Que Dios le Bendiga!

Friday night we headed back over to Luz de Vida, the church where we had been working all week, because the members had planned a farewell service for us. On the way over we practiced saying, "God bless you" and "We will miss you" in Spanish.

When we arrived the chairs were on both sides of the room and this was on the floor in the middle of the room. Here you see the two crosses made by Trinity members, a Bible, some tools representing our work together, and six small crosses that we later found out were gifts to us.

At the beginning of the service, Ruth, on the right, invited Maureen to share a word about her experience this week. Jerome translated for her. She did an amazing job, especially being that she was put on the spot. She shared that although we worked very hard this week, it didn't feel like hard work because of the love and support we experienced from the community of Luz de Vida.

Wilson, the youth director, invited Pastor Katy to share a sermon about lying. This gathering was being held during their usual youth gathering and therefore they wanted a message that was in line with the topic for youth group that night. Pastor Katy invited Pastor Daniel to read the Scripture in Spanish and Lisa to read it in English.

Here is Pastor Katy preaching and Jerome translating.

Then they invited the whole group up to the front to give us gifts. First they gave us small clay crosses that depicted children all around the cross holding it up. Children are their main focus at Luz de Vida so it was a fitting message. It also communicated our teamwork in carrying the gospel message to the world. Luz de Vida sewing ministry gave us small purses that you will see around our necks and Emmanuel's sewing ministry gave us vests. We were so overwhelmed with gratitude for their generosity.

This is the cross they gave us.

The youth came up and shared a song with us as a parting gift as well. 

This band is both professional and members of the church. They were so talented and passionate about their music. We called them "Book of Days Bolivia."

This is Veronica, she approached Elizabeth on Wednesday and gave her a beautiful gift of jewelry as you see on her right wrist and finger. On Friday night Veronica came over to say hello again.

Thomas will definitely be missed! 

Hugs.

Elizabeth with one of the children who is sporting some therawear shirts she brought as gifts. 

The final event was dancing. Ruth announced that they would now teach us to dance. And oh, did they ever!

As we returned from the farewell gathering that night we could hardly find words to describe our experience. We all had a sense of being full, full of love and full of God's grace. One team member described it as the happiest night of their life. How very grateful we are for the privilege to partner with the Methodist Church in Cochabamba. How very honored we are to be able to witness God's work.

Our Last two workdays

On Thursday we moved a lot of building material away from this wall and over to an adjacent wall. First bricks, then large wood, then small wood.

Many hands make light work.

Elizabeth hauling bricks like a boss!

We moved all of this so that Adan and Franscisco could make forms for the concrete that will be the base of a privacy wall.

And this meant we got to make more concrete! Here is Thomas running the cement mixer like a pro. Elizabeth with the photo bomb.

Of course we had helpers from the church! These are 3 of Pastor Daniel's kids. 

This is Marcello, Patricia's son. He is five and was such a good helper!

We also sanded the metal gates to prep them for painting them with rustoleum.

This the rust dust from sanding was plentiful. 

Here you can see the difference!

Friday afternoon a truckload of dirt was dropped off and we spread it out to level the yard. 

We prepared the sanctuary for worship on Friday night by washing the windows and mopping the floor. 

All in all we were amazed at the progress these 6 gringos made in just 5 days of work. More posts to come...

Workday número tres

Wednesday we continued to make concrete for the subfloor upstairs, but we had a nice surprise as a family from the church joined us. There were three generations there to lend a hand and it was great fun working together. 

Here's a picture of us with the family and Pastor Daniel!

We helped paint the chancel side doors. Here you see Maureen and Elizabeth cheerfully painting.

Meanwhile, Lisa worked on painting the bathroom door. The slats were tricky but, thankfully, Lisa is good with the details!

Later that day we visited a coop where over 300 women from all over Bolivia are able to make a living for their family by knitting garments and blankets of 100% Alpaca wool.

We then ventured over to Emmanuel Methodist Church where they have a school for children (infant to five years old). This school was created to serve the poorest of the poor in Cochabamba. They feed them four meals a day which, for most, are the only meals they get all week. They approach education holisticly as they have a resident Dr. and Dentist. They perform regular check ups with each child. Most have severe problems such as crumbling teeth and intestinal parasites when they arrive.

Each class had made us gifts and the children bursted with pride as they presented to us these homemade treasures. Here is Lisa getting one around her neck. Their genuine hugs were the best!

We went to the Emmanuel sewing ministry to hear about their work and purchase some goods to support their ministry. They tithe 10% to their church and give 30% to the children's school at Emmanuel. They live off of the other 60%. May we learn from their discipline. 

Nora and Wilson Boots took us to their home for dinner, spoiling us with Bolivian hospitality. This is a Bolivian fruit we were introduced to for the first time, called chirimoye. 

Here you see it on top of our dessert, which was a maracuya mousse. Amazing.

All in all it was a day full of God's blessing that surprised us at every turn. Each morning we study scripture together and each night we reflect as a group on what God is doing in our midst. We find it hard to fall asleep some nights because we are so filled with joy. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Dia de la Amistad

Rested, fed and ready to make some cement!

Tuesday we continued to prepare rooms for the subfloor by thoroughly cleaning them. Dust masks required, as Maureen is modeling. 

Here we are cleaning the front room. Pastor Daniel's daughter Maya came to help us! She is 14 and goes to school in the afternoon.

Thomas is carrying out the fruit of our labor, a bag of dust we removed from the floor. 

Here is the master, Adan, laying the subfloor from the cement we made. 

Here is the room we finished on Monday. 

Lisa and Maya in the clean study area.

Thomas hauling fresh cement. Francisco in the background.

We visited the sewing ministry of Luz de Vida Tuesday afternoon. These ladies sew goods to support their church and family. They shared snacks with us for friendship day. 

In the evening we were visited by Pastor Gustavo who is a human rights activist here in Cochabamba. He recently spoke at "Evangelization: Encounter with Christ," a Catholic gathering. It was a big deal to have a Methodist theologian speak at this event. It was an honor to have him with us and his reflections gave us many things to ponder.

Our first day of work at Luz de Vida

You will see the church on the right and the parsonage still being built on the left. We were amazed to see the progress. Last year we helped brick the bottom story of the parsonage. 

Thomas tried his hand at some carpentry work. He and Jerome hung a door for the new restroom. 

We scraped plaster off the concrete floor to prep it for the subfloor.

We swept and swept the dust. Maureen compared it to sweeping a desert. Every time we got a lot of it up, there was more to sweep and scrub. This was important so that the concrete subfloor would adhere, on which the tile would be lain.

Professor Wilson brought his English class over from a few blocks away so that they could practice their English with us. The teens were thrilled to meet Thomas and invited him to play soccer during their break. 

There he is playing with them! 

This is the group with the trusty cement mixer! We are putting it to good use. Our recipe: three buckets coarse clay/sand, one bucket of pebbles, one bucket of water, one bucket of cement mix and one bucket of fine sand then let it spin! Then we haul it in wheelbarrows and carry it in buckets upstairs for the subfloor.

Our cook, Delia, made a signature Cochabamba dish for us called Sil Pancho. It is a layered dish beginning with rice, then potatoes, then a flattened hamburger patty that is mixed with pepper and garlic, then a fried egg, and finally a salad of tomatoes and onions on top. It was amazing and we felt so spoiled by this meal. Honestly, we are enormously blessed with every meal by Delia's gracious cooking.

After dinner, the pastor of both Emmanuel and Luz de Vida Church, Pastor Daniel, came to do a devotional with us. We studied 1 Thessalonians 3:7-10. He shared a very personal story with us about how his friends in the faith had encouraged him and lifted him up out of his distress. The groups that have come from Trinity were a part of this story. He told us how he could see the joy on the faces of his congregation from our encounter each time we visit. Any Trinity team member can testify that this is a mutual experience. We were so moved by this special time of devotion together and prayer that we can create the kind of fellowship that Paul talks about in this passage:

 ^{1 Thessalonians 7}For this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. ⁸For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord.⁹How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?¹⁰Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.