2013 El Salvador Habitat/Thrivent Trip: Friday: Cry Day

The title of this blog post was given to me by my daughter, becuase many people were crying as we shared our experiences and said our goodbys throughout the day to the family, masons and the Habitat staff. In terms of work we worked in the morning painting and digging out a stump in the front of the house. At noon we had meal with family, masons and Habitat staff. At the meal everyone shared on what the week meant to them and the joy they felt in being a part of the project and many people were crying that these new friends would now be parting.

It is hard to explain the emotions and spiritual renewal on how two cultures with with such different histories and experiences can come together for a week to help build a house in El Salvador. The feeling of the group was that this week was truely God's hands working in our lives.

Picture of Kathy, Delilah and Pam painting one of the bedrooms of the home

Picture one of the walls in the main room of the home half painted

Picture of Mary, Kathy, Kathryn and Pam painting the main room of the home

Picture of Benigno working on getting out the tree stump in front of the house

Jsss

Picture of Don using the reciprecating saw to cut out a notch in the stump. Then we used an ax to break away a piece of wood from the stump

Van, Jon and Jim trying to figure out the next step in getting the stump out

Thhh

Picture of the lunch table with the family, masons and habitat staff

Picture of Don and Christian sitting together after lunch

Brenda, Kathryn, Naomi and Stephanie saying goodbye

Picture of Gail and Delilah saying goodbye

For dinner on Firday night the Habitat staff prepared a banquet for us at their offices in Santa Ana to personally show their gratitude for our work that week, support of the Habitat project and the time we shared with them. Afer dinner their was a mariachi band and dancing.