Rockslides, Wal-Mart, and Things Becoming New

We (Sarah, Leah, Eli, and I) finally arrived in Ponce, Puerto Rico on 06.06.10 and we were excited to stay with Senoras Carmen and Annie--our Puerto Rican mamas. They took really great care of us during the few days we had for camp setup and prep. Things have been pretty crazy around here lately--not really what I expected when I came down here in March with Bryant to organize some details, but even though things haven't gone as planned (really for the most part), it's been better than we could've ever set it up to be.

This first week we've got three groups here--The Rock Church, 28 people, from Fenton, MI, First Presbyterian Church of Conroe, 32 people, from Conroe, TX, and Indianapolis Baptist Temple, 10 people, from Indianapolis, IN--who have been incredibly gracious and flexible, even through the chaos of rockslides shutting down the major highway to Adjuntas (where we have dinner and worship every night). We've got groups serving all over Ponce (a community called Belgica near downtown and at Primera Iglesia Metodista de Ponce for VBS) and in Adjuntas at the El Nuevo Hogar Boys Home painting in the interior walls and working on an exterior kitchen. This summer TEAMeffort's theme verse is "therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17), something I personally need to be reminded of everyday, especially as our staff receives groups week-after-week, which can become really comfortable and something we just breeze over. So far, we've spend almost every night at Wal-Mart (or at least some part of the day there). My goal for the summer is to try and post quite a bit and let everyone know what's going on down here in Puerto Rico.

A picture of the beautiful city of Ponce