Chicken Coop Church II

The chicken coop church is looking much less like a chicken coop and more like a building. In the last few weeks kids in the club have been really busy nailing up boards and moving dirt to fill in the floor. Check out the slanted wood near the top. They are even putting in a little stage with Malta Morena bottles all along the front (picture below). Very creative in my opinion.

Teaching English

I don't know if I've mentioned this before on the blog... anyway, I teach English to 6th-8th graders at the public school every Wednesday morning. I teach in Piedra Blanca, a village about a half mile from Los Higos where all the LH kids go. I don't think I'm really the best teacher in the world, but I'm glad for the chance to be in the school. I'm thankful for the opportunity to partner with the school and know what is going on there and get an idea of how the Los Higos kids are doing in school.

The picture above shows Curtis and David, two of the students who are working in Los Higos as a part of their semester abroad, are teaching 6th graders about days of the week and months. (When I asked David about wearing what looked like a school uniform he said he was being 'incarnational').

chicken coop church

The church in Los Higos is growing and just doesn't fit in the pink house anymore. It is also beginning to reach out to the community in new ways, which requires space. So, we recently moved an old chicken coop, left from a former project in the community, down to the garden.

The coop is actually bigger than the pink house, and I think will be left somewhat open on a side or two to allow overflow (I think). We're hoping that this will work well to hold church services and can also be used by the club and the new literacy classes that the church is beginning to offer.

I especially like the idea of having church services outside. I really like the idea of worshipping the Lord in an area where we can see His creation.

Hike

Today was so fun! The sun finally came out after about a week of hiding. The club was supposed to work in the garden today, but it was too muddy, so we went for a hike.

Franklin has been wanting to take us to a waterfall all week anyway, so we went with the whole club. It was much farther away than I expected, or rather it took, us longer to get there than expected, but it was worth it. We went down through a yuca field and crossed a crick, walked back up a big hill, ate grapefruits, went down a very steep hill (I decided to just slide down on my rear), walked through a crick for about 15 minutes, and then up another crick and there was the waterfall.

The waterfall was more a series of rocks on a steep hillside that the crick ran through, but at one spot the water probably dropped 6 feet. The kids really enjoyed climbing up the rocks to the top. The top picture kind of shows the height of the falls and the picture below shows David, a semester student working with Andre.

After a while of getting wet and climbing we stopped and prayed together- each kid thanking God for the thing they most enjoyed during our excursion.

When we finally got back to Los Higos, Tiva had prepared sogu (like 'so good') for us. Sogu is a plant that we had growing in the garden, that has edible roots. Tiva and the girls in the club had ground it into a flour and dried it a few weeks ago and today she prepared something like a hot chocolate drink with it.

Arjenis' hat

Isn't this picture funny? Arjenis put a sunflower on his head and said it was a hat. It's true- it was kind of bowl-shaped. He was actually really enjoying the hat, but wouldn't smile for the picture.

semester students

SI started its first semester program this fall with Bethel College in Indiana. The students finished language school a few weeks ago and 4 guys moved up to Los Higos about a week and a half ago to work with Andre and I for 7 weeks! They are living in host homes (with Meri and Meluz) and seem to be really exited to connect with the community.

These guys are all really mature in their faiths and they ask good questions. It's been a blessing to hear them share what what God is doing in their lives.

In the picture above is Jim, who is working with me, and was very proud to have successfully installed a new doorknob in the pink house.