El Salvador, Part 7

Friday, June 22

Wow! What a day! The first thing we did when we got to the work site today was move cement block that had been delivered after we left yesterday. Then we got a new delivery and unloaded and stacked that as well. When we finished today, our site looked great. This week we have cleared the lot, (and one of those stumps was a whole grove of trees), dug the footings, filled the footings with sand and cement, tamped it all down; then tied the rebar, (a lot of it done by Koren), put it in the footings, and tied it together along with the vertical supports. Everything looks great and ready to pour the final layer of the foundation tomorrow, and start block on Monday.

At 2:00 we met Pastor Wilma and Carlos Avalos, at Pastor Wilma's church down the street, for a celebration with the community. Pastor Wilma told us the history of St. Paul's and we met many of the people. We took a lot of pictures of all of our new friends. They are the family members and neighbors of Gladis, who is getting the house. Then we had a piñata for the children and ate some delicious cake.

After some sad good-byes, we went back to the Sahara and got ready to go to the Habitat office for traditional El Salvadoran food that Ana Maria Montoya cooked for us. Gladis, who is the house owner, her daughter and son-in-law, Claudia and Juan José, and grandson, Juan José, Jr. were able to come as well. After a delicious dinner we were surprised by a Mariachi band and everyone danced. Then we again said some sad good byes to Gladis and her family, who were so gracious and grateful. We all had such a good time together.

We will be leaving Santa Ana early in the morning for our beach activity day, before we return home on Sunday.

Jody Simeck and the Sheridan El Salvador Mission Team