Esperanza = Hope

We are now starting week 2 in the town of Esperanza, the only town we've been in longer than a week during this outreach phase. We are working with a pastor who has 20 pastors under him; we are working with only a few, thank goodness. This has been a different kind of experience, mostly because the pastors are all pentacostal have a little different doctorine than we are used to. Thankfully we can still do what we do without clashing - visiting homes to get to know people, work projects, small groups in homes, presentations in churches and in streets (with skirts), and working on our Spanish skills. :) One of girls that Jose, Stephanie, and I have connected with lives by herself and her 15-month-old son. Her 29-year-old husband has been in Haiti for 4 months, building houses, and won't be back until May. She is 17. She is starving for new conversations and new people, she always asks when we will come back. There are so many stories here of how the church is hurting people: This same girl was turned away by viscious rumors and almost commited suicide, an older lady was advised to stop taking her insulin (and trust that God would miraculously heal her without it), and is so sick she cannot even go to church. There is much damage done by the church; we have felt the need over and over again to spread the word of God's love - the people here mostly hear about obedience and hell. There is only so much that we can do, though. This town needs a lot more 'esperanza' - hope.
Teamwise: God is teaching us patience and how to have joy even in trials. Stephanie's ankle ended up being a bad sprain, not a fracture (it was not healing and we went to a different doctor). They recasted it and it doesn't hurt as much anymore! David and Kelsey both have at least 4 different types of salmonella - apparently this is not uncommon around here. Many of us supposedly have it, we just don't show symptoms. My lower back was in a lot of pain last week, but is feeling better, thanks to the pain medicine and muscle relaxers!
Only 2 more weeks...