We made it. We’re finally here: Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico. We weren’t actually supposed to be in Juana Diaz, though. We were originally going to stay at the ministry site in Ponce, a city on the southern coast. The ministry is for drug addicts, though, and three of the men were not ready to leave after all. Due to safety concerns, Adventures in Missions made other (last minute) arrangements.
As a result, we ended up staying at a children’s camp in the Pastillo barrio of Juana Diaz, a small town near Ponce. We are SO BLESSED. First, the children’s camp (Campemento del Caribe) is literally right on the beach…we are so close we can hear the roar of the waves at night. A few of us have decided to brave the chilly 68-degree evenings and sleep in hammocks right by the water. So beautiful, and so, so peaceful.
Second, we have warm showers, clean dorm rooms, and great neighbors. The man who runs the camp has a little boy who wanted to put on a talent show — it was such a success we’re doing season 2 next week! (more on that later)
So we were very (VERY) blessed to get these accommodations. In fact, we were told our accommodations going forward might not be so nice….we are definitely enjoying it will we can.
Speaking of enjoying: There is a little something in Puerto Rico called El Frappe. It’s a street kiosk that sells fresh fruit smoothies…they are DELICIOSO! I have tried a few different flavors (sabores in Spanish), and each one has been incredible.
My friend Karen and I had a little misadventure our first trek into town (as we were going for our first frappes). We thought the frappe stand was just a short walk away….it was not. We walked for about half-an-hour or more, finally found El Frappe, bought 4 frappes (two for us, one for our friend back at camp, and one spare)…I dropped the one for our friend, then I dropped the spare. It was a mess, frappes everywhere: on the street, in a nice lady’s car (the lady, Maria, had offered to give us a lift back to camp).
*sigh* Oh, frappe. How you torment me. 🙂
In other news, we experienced an earthquake our fourth night here. It was a sizable one (6.4), but it was off the northern coast, so we only felt a slight tremor. My squad mates and I were in our hammocks, and the hammocks rocked in a weird, forced kind of way.
Oddly enough, I’d been feeling a little nauseated just prior to the tremor. Even odder, I had just been praying (a really intense prayer) just prior to the tremor. I just thought it was my imagination, but about ten minutes later the earthquake happened. We later found out from our teammates inside that their bunk beds shook a bit.
Well, time for me to sign off. We had our first full day of ministry today, and I’m exhausted. Going to go pray and read my Bible. I will be posting photos and stories from our ministry work at Cristo Pobre (a soup kitchen located in the City of Ponce). Stay tuned! We’ve got people to pray for and lots and lots of work to do in the Kingdom! 🙂 -K
Sing a new song to the Lord, for He has done wonderful deeds. His Right Hand has won a mighty victory; His Holy Arm has shown His Saving Power! -Psalm 98:1
