Krache Day 1

Greetings, All!
Today was the team’s first day in the Krache Province. Yesterday was spent traveling and seeing “Bamboo House” and “The Center.”

Bamboo House was recently purchased and will probably be used for computer classes and possibly a kindergarten. Today the team worked hard mixing and pouring concrete and painting the outside wall and gates. The guys worked long hard hours on the cement. We were all impressed with their diligence. The girls primed the gate for painting and began painting the concrete wall surrounding the house. Anna Katherine braved her fear of heights to scale a ladder and wall to paint.

At the Center, a home for about 70 children, team members led one-on-one English tutoring, piano lessons, guitar lessons, violin lessons, and a nature study (watercolor) class. The children, ages 6 through high school, are so joyful and eager to learn. The smiles on their faces were priceless! I had the privilege of teaching 3 nature study classes. The youngest group of kids I taught (1st grade) had never painted before, yet they produced beautiful watercolors of the “Peacock Flower.” All of the students are full of stories about the children they taught and how special it is to be a “piece of the puzzle” in the lives of these children.

We ate lunch and dinner at Bamboo House, compliments of our wonderful cook, Sote. We had mango, ginger chicken, beef curry, cooked veggies, rice, and other foods. Sote is spoiling us! In addition, after dinner we tried dragon fruit, “rich man’s fruit,” and rhambutan. Dragon fruit is pink and green on the outside with leafy protrusions. The inside is white-ish with “poppy seeds.” Rich Man’s Fruit has a brown skin with a grape like interior and one large smooth seed. It reminded me of a muscadine. Rhambutan is a “hairy strawberry.” Once peeled, it also looks like a grape, but it has a white, almond shaped seed. All three were delicious.

We’re all doing well and having a wonderful time. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to work hard in the heat and sun. Pray that our good health and spirits would continue, and that God would bless our hosts and the children to whom we’re ministering. Pray that we would faithfully focus on our work and on those around us rather than ourselves–even when we’re tired and simply want to kick back and relax.

Blessings and love in Jesus,

HollyAnne Dobbins

(and the other Macs)