Tuesday

I'm doing my best to post once a day, but the internet connection Tuesday night was a little sketchy.  I do hope that as I post, others will add from their experiences and journals as well...

This morning after breakfast, we started the day by driving out to Villa Esperanza, which is an intentional  community created by Habitat with a great deal of assistance from Thrivent.  Several of our team  of 24 (and previous to ever knowing each other on this trip) had worked on building the homes here in years past.  What a tremendous blessing to come back and see homes that were in various states of cinder block construction in 2010, become final homes, with residents, neighbors, pictures on the walls and gardens in the yards.

Louis wasn’t with us today, as Tuesday is his office day.  Douglas joined us along the way, to help translate.  Douglas is a local volunteer with Habitat, apparently working part of his “sweat equity” as a translator.  Hopefully, someone who knows more of his story can add to this blog.  That would be helpful for many of the personalities we meet on this build-week.  We are all developing relationships – some with the builders, some with home-owners, some with children and grandchildren and neighbors of home owners.  Each story is unique and interesting. 

As we met after supper tonight as a large group, we realized again how blessed we were – that we could spend a day, not understanding the local language, working hard, getting sweaty – but no one is complaining, or even crabby, because we all realize that no matter what we give of ourselves – we are already receiving far more in return.

Side note – we stopped at a Super-Selectos super market on the way from  Villa Esperanza back to the work site this morning.  I’m not sure if it’s because I have been here so many times and am becoming familiar with the store or if it is genuinely becoming far more like its counterparts in the U.S.  Prices for many things are the equivalent to what we pay in the States right now.  Gas prices are virtually the same.  Generally, prices are a little lower overall, it seemed for grocery items.  I managed to get a pair of sunglasses for $2.50.