What's going on at Dulce Refugio
I know that many people have passed through this orphanage and left their mark at Dulce Refugio. I want to keep all of you informed about what is going on with the kids and the construction process. Please remember to keep us in your thoughts and prayers; I hope you continue to help us out here at Casa Hogar Dulce Refugio. Gracias amigos!
We're almost there! Only one month to go until the inauguration! April was full of really long work days and so much has been accomplished since the last update, yet I am grateful that I was still able to find time to relax and have fun.
Almost all of the blocks are in and we have raised up the walls pretty high. I put in the special blocks for the front wall which have a rustic finish and it adds a nice touch to the design of the church. Everything looks so different from last month and it is now all coming together. It finally looks like an actual building!
We've poured a lot of the concrete columns & beams. Since we are now working so high up, we've had to pull the buckets of concrete up with a rope in order to get them to where they need to go. We also poured a big hanging beam over the doorway/entrance. We had to make this one bigger and add thicker steel since it will be carrying a lot of weight in blocks and not have anything below it for support.
We've started to stucco the block walls. A guy from the church I attend will be taking over this part of the project. Stucco is not my specialty and I have lots of other jobs to do in order to have everything ready by the end of May. I'm very grateful for his help.
At the orphanage...
Elias turned 3! Elias is the son of one of our staff members, Alejandra, aka "Wera" (which means white girl). She threw him a birthday party and rented out a place outside of the city. We took all of the kids and had a great time. The place had a pool and we brought an astro jump. All of the kids really enjoyed the party and they also enjoyed getting out of the orphanage...something they haven't been able to do much of lately due to Covid.
We received 3 girls this month. Carol, Paulina & Evelyn (from left to right) are sisters and seem very sweet. I haven't gotten to spend much time with them because I have been so busy with the construction project this month and haven't been able to stop by the orphanage as much as I'd like. I look forward to getting to know them.
We said goodbye to 3 boys this month:
Alan has been with us for a while now and is a good kid. Very hyper and sometimes hard to control but he's sweet. I hope he channels his energy into great things for his life.
David was one of our older boys and a leader here at Dulce Refugio. He was in my English class and he always asked me if I had any work for him to do. He would find things in my room and offer to do a job in exchange for one of my hats or flashlights etc. I wish him the best wherever he goes.
Juan came last month with his brother and sister and they are all very sweet kids. Juan is a little emotional and one day threw a huge tantrum saying that he wants to leave, so he was transferred to a different institution. This is common and sometimes kids are temporarily sent away so they can see what else is out there. Almost every time they leave, they want to come back because they realize how good things are at Dulce Refugio. We do our best to treat the kids with love and give them the best life possible.
Alan
David
Juan
The last day in April is "Día del niño" (Kid's day) and we had a big celebration. Normally we have a big event for the children in the neighborhood, but for the past 2 years we haven't been able to do it because of Covid. This year we focused on our kids. The director got some really cool inflatables and we ate really good food. There was a taco cart, pizza and lots of snacks. Everybody had a great time.
Back at the construction site...
I had a double celebration for "Día del niño." The 2nd one was very special for me. We cleaned up the construction site and had a special event for over 500 people! It was awesome to see the site being used for ministry. Before that day, it was just a construction site, but now it is a center to win souls for Jesus Christ. Even though we are not completely finished, there is enough done to be able to have a really cool event. We invited a special guest, Leito, who is a Christian clown. He puts on a great show, not only for the kids but for adults too. We raffled some great prizes and had some competitions for the kids. The grand prizes were 2 bikes...1 for the girls and 1 for the boys. Everybody had a great time and I was so excited to see the fruit of my labor coming together. Praise God!
And finally...
And I want to end this month's blog update by saying thank you to my home church, Horizon Christian Fellowship. They have been so generous to me as a missionary and have supported so many great ministries over the past 5 years. Horizon sent a special donation to bless our first event in the new church building site, and I was able to buy lots of really cool prizes for the Día del niño event. The kids were really excited and we hope that they will keep coming back...not just for the prizes, but more importantly, to hear the Word of God. Thanks again Horizon! You have made so much of this possible.