The morning started off overcast and a nice breeze, but later the sun came out and warmed up quickly.
Off the bus walking to the church in a zone. Zones are what we would call subdivisions. This zone is also gated with armed guards. There is one way in and out. It used to be the most crime infested zone about 10 years ago. The church came in and now it is one of the nicer places to live. Comparable to Pinnacle for us. The people still live behind the high, cinder block walls and razor wire in this zone. Some have broken glass mortared into the top of the walls.
This is the church, also gated with a steel door.
Inside the sanctuary, preparing for our first outing to zone 12. We were not allowed to take cameras so some pictures were taken by Allison, one of our group leaders.
My group included Nathan's friend Brian Swiggart and his youngest son Noah. I had mentioned to Nathan that I did not feel comfortable with Bri being placed in a group without me. I mean, hey, we are in a different country. This means different rules and such. I wanted to be with her just in case. So, she was put in my group. Our first stop was lead by Brian and he used the 'Keys to the Kingdom' as Noah read the corresponding scriptures. We had a translator which helped tremendously. The lady we spoke with was running a business out of the front of her home. It was like a mini mart with sodas, candy, personal items, and produce. She did not seem to want to talk with us but eventually listened. She said she did know who Jesus was but had never accepted Him into her heart. Let me tell you what an experience it was to be there while this lady prayed to accept Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. It was a very moving moment. We asked if there was anything she would like for us to pray for and she said her country and family. We then offered her a Spanish Bible. At first she did not understand that it was a gift and kinda thought we wanted her buy it. I did not understand her language but I could understand her expression. Our translator explained that she could just have it, we did not want her money and then her face showed show much gratitude and took the Bible.
Above is our second stop at another mini mart, about 2 doors down from our first stop. The lady there really did not want to talk with us because she did not want to lose any customers. We asked if we could take just a few minutes to tell her about our God. She agreed and then other family members came in. By the time we left, 3 family members prayed to accept Jesus and asked us to pray for work.
Looking into the mini mart/ home.
We walked down about two doors down and there was a homeless lady sitting on the curb by herself. Our was the last on this block so she had been passed by. Matt, our other group leader was standing by so I asked if we were allowed to visit with her. One of the translators quickly went to Matt saying something and then came back and told us we could talk with her. Bri showed her the Keys to the Kingdom as I read from the Bible. She was grateful that we visited with her. The translator seemed to think she was not mentally stable and was not understanding what we were telling her. We prayed for her, gave her a Bible and some money. The whole time, residents were walking by looking at us like we were crazy for talking to his woman. I will never know her story but I know her name is Marlene and so does God.
We knocked on several more doors but by this time children were coming home from school and families were preparing for lunch. Which meant no one wanted to talk with us. We drove back to the church for lunch.
View from the third floor balcony. The black 'tubs' are cisterns for water collection and were found on a few roof tops. The houses were right next to each other with small yards.
Another third floor view looking down at the roof of the kitchen which is separate from the the main building. Directly behind this building is about a 100 foot drop. This zone was built on a plateau that almost completely surrounds the area with one entrance. A lot of these zones are built like this for protection.
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