The ministry we are working with is called Zion’s Gate. Our contact, Tony, has been here for several years helping rescue young boys from the streets. The boys’ names are (two) Christophers, Ariel, Henry, Willie, Fernando, Carlos, Anderson, Marcos, and Walter. A couple of them may not stay with Tony all the time. The next few paragraphs were intermittently written throughout the week. We don’t have internet access at our host home, so this will most likely be posted on a Friday when we go to the mall. The following may be scatterbrained, but just know that it wasn’t all written at the same time.
While we were on the bus on the way to our host location, I had a similar feeling as I had in July in Haiti. It felt like a whisper saying, “This is why you exist.” Just so you know, this is being typed on Sunday (the 13th) at about 4 PM. We’re about to start another “session,” so I’ll have to finish this later.
Now I’m picking this back up on Wednesday at around 6:45 PM. There’s about 5 of us sitting at a table typing things. Savannah is sitting to my left. So, the last two days we’ve been digging out huge rocks from the ground in order to prepare the ground for a new patio. We had to bust up & remove the old one to build the new one because the way the old one was built allowed water to run into the main room when it rained, so we’ve had to raise the ground close to the door and lower it further from the door. We finished before lunch on Wednesday and then started helping another team move dirt and rock (mostly rock) from the front of a dormitory they are building where girls will stay on their property.
The ground here is about 76.8% rock and 23.2% dirt. You have to dig up rocks in order to dig up rocks. At first that was a little frustrating, but now it’s just ridiculous. Oh, if only it was as easy as digging through Alabama’s red clay. And to my mother, the countless days I passed by digging holes under the deck have paid off. I was told I have a gift for shoveling rock. It may be a spiritual gift. Also, we are building a fence/wall out of rock, so I am getting to turn over a lot of rocks. The concrete for the patio won’t be poured until next week.
The last little bit of this has been written while lying in my hammock where I’ll sleep tonight, Thursday night. This should be posted tomorrow, Friday, which could be today for you. Did that make sense? Anyway, that’s what we’ve done this week. Ministry next week for our team will let us get off the property and visit some very young mothers and their babies, possibly help build a tilapia pond, and maybe sort some toys and clothes. Until then… Here's some pictures of the week…
