Day 3 - Te Doy Gloria

“Te doy gloria” means “I give you praise.”  It is a song that we sang this morning during our church service at Casa Hogar Douglas.  As soon as this song starts, everyone begins praising like crazy. I’m talking hands raised, jumping up and down, signing at the top of their lungs kind of praising.  Love it!  This morning started off pretty easy with our standard 8 o’clock stand up meeting for interns to make sure that every group has everything they need for the day’s activities and that everyone knows what their tasks are.  After the meeting a few of us went back to the dorms to catch up on a little more sleep before we departed for church at 10:30.  Worship at Douglas is awesome and LOUD.  All of the songs are in Spanish, so it’s an entirely new experience for some of the group members.  Greg, part of the staff here at B2B, preached the sermon while Antonio translated for him. 

After church it was time to head to LTP, or La Tierra Promisida (The Promised Land).  This is a new home that B2B acquired several years ago, but has been building to make it into a new home for children that are currently in a home that is not worth repairing any longer.  The car ride there was, um, interesting.  The girls were stuck in the back of the suburban where the floor was so high up that we basically had our knees drawn up to our chests for the 45 minute drive.  We laughed the entire time, but were very ready to be on land again by the time we arrived at LTP.  While there we cleaned up several dirt piles and sorted wood into good and bad piles.  We made a few more friends along the way including both a black widow and a tarantula.  As soon as the tarantula was spotted within 6 inches of our feet, Morgan (another intern) and I decided it was time to be done with the wood pile for the day.  It was lots of tedious work, but work that needed to be done in order to prepare for the next phase of getting the property in shape.  

The sky was blue for the time since arriving; it has been mostly rainy and cloudy the last 2 days.  Tonight, a young man named Antonio shared his testimony about how his mother dropped him and his brothers off at a home when he was 4 years old.  He is now in the HOPE Program here on campus.  The HOPE Program was started by B2B to help Mexican high school and college students get through school.  B2B pays for all of their schooling and provides a home for them here on campus with house parents.  Antonio’s story was incredible, he was in tears by the end.  Let me tell you, it is not easy to see a 17 year old male cry.  The entire crowd was very moved by his story.  It was the perfect way to end the day, with hope and “giving praise.”