christmas at punta gorda and oakridge

December 23, 2010

as you can see from the past few blogs that we have been
giving out food/clothing and toys all around the island
we were trying to think of areas where no one else had gone
i love punta gorda and although it is a long drive to get there it was worth it!
i called katherine from punta gorda and asked her to make a list of the most need families

the following day around 10:00 we met at the church

the church

when we arrived there were about 10 families sitting under the vestibule
waiting for us to arrive
we started lugging in bags of food, boxes of toys and a small box of candy
the excitement was almost palatable!

earlier we had called marcos, an island evangelist
to come with us to share whatever the Lord laid on his heart
we decided that we would set up chairs and give them to most important
food for their souls:  the Word of Life
marcos is a wonderful story teller and he told the story about the cleansing
of the lepers and how He wants to clean our hearts



i shared my testimony (with catherine's help translating)
and it was very powerful.  i want to go back again and share more with the youth

the children were so polite and happy to recieve the food and the toys we brought for them and their families

at one point we were handing out the toys and the food when a little adorable

girl came up to the front

she was maybe about 2 years old 

and she walked up to me with a crumbled 5 Limpera note in her hand

she handed it to me and sweetly said

'muchos gracias!'

i was reminded of the woman in the bible who gave the 2 coins

was commended by Jesus because she gave all she had to live on

it was the sweetest moment for me

those two little boys played the drums for us.  awesome talent!!

i would say of all the places we went that punta gorda was my favorite place so far.

the view at punta gorda

next we went to oakridge to go to a very poor area
i have been to oakridge many times but never up to the community where we went today
it was a long drive up up UP!!
i am realizing if you want to find the poorest of the poor just drive up any road
the higher you go the poorer they are!

we met pastor Guillermo and his wife and gave them alot of clothes and shoes
plus some crayons and books for their sunday school
they were overwhelmed!!
we weren't able to meet with the people since we had only got his contact
number that morning, but he assured me that he would go to the poor families
and bless them

we stopped for lunch on the way home to a small place

and bob handed out candy to the kids

this little girl was so happy!

i realized on thursday  that i haven't even thought about christmas preparations

no turkey, no presents, no food for our guests

so we bought the turkey from eldon's 

and got everything we needed for the fiesta we have planned on christmas day

these days bob and i are soooo tired

but we are also soooo blessed!