The Last Full Day in El Mico

Today's guest bloggers are a mom and dad plus their son who are on the trip this year - Brett, Julie, and their 17 year-old son, Zach Phillips. This trip was a trip filled with parent/child combinations. My daughter, Christina and I were together. Gene Ginn and his daughter, Sara, were here. Barry and Jayne Dowdy had their son, Darren (aka here as "Dorito"). Debi Fiegle and her son posted the other day. And now, here's the Phillips family. 

Brett and Julie Phillips

Brett’s day:
My day began with a great ride with my family to the village of El Mico. It was a beautiful morning with a short walk to the first home which had dirt floors. Our mission was to concrete the floors so the family wouldn’t have to walk on the parasite ridden dirt and improve their health. The meeting of the family was great, and they were filled with joy and happiness to see our team arrive to help. After that, we went to two more homes and met and worked with more of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Although there was a language barrier, the mission was completed and relationships were built. The labor of the day was a great success not to mention joyful and fulfilling!

Julie’s day:
My day began with a great stretching exercise led by team member Brad Byers. Once we were all stretched we loaded the vehicles and visited two local HOI, Inc. schools. After that we headed to the village and I had the pleasure of working with Gene Ginn on a shower and sink. We shoveled concrete and sand and managed the crater dance [the method of mixing concrete on the ground] once again. When our job was complete we went back to the school and watched Jayne Dowdy finish passing out the last few water filters to families without clean water to drink. A total of 43 families, received a water filter and this village will be a pilot program with ongoing education and support from HOI, Inc. God is good!

Zach’s day:
My day started with stretching out as a group to prepare for our day. When we left in the cars for El Mico it was a sunny warm day. When we arrived at the school Jen, Marsha, and myself were assigned to help a family put in concrete floors into there home. After a few hours we completed our assignment and headed back to the school for lunch. After lunch I was invited to go with both Pastor John and Father Roy to go to houses with people that needed someone to pray for them and I happily took the opportunity. Every house we went too was amazing and special in its own way, but one house was extra special to me. The first house we went too had an elderly woman laying on her bed. Her son explained to us that she had no feeling in her legs and without a wheelchair she was bound to her bed. When we entered the room you could see that she had almost no emotion or even motivation. We gathered around her, put a hand on her and each said a prayer to her. Once that was complete we all shared in saying the Lord’s Prayer. The change in the woman was amazing. She looked at us with a smile so big you would think she was an eight year-old on Christmas Day. It made me feel good because she didn’t need anything to smile or to be happy, All she needed was someone to show her love and feel like people do care. She thanked each of us individually before we left and hugged us goodbye. That moment was very special to me and I’m glad I could experience it with such a great group of people.