage wardrobe in the bedroom contrasting with a brand new wall-mounted air conditioner. We spent a great day in Tocoa, a city one hour away, accompanied by our groundskeeper Juan and his wife Lydia. Our mission was to get repairs done on a vehicle and source needs for the centre and odds and ends for our suite. Juan’s English is good enough for us to communicate easily with him and he did most of the talking with the repair and tradespeople. What a blessing he has already been for Rick!

Over the past few days Rick has been navigating the local businesses to purchase items such as screws (tornillos), nails (clavos), wood from a local sawmill and other things which are hard to describe through arm waving and pointing.  He managed to build a new storage shed for the cooking wood at the centre, but bought an axe that is too small to cut the larger pieces so the house moms think they might use it for cutting meat! 

We are praying each day to be content and feel honored to be here doing this work in the heat, dirt, and sweat.  It is not the kind of volunteer work that some are doing such as working in refugee camps or feeding the starving people in conflict zones, but we hope we are helping and not hurting.  We are aware that we are here to do whatever is needed and that requires us to be humble.  We barbequed a chicken last Thursday and invited Juan, Lydia and Kim for supper. We enjoyed the cabana (champa) while the power was off in the houses. Rick will be working more with Juan this week, assessing what needs to be done to make his home more livable.  We are realizing the difference between us and our coworkers in the area of disposable income and it will be important to be sensitive.

 

Weekends are more relaxed and we have taken time to pray with Kim as we know that this work we are involved in is only going to continue to flourish as we acknowledge that we are here because of a vision for the future of teenage girls in Trujillo that began many years ago.  There are many Christ followers here and  discipling and educating is taking place, providing many of the girls with options they would not have otherwise. 

This week Cheryl will get into the school routine, helping cut out grad dresses in sewing class as well as teaching English class.

More to report next week...

Rick's wood shed, replacing the old one that was falling down.  Re-purposed the old door and hopefully the termites won't eat it too fast

Two young girls in their finest as part of a three day parade for each of the local schools; marching bands, dancers and beautiful costumes abounded

Our security crew Sisi, Mike and Rambo taking a break from all the runs to the fence and telling other dogs ( and their owners to stay away)