First day in Latacunga

We began this morning in Quito, awaking at 6 in order to eat breakfast and have devotions. Jennifer Mohedano based the devotions on 1 Corinthian 12, where Paul describes the church as the body of Christ. Look below for Jennifer's take on who we are and what roles we fulfill as the body of Christ.

At 8 am we boarded a bus for Latacunga. Latacunga is 2 hours south of Quito, and is the second site of For His Children. In Latacunga, FHC cares for 19 children, mostly infants and toddlers, though 5 of the children are old enough to attend school. Clark Vaughn, one of the two CEOs of FHC - the other is his wife, Melinda - told us that they were asked by the judge and social workers who work on cases of abandoned children in the Latacunga area to begin a second site in this city. By housing the children here, the chances of reunifying families, reuniting children with their parents, is greater than if they were housed two hours away in Quito.

We arrived at 11 am, checked into the hotel - there is no guest house in Latacunga - and changed into work clothes. When we arrived, we ate a quick lunch and went to work. The house in Latacunga is well designed for the work of FHC, with a downstairs area with rooms for the children to sleep in, each with a private bathroom, a kitchen with industrial appliances, and wide hallways. The hallways provide plenty of room for two or more Tias - Spanish for Aunt, but meaning the workers who care for the children - to hold babies and pass each other. Vaughn house in Quito, which houses the infants, has narrow hallways - the Vaughns made sure this house was better designed.

After a tour of the house and lunch, we were put to work. Al Batterman and Russ Mohedano, our two skilled workers whom we call McGyver and McGruber (guess which is which) went to work setting up a brand new flat screen TV and DVD player for the children. The rest of us, known as unskilled workers, grabbed shovels and pick axes. We dug a long, 1 foot deep trench. I have to tell you, I thought I was in good shape, as I have no trouble exercising in San Diego by riding a stationary bike or using the elliptical runner for a good 30 minutes with no trouble. But in this altitude - Don's altimeter in his watch said that we were at more than 8000 feet - I was huffing and puffing in no time. Luckily, Cindy, Don, Craig, Nancy, Claudia, Jennifer and Kathy were hardier than I. With the help of Lorraine and Barbara, who were working with the children for the first half hour until they came out to join us, we got the trench dug by 230. Then, we were asked to run the soil compacter to make room, we think, for concrete to be poured near the house. We worked at this until 5. By this time, the children were up from their naps and eating dinner. After washing our hands, we introduced ourselves to 19 new children, helped feed them, then sat with them in the living room as they watched their new TV.

Our thanks to those of you who donated money to our mission trip. Your donations helped purchase DVDs that Melinda Vaughn requested. We sat and watched Dora the Explorer - who knew she spoke Spanish! - with the children seated on our laps and all around us on couches, chairs and the floor. Finally, exhausted by the manual labor, we returned to the hotel for showers, dinner and bed.

Thank you for following the blog. We hope you have enjoyed experiencing a bit of this incredible country and the great work of FHC through us. We are thrilled to be here, and find ourselves being served by the children as much as they serve us.

This time this post is truly written, and not at all ghost written, by Pastor Andy.

P.S. We are unable to post pictures for the next few days due to our limited internet access while in Latacunga.

P.P.S. Tim is corect. The four with their faces in the picture from a few days back are Barbara D'Aversa (the little girl), Jennifer Mohedano (the mom), Craig Waters (the dad) and Russ Mohedano (the little boy with the beard).