Domingo

Oh wow!  ¡Que dìa! (What a day!)  Today was very much unlike a normal day around here, but I had a great time!

This morning, I slept in.  Yay!  Well, not my type of "sleep in" while in the States, but I slept until 8:15 a.m.  Woo hoo!  There is no morning coffee on Sundays.  Instead, at 9:30 we left for church.

Panoramic view on the way to church:

Kylie and I went to go pick up an American couple to take them to church, but we must've just missed each other because we got to church and there they were!  Their names are Felicia and Charlie.  They are former drug addicts who found God a few years back and have gotten clean. They live here and are very poor.  Felicia is 63 and I think Charlie is about the same age.  They lived in their car for a year down by the beach until they could afford a place to live (this was even after they were clean).  They finally found a place to live, but kept getting robbed.  It's like that down here.  Even the seemingly poorest people aren't actually the poorest.  Eventually, Felicia and Charlie found a better place to live, further off the beaten path and kind of hidden behind a hillside.  They aren't robbed as much anymore.  To make their place more "lush" and "beautiful," Felicia found some paint and painted waterfalls on a large boulder outside their house (which is like a trailer) and planted some plants nearby.  It's actually quite nice and I can't believe I forgot to take a pic.  I'll have to get one next Sunday.  Felicia and Charlie don't yet have running water in their place.  Apparently they've had someone working on it since they moved about 2-4 weeks ago.  They have $400 to their names (total), or something like that.  Felicia said she wants to plant a small garden, so that she can grow some spices to liven up their ramen noodles.  Wow, such humility.  We told them that we would be there next Sunday to take them to church so they don't have to walk.  Such a sad, yet inspiring story.

A sampling of the surroundings when we stopped to wait for Felicia and Charlie:

The church service was entirely in Spanish today.  Normally, from what I understand, it's also translated into English.  This is so because there are enough Americans down here volunteering at Door of Faith that it makes sense to have a bilingual service.  However, not today since there are no volunteers here currently (Lauren, Kylie, Michael, Jerilynn and I are considered staff, even though we volunteer our time).  It was a nice service though, even though I couldn't understand most of it.  They put the Bible verses up on the projector, so I could at least get the gist of things.  After about an hour of sermon, we had about an hour of singing.  Again, I couldn't really participate, but I tried.  The words, once again, were cast upon the projection screen.  At least it was clear when we were thanking God.  :)

The church band (Pastor Gustavo is playing the guitar in the orange shirt):

This evening, we went up to DJ & Lynette's again for a party.  It was a combination birthday party for four of the boys here who are like the Quatro Amigos and a going away party for Marco (the boy with the rare brain tumor).  Marco leaves tomorrow morning for Chicago, where he is getting a special proton treatment for his brain tumor (he's already had two surgeries, but the tumor keeps growing back...the doctors hope that proton treatment will eliminate the tumor entirely).  Marco's medical treatment is being done for free thanks to God and the awesome hospital in Chicago.  Sadly, Marco's chances of success are only about 30%-40%.  Please say a prayer for Marco, as he will need all the love and prayers he can get.  He is only 18 and has his whole life ahead of him.

So, at this party, there was, of course, lots of food, the largest cake I've ever seen, several piñatas, music and lots of people.  What fun!

Pastor Gustavo saying a prayer before dinner at the party.

The largest cake that isn't stackied like a wedding cake that I've ever seen.

The view from DJ and Lynette's house is amazing.  First let me say that DJ & Lynette only moved off the orphanage property about 2-3 years ago.  Before that, they lived here at the orphanage for about 16 years.  In any event, they finally moved up the road about 1/2 a mile.  Take a look:

While there, I met a guy named Rusty.  He is working with another ministry here in town.  He lives in California and plans (hopes to be able) to live and volunteer here about 8 months a year and go home to work for 4 months a year.  This is his first attempt at that long-term cycle.  I hope he's able to do it!  He is going to Tijuana on Friday morning to help at "the Breakfast Club" and another ministry in Tijuana.  He said he's willing to take me with him so that I can experience it!! Yay!  So excited!  The Breakfast Club is a breakfast feed every day for a large group of impoverished people who live in a garbage dump in Tijuana.  THAT should be eye-opening, inspiring, humbling and all sorts of awesome things!  I'm not real clear what the other ministry in Tijuana is doing, but I'll find out on Friday!

Tomorrow I'm going to the States for a bit on one of the runs that the orphanage does, and to take Marco to the airport.  There's not much going on here tomorrow, so it will be perfect.  I'm hoping to exchange my keyboard that lost one of the keys (the ?/ key).  Since I've only had the darn thing for a couple weeks, Best Buy better just give me a new one!  Wish me luck!

Ok, off to rest for the night.  I'm tired!!!  Buenas noches!