Turtles Unite

Our first breakfast was a hearty helping of pancakes, mandarin oranges and powdered milk (It was sweet!)

Charlotte and Sue brought 2 babies from La Cuna (the nursery) to sit with us during Salla (Living Room) which is Chapel time.  Currently, there are only 4 babies there so we’ll have to take turns!  We sang songs in Spanish and English with the words on a powerpoint presentation.  We recognized most of the songs.  

Este es el dia

Que hizo Jehova

Nos gozaremos

Y allegra remos en el

This is the day 

That the Lord has made

I will rejoice

And be glad in it!

After Salla, we went on our tour of the whole mission.  I say whole mission because it truly is more than an orphanage.  We visited each area with the worker giving us an explanation of the work they do, how it impacts the people and how God has provided for them.  They shared stories of answered prayers and changed lives from each of their departments.  Here are our comments from the tour:

Tiffany: the amazing serving hearts totally on fire to serve the Lord and the prayers God is answering here.

Ginny: the vast support of how many people are involved.  

Brenda: the willingness for everyone to keep giving of themselves

Felicia: I liked the disabled children’s section… how much the people liked to help them and the opportunity for them to live a normal life

Krista: the teamwork at the Nut House (macadamia nut processing)

Jon: Macadamia Nuts taste amazing!  It’s pretty sweet that they have a fire crew that serves this whole area, not just the mission.

Dave: didn’t realize there are so many ministries here… I thought they feed the kids, hug them and teach them.  There are so many details… the sewing room, the bicycle and wheelchair ministry, the school for grades 1-6, the Bible Institute, medical clinic, day care for local working moms, clothes washing, soup kitchen, give aways of clothes and trying to help the locals get on their feet to eventually help themselves, printing office, macadamia nuts, fire station; that’s all I remember right now.

Rodger: Macadamia Nut story…here’s a ministry that isn’t just depending on people to donate money.  Incredibly creative.  A man tested all kinds of plants and developed 2 strains of macadamia nut trees that can withstand this climate.  Now they process and sell them to raise money for the mission.

Kim: everything they have was donated in each department when they needed it… so many stories of God’s provision and timing… so many areas to use the gifts in the body of Christ… if we are obedient… thank God so many people have been here.

Abbi; nice than I expected; well organized

Sue: loved the fire dept - how they get by on what little they have - how they solve their problems - call a farmer when they need more water.  Loved the Canadian couple that both serve special needs kids, but in different ways.. the man builds wheelchairs and the women leads the teaching program.

Laura: as the ministry grew, they stayed true to the founder’s vision to show the love of God; to be obedient to His call on your life; bathe everything in prayer.  Chapel is the focal point even though the architect said it shouldn’t be physically situated in the location that they wanted it …. front and center.

Jennifer: how God continues to change the hearts of people who came to visit…story after story of visitors who decided to stay and use their gifts

Jill:  I worked with Anna in the day home for special needs kids.  I took care of Alondra (4 years old) who has spina bifida.  In the morning, they bathe the kids who need it, give them breakfast, pray, sing songs, get a Bible lesson, and work on fine motor skills.

David: amazed at all the mission is doing for the community, not just for the orphanage… for ex: the day care for working moms, helping the handicapped in the village

Phil: the wheelchair ministry… creative ways to build them

Linde: the nut factory… the process and all the different flavors you can put on macadamia nuts

Jenna: Motel 6 Betty took care of special needs infants (she has 3 right now) until they are well enough to be in La Cuna

Ted; overall Providence of God - the Lord’s hand is definitely in this in all circumstances that come together… it’s no happen stance… He’s amazing!  The scope, the amount of buildings.  Charlie was asked to build a building in 3 months and ended up building/rehabbing most of the buildings that exist now…he ended up staying 20 years!  A lot of pioneers came before us here to make this place what it is

Kelly: I played and held Carlos during Salla.  He’s my new friend!

Cindy: It’s one thing to come here for a week; It’s another to put your life on hold and come here longer and do this

Brieanna: I learned more than I thought.  I got to play soccer with the teens.

Morgan: I liked how the man was making a wheelchair “bike” for the wheelchair kids to ride.

Jon: played soccer with the men at the mission… we were losing 2-1

After the tour, we had lunch of pinto beans, tortillas and salad.  Then, we had an orientation on Adult and Child Evangelism in the Villages.  We learned that this is a hard economic time for the people.  They average finding work 2 days per week.  When they do work, the kids stay home alone taking care of each other.Many don’t go to school b/c they don’t have birth certificates.  It’s a village of kids taking care of kids.  There’s a lot of abuse towards kids and the parents are stressed out and don’t have time for their kids.

The couple of hours that we spend with them mean a lot to them.  When we arrive, they will run out and hug us.  They know we will be coming to spend time with them… play ball, swing them around, jump rope.  They know that someone traveled a long way to be with them and we look different and speak differently.

Witchcraft and idolatry are common practices.  The most important things we can do for the adults is pray.  With the kids, we will be responsible for crowd control during the presentation of the gospel.  We will give them peanut butter on the spoons they bring and fill their cups with milk.  The child who gets the last spoon of peanut butter from the jar gets the jar filled with milk to take home.  We will have this experience tomorrow with the adults and Thursday with the children.  Please pray for us as we reach out to them.

Phil and I had to go to an Internet cafe to transmit these messages.  The rest of our group is in a variety of assignments… painting, nut processing, cooking, construction projects.  We hope we can work out a better solution to this blog posting so we can do it at the mission instead of going to a local cafe.  If we can’t find a new solution, we may have to wait until we return home to post the remaining messages.

We are having a great time… hope we can stay in touch… please continue to pray for us…. including traveling mercies for our trip home.  Thanks!  Check out our photos on this site!!