La Vega #2 - The Facilities and the Neighborhood

I need to tell you more about La Vega! There's so much to tell. I'm feeling really behind on my Blog updates - better catch up!!

This is a picture of where we slept. We slept on a matress on the floor of the church. We had electricity at night so we could have the fans running, and we slept with mosquito nets around us. It reminded me of when we used to make tents when we were kids. We would use blankets, couch cushions and the furniture and ask Mom and Dad if we could sleep in our tent!

I have to tell you about something that happened the first night we were there. I wish so much that I had a picture, but I don't. The service had begun. We sang a few songs and then Pastor Carlos was introducing us to the community. All eleven of us were standing in front of the church and this big rat decided to join us. It scurried along the left wall and to the front of the room. I had a clear view of it the entire way and really didn't know what to do or say. I just stood there - eyes wide open, with a partial smile on my face. It crossed my path nearly over my feet. The guys around me were trying to stomp on it. One missed and got my foot. Finally, Nephtali came to the rescue and as my dad would say, "Kilt it dead!" At this point, the entire church had errupted with laughter as they were watching us chase after the rat.

After a few minutes the service continued. A little while later someone came to pick it up and carry the rat to its resting place. Of course, we all had to giggle about it again as the rat was carried off by it's tail.

It served as a good topic for conversation during evangelism the next day. We got plenty of laughs about it. Someone even asked if the rat had a chance to accept Jesus' forgiveness before being trampled to death.

I have to admit I thought about that rat a few times as I lay in bed trying to sleep that first night. Thankfully, that was the only experience I had with a rat or any creature of its type while I was in La Vega.

The first shower/bath I took in La Vega was under the stars in this "bathroom." They built this bathroom rather quickly behind the church next to the kitchen. We would take a bucket of water in with us and a cool whip container and dump water over our heads. I was a little nervous the first few times that I would fall, the walls would fall or something crazy and embarrasing would happen, but nothing ever did. It was always refreshing and kind of neat to be under the stars!

You've seen pictures of our kitchen if you read the first La Vega Update. This is really the size of the homes we build for people in Guayabal or Kilo 16. Usually there is a wall that goes down the middle to form two rooms. It's kind of nice that this one was left wide open. I'm sure they will finish it one day and use it for classrooms, office space, storage or something as they finish the church.

To get to an indoor bathroom, we walked down the road a ways to this house. This is the house that Pastor Selenia and her family are living in now. We cleaned it up good and

prepared it for them while we were there. They movied in on the last day of our trip.

There is a shower and a bathroom here. The mosquitos in this house were so bad, though, I almost preferred the outdoor shower!

Later in the week, the guys moved our outdoor shower/bathroom to the back of the kitchen. This shower was slightly improved. There were two cement blocks on which you could stand. The walls were more sturdy, and there were even hooks on which I could hang my clothing!

In the final days of our trip, I started using the bathroom of these friends/neighbors. It was much closer and much nicer. I'm thankful for my experiences in this bathroom, too! (ha ha ha - so much talk about the bathrooms!)

Okay, this is a picture of the store just down the road. Belkis is pictured on the left. She is the president of the youth. And, Clara is on the right. She is the one who speaks English. We've been working together a lot lately. I'm so thankful for her!

Here are a few pictures of some of the homes along the road and some of the pretty flowers and trees. It is so beautiful there!!!! The church is surrounded in fields of plantains. The homes have beautiful flower gardens. There are many other fruits and vegetables that grow there as well.

In the picture on the left the girl is separating some sort of pea or bean from the pod. The girl on the right is 3 years old. She is helping as they burn their garbage. This little girl was so sweet. One day when we were visiting her family she went in the kitchen and brought out a handful of plantains that she wanted to give us. Her mom and dad said it was okay, so she excitedly went back inside to find a bag to put them in. She was so excited. I was so impressed - so caring and considerate at such a young age!

Rabbits - not sure what they are going to do with these - maybe it's dinner?

And chickens - everywhere!!

Here are the plantain fields I mentioned.

They told me that this is Yuca growing here. On the right, you can see the farmers on their way back from working in the fields. The roads were pretty muddy. I saw several farmers going out to work barefoot, with machete in hand. You can also see the horse and donkey on the left. We see a lot of these animals. They are very helpful in carrying heavy loads and transporting people!

I really enjoyed the daily life in La Vega. I enjoyed the beauty and quiet. I enjoyed the people and the lifestyle. We got up when the sun came up, had some quiet time to spend with the Lord, gathered water, made breakfast and washed dishes. Then, we were off to ministry - sometimes Vacation Bible School, sometimes making house visits, and other times going door-to-door to invite people to church. A few of the guys stayed back to work on the hole for the septic tank.

Often Rosy had lunch ready for us when we came back from ministry. We ate and rested for a few hours, helped with the dishes and went for the afternoon ministry. After supper, we would usually shower and get ready for the evening activities - usually a church service.

It was really nice, and it was fun to do it together as a team. If I had the opportunity, I would definitely go back to La Vega with another team!

More to come on Evangelism and Vacation Bible School... Que Dios les bendiga amigos!