Here are the quick facts:
- One new swing set consisting of 8 swings and a platform to sit/play on in the middle
- Two large picnic tables and three smaller ones for the kids
- Over 1000 people seen by our doctors and dentists at clinics
- Mayor of Santo Tomas has donated land for a free clinic to be built in connection with My Father’s House International and a medical school in the states
On Thursday we held a clinic at a hacienda on the beach in El Salvador. (I’ll put a link to pictures here soon). This isn’t your regular touristy kind of beach where we are. The undertow can be fatal, the sand is littered with trash and rocks and hermit crabs. We were there late and watched the sun going down behind perfect palm trees and listening to waves. And eating Pollo Campera–the best chicken in the world.
On Friday I went to La Casa for a few hours before leaving with the group that was flying home Friday afternoon and Curt and Oscar (both locals). Curt was taking me and Oscar out to La Finca early to help get ready for the kids to come out for a cook-out and to play on the new swings for the first time. It was great watching them arrive. Before the final touches were even finished and the tools were put away, kids were playing on the swing set. We had hotdogs for lunch and spent about three or four hours up there. It’s an amazing piece of land with a terrible access road. From the very top you can see part of the Pacific Ocean and the other way it’s just mountains and orchards. And there was a great breeze the whole time almost.
After we left La Finca we went back to the orphanage for a bit where we put a lot of kids down for naps and then told others goodbye, thinking it was our last time to see them before leaving. This year I got a hug and a kiss from one of the younger girls, who happened to be the one that kept telling her younger sister Claudia to stay away from me, I think, because I wasn’t Justin. I’ll learn enough Spanish to take care of that problem next time I go back.
On Friday night word went around that Gary was willing to take a few people back Saturday morning before we had to leave. I quickly said “Yes, I’ll go” because I had had limited time with the kids this year. We spent about an hour and a half there before leaving again. On the way, Gary drove us by the site were the house that started the La Casa de mi Padre project all began.
This year a lot of the kids seemed different: in good and bad ways. Some seemed more introverted, other more outgoing. One kid even got to my dad’s heart so much that when he was telling the story about it Saturday morning at worship that he choked up a little. In all the time I can remember of the last 19 years, I don’t think I’ve ever heard my dad choke up when speaking.
I can’t wait to go back.
