Monday ~ Our first day at Casa Providencia

Casa Providencia
Bob started our day with the daily devotional from John Piper, entitled Beware of Serving God. Who but God could have orchestrated that devotional?  
We do not glorify God by providing his needs, but by praying that he would provide ours — and trusting him to answer.
Again, the focus on prayer was being laid before us.   And the reminder that He is the one doing the work, not us.  What a great way to start our work week.  I found myself thinking over this frequently during the day. 

Out the door by 8 (Thanks for breakfast, Jess!!) with packed lunches, we headed off for the first day of work.  
Bill drove us across Panama (remember, this is the area of the canal, so it is the narrowest part of the country), going northwest to the city of Colon, where Casa Providencia is located.  (Take a minute a check out a google map of Panama.  If you search either Colon or Panama City, you will be able to check out our daily journey) 
Matt sharing the story behind Casa Providencia
Artist rendition of common area
Matt (co-founder of Heart's Cry Children's Ministry with his wife, Misty), shared with us the history of how they came to procure the building, what they had encountered as they began the process of renovating the building, and what the Lord is teaching them in the process.  And then we began the tour of the facility as Matt shared his vision of what each area would be used for.   There are artists renderings in each area to give you an idea of what it will look like, someday.  
Current view of the common area


The 40,000 square foot building, originally part of the former US Military Zone, as well as the land are owned by a family foundation and graciously donated to be used by Heart's Cry Children's Ministry as a special needs orphanage. 
  
Scraping in bathrooms, always the most peeling paint in these rooms
Susan and I spent the day scraping peeling paint off of the walls on the first and second floors.  Mike (thankfully!) was willing to follow along on a ladder and reach the areas that were too high for Susan and me.  Because this building is in a tropical area, there was a LOT of peeling paint.  

The other men began the process of using a jack hammer to demo portions of the window sills on the second floor that needed to be repaired.  
We worked at these same jobs all day, then Bill drove us back across the country to Casa Paraiso, and then Bob and Bill headed out to pick up dinner for us.  We worked hard that night to stay awake till 9:30  
Work begun on the windows sills


They are reusing as much as humanly possible, so we scraped many doors as well


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