1st day of work- we aren't in Indiana anymore!

Well this certainly looked a bit different than waking up in Indiana! The view from the Goshen Mission House is incredible! God's handiwork is so evident here!!

We spent the morning working on some projects around the campus where the Goshen Mission House is located. We did some painting and varnishing as well as getting to "play Santa" by handing out the goodies we collected. The house parents were so greatful for even the smallest things. Who knew brown sugar, hot pads, chocolate chips and peanut butter were such amazing gifts!

After lunch part of the team went to a small community about ten minutes away from campus. It was an incredibly eye opening experience. The houses are lined up within arms length of each other and are simple concrete block or wooden structures. There is trash and stray animals all over the place as well as more than 50 children - many barefoot - running around. We helped build the simple structure of a home for a family by mixing concrete on the ground to get the house ready for a roof. We had to collect buckets of water from a little creek to mix the cement. The children in the area were such hard workers! They hauled bucket after bucket of water with us and helped us shovel sand for hours. They didn't speak English and we didn't speak Spanish but we managed to communicate and work together anyhow.

The children were craving attention and loved to have their picture taken. They got so excited and had huge grins on their faces when you would show them their picture. Several of the kids brought their broken bicycles to Chris Bennett after they saw him help one little boy get his bike back in riding condition.

The little boy you see below in the picture was attached to Chris Wert for a good portion of the afternoon. He sat on her lap and cuddled until he literally had to be drug away so we could leave. His mother communicated with us that he had some mental problems and didn't speak.





It was amazing to see, that even in the midst of their poverty, they were excited to join in and help us with the work and were able to find simple joy in throwing an old football around or turning an old tin can into a drum. While the poverty was hard to see I think we could all learn a lesson from their ability to be joyous in difficult circumstances.