Already in 2012, we have been incredibly blessed to have five short-term teams come and serve at the Abraham Project. It’s always such an encouragement to see people take time out of their daily lives and come down willing to serve. This year, one of the biggest projects that every team has worked on is La Cancha. The “cancha” is the dirt floor that will one day be the floor to the new church building that is in the process of being constructed. In order for concrete to be poured however, six inches of the dirt had to be dug out first. Talk about some hard labor. The volunteers who have come down willingly wielded pick-axes, shovels, and wheelbarrows to get this seemingly endless task done. As the saying goes, “many hands make light work,” and although the work clearly wasn’t ‘light’ it probably would have taken our local workers months to do this job without the teams’ help. So we are incredibly thankful for every volunteer’s effort!
In addition to the cancha, the teams have done much more to bless the Abraham Project. Whether here for a day or more than a week, here are a few more highlights of how the teams contributed:
- A Joshua Expedition Team from Tulsa, OK came to serve for one day and “broke ground” on the cancha
- Grace Community Chapel came from New Brunswick, NJ for the third consecutive year and brought care packages for all the kids including brand new shoes. They continued the work on the cancha, as well as did songs, Bible stories, and games with the Children's Homes.
- Love and Truth Church, who has been coming from Jackson TN to serve here since 2007, did electrical work and took the Children’s Homes to the park and to ride Go-Karts.
- Grace Community Church, the home church of missionaries Jason and Kerby Harpst, came from Clarksville, TN for a week in mid-January. It was their third consecutive trip. They spent a lot of time doing activities with the daycare and took the Children's Homes to the Amusement Park.
- A team of high school girls from Whitefield Academy in Louisville, KY made their debut trip to the Project from February 15-22. Not only did they finish digging the cancha, but they also brought clothes, shoes, and household goods for Children's Homes.
The energy, effort, and encouragement the volunteer teams bring to the missionaries and local workers here is invaluable. The Project wouldn’t be where it’s at today without these teams!