Just got home from week four in Changuena.  The new team from Peachtree Road UMC in Atlanta did an awesome job this week.  I've never seen a group as happy at 4:30am as they were.  Hugo had more company for his pre-dawn coffee than he ever has before!  The walls have been plastered and some have been sealed, so they're ready for paint.  We paved a sidewalk/ramp from the sanctuary to the sunday school building so Pastor Humberto and get around without any problems.  He enjoyed riding a "wheely" all the way down the hill to the new building.   Monday night they had a church leaders meeting in the new building.  Tuesday night they had youth group in the new building.  Wednesday night we decided we may as well go ahead and have worship in the new building!  Clearly the new facility is going to be well used.  Humberto was telling me that there are a couple of local community groups who have already asked permission to use it as well.  It's exciting to see a church reaching out into the community in so many different ways.

Dr. Shannon got more popular every day and made several house calls during the week.  Being used as God's healing hands in a situation like that is a very moving experience.

The team asked if we could invite the whole community to the church for a meal before they left, so last night we had a good old fashioned Costa Rican style pig pickin'.  About 175 pounds of pork, yucca and plantains, not to mention a big pot of "cracklin'".  Those of you from Eastern NC know what I'm talking about!

I spent several hours this week working with the back hoe in different parts of the community, most recently the elementary school.  It's not often that they have heavy machinery available in an area like Changuena.  We never imagined when we bought the back hoe how versatile it would be.

All in all it was a great week.  Lots of good work got done, the new building is that much closer to being finished, and we had lots of fun with 13 new members of the CRMP family.

No team next week and Yolanda and I will be away the following week while a veteran team from Conway UMC is here, so I won't post again until after the 20th of Feb.

God Bless