Wednesday 2/2/11 (The Dump/Limonada)

We had an amazing day today. God revealed himself in a way that is undeniable. We were in the middle of our devotion time at Dorie's this morning when Ashley called and said that the cement truck, which was supposed to come at 2 pm, couldn't come any later than 10 am. They had actually wanted to come at 9, but Ashley talked them into waiting another hour. The problem with that was that we weren't really ready for the pour yet and were planning to finish up preparing the lot until 2. It was about half past 8 when she called. We jumped into our van right then and left for the dump. The people from the dump were incredible. They had put up a fence to keep out people and stray animals during the night, and the dirt was nice and packed and damp. By 10, we were ready for the pour. The concrete crew was great. I think we all felt a little funny just sitting there watching them do all the work, but they knew what they were doing and didn't want us to interfere.

While we were sitting, we got some interesting news. First, the reason the people had had enough water to keep the dirt damp and packed was that the president of Guatemala's wife apparently heard about the dump community center and sent an extra water truck there that night just for the purpose of packing the dirt of its foundation. So that was exciting. Then, these two nicely dressed men (who were obviously not from the dump) came over and told us that they were professors from some college of engineering, and they were looking for projects for their students. It sounded like they wanted to help with the construction of the community center and then move on to fix the sewage system (which is currently open trenches in the middle of the streets) and maybe even try to install running water to more of the homes. I guess in order to become architects here, students have to complete a building project, and they usually just build stuff and then tear it back down near the university. They said they had just heard about all the work they could do in the dump and wanted to get started ASAP. God is using this building in ways none of us could ever have imagined.

After we finished the foundation at the dump, we headed to the Limonada. We really can't do much there this time (which is perfectly fine considering how God clearly just had a different plan for us in the dump) except move supplies to a church there for future construction. Today, we filled big bags with sand and used wheelbarrels to move them to the church. It was tiring. After that, we handed out bags of school supplies to certain families throughout the Limonada. It was so amazing to walk through those streets again. We recoginized so many faces. We saw Buger and some of the other kids some of us met last trip. We also ran into Guillermo and Elmer. Elmer looked really good. He had his litle son with him, too. It was great to see them all safe and happy.

So, we had a great day. I'm not going to bother saying anything about what our plan for tomorrow is because it never works out that way anyway. But please pray that God will continue to use us for somrthing bigger than just this week. Thank you for your prayers for our safety. I'll try to write again tomorrow.

(Ellie)

P.S. I got sun-burnt today while you all shoveled snow! Haha!