Day Four: The Journey Continues

We started off our day today with an hour-long visit to Casa Gabriel, a home that takes in boys off the street and gives them not only shelter and safety but love, guidance and spiritual mentoring. While there, we also heard about Casa Adalia (www.casaadalia.org), a similar program that rescues girls from prostituion and sex trafficking. Casa Adalia has a vocational art program called EsperanzArt, which teaches the girls skills they can use to make a living. We were presented with a beautiful display of jewelry to shop from to support the program (www.casaadalia.org/esperanzart.html).

Next, we headed back to Cristo Liberador to continue our painting and construction projects. We began with morning prayer and singing "Abre Mis Ojos," "Demos Gracias al Señor," and "Trading My Sorrows." Another highlight was reciting psalms and the Lord's Prayer with our Ecuadorean brothers and sisters, each of us in our own language. The blending of languages and voices was very moving.

Amanda and Frances finished the mural. It looks amazing!

We played basketball and soccer together, enjoyed a delicious lunch of chicken and rice, and closed out the day by gathering together for prayer and music.

We made a lot of progress but still have more to do tomorrow.