Feeling so Blessed!

Today was full of blessings! I don’t think a person on our team could put today into words, but I’ll try my best. We started out the day with family visits. Our first stop was to meet Miriam, the mother of three children at La Casa. We picked her up at the entrance of her village so she could show us the way to her house. From the moment we picked Miriam up to the moment we said goodbye, she had a huge smile on her face. 

We navigated through the street and reached her home. With her big smile, Miriam escorted us to her house which about the size of most bathrooms in the states, and constructed of anything she could find, including scraps of metal, wood, and plastic. 
Her bed was simply a box spring propped up on cement blocks and her bathroom consisted of an eight foot hole right outside her home, surround by plastic. Miriam must pay $1.50 each month for her rent in the village and an additional $12 for the electricity that’s fed through the single light bulb above her bed. 

Miriam was the perfect hostess, she made sure everyone was comfortable before she herself sat down. Everything in her home was organized and in its place. With Sharon as our translator, Miriam began telling us how appreciative she was for everything she has. She told us that she was completely content with her life and thankful for all the blessings God has given her. As Miriam shared with us, the house next door had the melody of “Amazing Grace” playing over a speaker. I went through the lyrics in my head as Miriam continued to praise the Lord for all she had. Even though many may pity her for her living situation, she was rejoicing and thankful. This will definitely be a moment I’ll never forget. 

After our tour of Miriam’s home, we walked through the streets to hand out candy to the kids in the village. It was difficult to imagine that these sweet children live in the conditions they do. My heart was unsettled as we said our goodbyes. But as we drove away, I saw a mural at the entrance of the village that I missed on the way in. It had a few verses listed, but the one that stuck out to me was a portion of Nehemiah 8:10, “...This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The Lord settled my heart and I myself was content in knowing that He was in the middle of Miriam’s village, caring for His children.

Our next stop was to find Claudia, who has two children at La Casa. She relies on selling whatever she can find on the street, so we drove to her usual selling spot and hoped she would be there. We were so happy to find her and have the opportunity to give not only her, but the other people selling items on the corner a cold drink and snack. After we spent some time speaking with Claudia and her friends, we loaded back up and headed back to La Casa. 

We poured into the dinning area of La Casa and all sat down, trying to soak in what we just experienced. Gary and Sharon sat with us and shared a few more thoughts with us.  Gary told us that the last prayer request of Miriam’s daughter was for her mother to have a roof over her head, which now she does. Although many may not consider her house a true home, Miriam is content and off the streets. I know it was helpful for our whole team to have the Powell’s help processing the morning.

After lunch and some rest at the hotel, we headed back to La Casa to spend a little more time with the kids. We made bracelets, played soccer and ate pupusas with our friends. As the night came to an end and with Kelly as our translator, we all circled up and thanked each other. 

It’s never easy saying good bye to our friends at La Casa, but I know that we each find comfort in the fact that this is hasta luego, not adios. 

- Katherine Arnold

Spending time with Miriam

Miriam's home

Handing out refreshments to Claudia's friends

Claudia coming to greet us

Making bracelets 

A Day Full of Blessings

Today was our final work day.  The team jumped right in and began putting the final coat of paint on the swing set.  It looks so good!  Almost like a new one! We also tackled some smaller things around the house.  But the most exciting part of our work today was adding some really cool things to the boys’ common area.  When the girls’ house was renovated, their living room space was well decorated and included small touches such as accent pillows and wall art.  When our team was here last year, we had additional money in our budget after completing the bedrooms so we were able to purchase new couches.  However, that was all we were able to do at that time.  So today it was such a pleasure to be able to add the finishing touches.  We opted out of accent pillows as we are well aware that those will end up on the floor or flying through the air!  Our shoppers did an excellent job selecting some great surfing and boat pictures for the wall as well as a little shelf for their movies and dvd player.  The other fun thing we added was a stereo with speakers mounted over the living room and dining area.  The boys enjoy listening to their music and now they have something better than just an individual MP3 player.  When the boys saw the finished product, many were commenting that it now felt like a real home.  Our team coordinator, who also mentors the girls, said that one of the boys told her she should start hanging out at their house now that it was cooler than the girls.  What a blessing for us to help bring a feeling of “home” to these boys who probably have never had that before.   Their gratitude was evident in all the smiles on their faces.  The highlight of my day was getting the biggest hug of thanks from the boy who has my heart.

Our day ended with a team dinner at Laca Laca.  This was our second trip there this week.  We all love this restaurant!  No fried minnows on the menu tonight.  We were joined by our team coordinator and the Powell family.  Lots of blessings today!   

- Amy Workman

A Day of Rest

...And today we rest. We drove out of the city after breakfast and headed to the coast. The Powell's set us up with a beach house that we rented for the day. It was amazing! It sat up on the side of a cliff and overlooked the water. There were hammocks hanging all over the place, which were all occupied in the first few minutes of arriving. It was evident we needed a break. 

For lunch we ordered take out from a neighboring restaurant. We had a couple of mishaps in ordering. Chris ordered an appetizer of fried small fish. Expecting to get pieces of fish, he opened up the box and found dozens of whole minnows fried to a crisp staring up at him. It was priceless! He did try a couple. It tasted like a fishy French fry. The rest were donated to the family running the house. After lunch the team walked down to the beach and played in the ocean and the black volcanic sand. We had a blast!

After our day of relaxation and watching the sun set at the beach, we headed back to the city for dinner. We ate at a gourmet burger joint and as you can imagine, the burgers were fantastic. The milk shakes were pretty good too! It's rainy season in San Salvador but we have had a pretty dry week until tonight...there was a pretty good storm during dinner with crazy lightening and some really loud cracks of thunder. We had to walk back to the hotel in the rain (but it wasn't too bad!).  But the biggest adventure of the day happened when we got back to the hotel and we lost Zan. But don't worry, we found her and all is good!

- Stephanie and Chris Huovinen

Chris' "small fried fish"

Our beautiful view

Another Great Day of Work!

Another great day of work at La Casa today, picking up where we left off yesterday! Similar to Monday, we began the day with breakfast as a team in the hotel restaurant.  Lots of eggs, bacon, fruit, etc. (oh, and coffee of course!) to energize us for the work ahead. Nixon (our trusted van driver) then picked us up at 8:00 to head over to La Casa to get started.

Upon arriving at La Casa, most of the team hit the playground to continue refurbishing the swing set. A few of the boys joined in as well to lend a hand. While Craig, Chris, and Todd worked on completing the remaining woodwork (replacing old boards and introducing a new guardrail), the rest of the crew (Zan, Kristen, Katherine and a few of the boys) began applying the first coat of exterior paint. By lunch all the boards were in place and the first round of painting completed, all while managing not to get hit by any falling mangos from the nearby mango tree!

Meanwhile, Stephanie and Amy spent the morning visiting a few stores to purchase supplies for one of La Casa's school rooms . . . used for homeschooling and to supplement specific kids with additional teaching.  The room was enhanced with a new dry-erase board, bookcase, cork board, a new desk chair, and lots of additional supplies.  After lunch the team hung the new boards on the walls, assembled the new bookcase and chair, re-positioned all the furniture, and then began painting a Bible verse on the wall behind the teacher's desk: Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."  The team then "revealed" the room to the teacher, who happened to be celebrating her birthday!  Hugs and smiles all around!

Lunch was again spent at La Casa with the boys, joining them for steak, rice, fresh salsa, and some incredible guacamole. The meal hit the spot after a full morning's work, while also offering a chance to jus sit and chat with the boys. You can tell with each day that they are becoming more and more comfortable with our presence, beginning to open up more and share . . . both through their words and just the expressions on their faces.

After getting the classroom set up and all our supplies, tools, etc. gathered, the team returned to the hotel for a late afternoon shower before leaving for the evening's excursion. Nixon picked us up at 6:00 pm to stop by La Casa's "transition" home, where kids older than 18 are offered housing and support as they begin the move from adolescence to independent adulthood. We had a chance to tour the home and meet 4 of those who currently reside there.  All 4 then joined us for a nearby dinner, with the team going out for pupusas, a traditional El Salvadoran dish consisting of fried, corn tortillas filled with cheese and beans.  The restaurant was near the top of a mountain, overlooking the valley and city below.  The gorgeous view, great food, and even better company were the perfect way to cap off another awesome day.  God is doing amazing things here with these kids and through all those working at La Casa. We're excited to have yet another day to be a part of what God is doing here.

- Todd Landon

Painting the swing set

The three amigos 

Two of the boys helping Todd and Chris repair the swing set

Katherine and Kristen painting Philippians 4:13

Revealing the classroom to the teacher

Papusas with our friends from the transition home

First Day of Work!

We awoke to sunny skies over San Salvador this morning, and the team gathered together for breakfast in the outdoor seating area of our hotel.  We were all excited to get the week started on our mission project at La Casa!

We are blessed to be able to do some new projects at, and around, the boy’s home where the Team worked last year.  We were happy to hear how the boys have been enjoying the work we did then when we painted, installed new lighting, upgraded bathrooms and installed new sofas and bunk beds.  It was good to see familiar faces and to continue building the relationships that were started last July.

The “girls” (Stephanie, Amy, Zan, Katherine and Kristen) quickly set out to work on a project to paint and decorate the new classroom area that was partitioned off in the boys home.  The peach paint really brightened up the room that will eventually make for a great learning environment.  While the girls worked inside, the guys (Chris, Todd and Craig) began working on repairing and refurbishing the outdoor gym equipment in the play yard. 

Some of the boys were around and eager to work alongside Team Cumberland, and we enjoyed having their help and getting to know them better.  There was a lot of fun and laughter along with getting the job done!  Chris “Hovey” jumped in and tackled the electrical work that included installing new exterior lighting, while Todd worked to install a new ceiling fan in the outdoor pavilion. 

One of the day’s biggest highlights was getting to eat lunch with the boys.  The teams usually have their own lunch, but we requested that we eat what the boys eat and have our meal with them this year.  We were told this was the first time a team had done that, and that the boys were very excited about it.  It was a great opportunity to sit with the boys and build on our relationships, and it was apparent that they enjoyed it as well.

We continued to work on our projects through the afternoon, and finally boarded the bus for the hotel.  It felt great to have accomplished what we did not only with our project, but with the boys.  It has also been a blessing to get to know each other better as we’ve worked together and as we shared a wonderful meal tonight at one of our favorite restaurants from last summer.  It was a great start to our week and we’re looking forward to seeing what God is going to do the remainder of our time here!

- Zan and Craig Nevels 

Reunited!!

It's great to be back in the beautiful country of El Salvador! The Cumberland team arrived yesterday around noon after a great flight! We were greeted by the new missions team coordinator Kelly and got to know a little more about her and what was in store for us this week over some grub at the oh-so-famous Wendy's! Afterwards, we headed over to Union Church to meet up with Gary and his family. We got to talk and listen to Carlos play the piano. And WOW, God has blessed this boy with talent! After catching up, the boys came over for a taco dinner... hair slicked back and dressed to impress! It was SO good to see their sweet faces and talk, even though many acted like they've never spoken or heard a lick of english before! After stuffing our bellies with delicious tacos and ice cream sandwiches, we said goodbye to the boys and headed back to the hotel to catch some much needed sleep.

After a goodnight's rest, we went straight over to Union Church. Gary was on his series "Following Jesus" and spoke on Grace and Truth. After the sermon, Kelly took us to LacaLaca (Her favorite restaurant) and got us hooked! We arrived back at the Church around two and planned out some activities with the all of the kids. Little did they know, we had water balloons! We left some "ammo" around the yard for them to defend themselves, but we had our own stash hidden up in the treehouse where we ambushed them! Before you pity these kids, just let me inform you that they got us good! They found our baggie of water balloons down by the hose and took all of them...and control over the hose. We were all SOAKED afterwards, but it was so much fun! Many of the boys migrated over to the field next to the house and played a game of futeball. It was amazing to see all of them in their element, enjoying themselves and one another!! While pee-wee soccer didn't prepare me for this, I can honestly say that I enjoyed being the useless gringo on the field. And hey, I kicked the ball once... that has to count for something! When soccer wound down, many of us headed over to play some volleyball. The courts were crowded, but the more the merrier! Sadly, dinner came and went way too quickly for our liking and the boys had to go back to La Casa. We stayed a while longer after they left and ended the night with worship songs with the Powell family and their friend Nicky. While we could use the extra hands, I'm so thankful for the small group we have going! The relationships in a missions group the size of ours definitely run deeper! I'm so incredibly excited for the plans God has this week! Keep us on your mind and in your hearts and prayers!

Filling up water balloons!

Kristen, Stephanie, and Chris riding in the back of Gary's truck at La Finca 

- Kristen Tuttle

Saying Our Goodbyes

Today capped off an absolutely amazing week with kids at La Casa de mi padre.  We started off the day at La Finca, "the farm.". La Finca is a 20+ acre tropical paradise that is bought and paid for and will be the future home of La Casa de mi Padre.  It is amazing piece of land that has just about every tropical fruit growing naturally throughout. There are coffee beans growing vastly and at the highest point on the land sits a beautiful  chapel with a bell tower donated by Samaritans purse. In the chapel, Gary Powell with his wife Sharon, shared the vision for La Casa along with the future building plans with our group.  It is a build as they raise money situation and already have enough money to start the first two homes. We walked the property as a group and witnessed the most breathtaking views, horse riding lessons taking place, and had the opportunity to view a perfectly manicured soccer field for the kids.
After the farm we drove back to La Casa to finish our last day of work at the boys home.  Brian assembled a team including many of the kids and our bus driver Manuel to move and assemble the new wooden bunk beds that our group donated to the boys.  Zan and Jeff worked on reassembling all of the curtains and rods in each room.  Kristen worked with the boys on making bracelets and finishing their cork boards.  Nina and Katherine printed pictures for the boys to keep on their individual boards. Nina, Jennifer, and the girls showed the kids how to make their beds with newly donated sheets and installed new shower curtains in all the bedrooms. Amy and Chris installed towel holders and a new bathroom mirror as well as disassembled and installed toilet seats; and man, the treasures you find and smell for that matter are well...memorable. Craig, Amy, Katherine, Jeff, Stephanie, and Juan (one of the boys)  scrubbed showers and caulked.  Chris and Chris installed the cork boards beside each boys beds, and our fearless electrician Russ finished up the electrical work. Everyone was amazing in lending helping hands throughout the day.
 By the end of the day we had new couches in the open area, new ceiling fans throughout to create a wonderful and needed breeze.  New beds, sheets, lights, etc.   We were able to provide physical cleanliness and light in a once dirty and dark environment. Much like Jesus is the light of the world we were able to brighten the lives of the boys at La Casa. Not just through physical light but from the love that was shared from each group member to every boy in that house. We left a physical imprint on the house, but more importantly we left an emotional and spiritual imprint on the boys living in the house. The boys also left an unimaginable imprint on our hearts as well. It was a very emotional goodbye for both our group and the boys.  As for me, my life will be ever changed from this experience and I am forever grateful to have met the children at La Casa de mi Padre.

~ Chris Roberts

Gary showing us the future plans for La Casa

The beautiful chapel

Watching a horse lesson

The bell tower

Kristen and Jason

Craig and Juan scrubbing the shower