Hello everyone from Puerto Rico! We arrived last thursday at around 2 o clock local time after we had a delay on our flight from a sick passenger. We were all so excited to leave that the delay was quite frustrating but once everything was resolved we were on our way.
This month we are in Juana Diaz which is right outside of Ponce. We are working together with Hijas Del Ray that is an all girls team. Upon arriving at our location, we were very surprised to find that we were staying right on the beach. (bummer right) The original place of lodging ended up not being safety-accommodating for our group since we have an abundance of girls.
We also found out that some of the original ministry plans had changed last minute so out of nowhere God provided us a new lodging place which has turned out to be the biggest blessing ever. Not only is it right on the beach but the family that runs the camp is so incredible. We have been overwhelmed with the generosity and love that they have showed us. It is called Camp Caribe and John is the camp director. He is amazing and we couldn’t have been more blessed thus far.
Today we finally began our ministry after several days of rest which was nice but it definitely caused some anxiety amongst all of us because we were so ready to get to work. We are partnering with Hogar Crea which is halfway house for men that have been addicted to drugs and in trouble with the law.
(In respect to those men there and their stories, names will be withheld and initials will be used).
We were first greeted by J who happened to speak great english so that was a huge blessing. They immediately welcomed us with open arms and offered us breakfast while giving us a general consensus of how the program worked. We then met R who was so funny and such a big help to us. While we were talking they suddenly brought out spaghetti for all of us and had Coca-Cola as well. (how awesome)
Myself and Kathryn were then able to have a great conversation with F who gave us an even more in depth idea of the vision of Hogar Crea. After lunch we gathered together in groups and attempted to learn more about the men and their stories. I was so overwhelmed at how receiving of us they were.
These guys are all humans like us that made/make mistakes like we do and all they are trying to do is excel in the program and learn how to prosper out in society. We are all excited to continue to build relationships and share the love of Christ with them throughout the rest of the month.
How often we forget that even though we may not speak the same language as someone else or share the same interests as someone else, God has given us an ability to love and by doing that one simple thing lives can be changed.
Thank you to all of those supporting us back home. We have definitely felt the prayers. Continue to pray for us and our ministry. Love you all!
