Wow! What a wonderful day we have had!!
No one had a problem falling asleep last night and we all got some much needed rest! Jersley, our chef, gave us a great start to the day with lots of protein for our work project. We had fresh scrambled eggs from Luca’s and Esther’s chickens, bacon, assorted meats, and cheese, bananas, granola bars, orange juice, coffee, and hot tea. Well fueled and ready to work, Lucas divided all of us into groups to tackle multiple projects here on the church property.
Peyton and Ethan were the brave team to unload a shipping container all the while battling roaches and a couple of rats. Ethan enjoyed spraying the container down with bug spray when it was finally empty! Clean and bug/rat free, the two of them organized and returned everything back to the container. Their project took the whole project time. Kaity, Claire, and Maggie worked with Brahm who lives here on the campus. They chopped down dragonfruit, weeded, and raked Luca’s and Esther’s garden for four hours. The three of them are now experts with machetes! Bill, Bryan, Brodi, and Sam started by cutting down a tree and hauling brush. They then spent a solid two hours loading construction debris, appliances, and trash into the dumpster. Stella, Jewel, Kali, Zoey, and I hauled trash across campus to put it into a dumpster. We were then tasked with cleaning out and organizing one of the rooms here at the church. It took us the remainder of our project time and we encountered mice, bugs, lots of dirt, etc.. By 1:00 we were hot, sweaty, and ready for our trip to the beach.
Today we went to Daaibooi Beach where we ate lunch and enjoyed God’s glorious creation. Most of the team had frikandel and fries for lunch. Frikandel is a Dutch minced meat sausage similar to our brats. While some were skeptical to try frikandel, they all agreed it is really good and super unique. Following lunch we headed to the ocean to swim, snorkel, and cool off. While snorkeling, the kids were able to swim with several sea turtles, hide out in a sea cave, and enjoy all of the colorful fish. Sun kissed we drove back to the Youth Center to get cleaned up and eat dinner.
Jersley made an amazing ox-tail stew, rice with lentils, and apple sauce. It was so savory! After dinner we drove to Marie Pampoen Park where we visited our friend Arione at his stand Pop Cultur. and had cappuccinos, iced chai lattes, fruit smoothies, and popsicles. While we enjoyed our desserts, we walked around the park which borders the ocean. It was beautiful at night and there were a lot of areas to take photos and some fun playground areas that even big kids enjoy :). Well satiated, it was time to return to the Youth Center.
When we got back to the Youth Center, Sam led our devotions over Mark 11:22 about the difference between Little Faith and Great Faith. While the message appears simple at face value, after discussion we determined we all tend to forget to go to God with Great Faith and rest that He has it all under control. Always a great reminder!! Now the students are playing mafia and sharing a variety of snacks. It has been a blessed day and the team is being knit together and new friendships are beginning to form.
God bless you all,
Lisa
No one had a problem falling asleep last night and we all got some much needed rest! Jersley, our chef, gave us a great start to the day with lots of protein for our work project. We had fresh scrambled eggs from Luca’s and Esther’s chickens, bacon, assorted meats, and cheese, bananas, granola bars, orange juice, coffee, and hot tea. Well fueled and ready to work, Lucas divided all of us into groups to tackle multiple projects here on the church property.
Peyton and Ethan were the brave team to unload a shipping container all the while battling roaches and a couple of rats. Ethan enjoyed spraying the container down with bug spray when it was finally empty! Clean and bug/rat free, the two of them organized and returned everything back to the container. Their project took the whole project time. Kaity, Claire, and Maggie worked with Brahm who lives here on the campus. They chopped down dragonfruit, weeded, and raked Luca’s and Esther’s garden for four hours. The three of them are now experts with machetes! Bill, Bryan, Brodi, and Sam started by cutting down a tree and hauling brush. They then spent a solid two hours loading construction debris, appliances, and trash into the dumpster. Stella, Jewel, Kali, Zoey, and I hauled trash across campus to put it into a dumpster. We were then tasked with cleaning out and organizing one of the rooms here at the church. It took us the remainder of our project time and we encountered mice, bugs, lots of dirt, etc.. By 1:00 we were hot, sweaty, and ready for our trip to the beach.
Today we went to Daaibooi Beach where we ate lunch and enjoyed God’s glorious creation. Most of the team had frikandel and fries for lunch. Frikandel is a Dutch minced meat sausage similar to our brats. While some were skeptical to try frikandel, they all agreed it is really good and super unique. Following lunch we headed to the ocean to swim, snorkel, and cool off. While snorkeling, the kids were able to swim with several sea turtles, hide out in a sea cave, and enjoy all of the colorful fish. Sun kissed we drove back to the Youth Center to get cleaned up and eat dinner.
Jersley made an amazing ox-tail stew, rice with lentils, and apple sauce. It was so savory! After dinner we drove to Marie Pampoen Park where we visited our friend Arione at his stand Pop Cultur. and had cappuccinos, iced chai lattes, fruit smoothies, and popsicles. While we enjoyed our desserts, we walked around the park which borders the ocean. It was beautiful at night and there were a lot of areas to take photos and some fun playground areas that even big kids enjoy :). Well satiated, it was time to return to the Youth Center.
When we got back to the Youth Center, Sam led our devotions over Mark 11:22 about the difference between Little Faith and Great Faith. While the message appears simple at face value, after discussion we determined we all tend to forget to go to God with Great Faith and rest that He has it all under control. Always a great reminder!! Now the students are playing mafia and sharing a variety of snacks. It has been a blessed day and the team is being knit together and new friendships are beginning to form.
God bless you all,
Lisa