Well, they did it! On June 30th the guys ran 11km to raise funds for various outreach and community service projects that we were wanting to complete. God had mercy on our guys and blessed them with a cloudy, slightly drizzly morning, which made the running pretty nice. They had been training in mid-afternoon Salvadoran heat and hills, so this cool morning was a welcome surprise for them.
Our goal was to raise $3000 with the run, and we raised $900. Yes, we were a little short of the goal, but that is okay! We all know the story of the fish and loaves, or even Elisha and the miraculous jars of oil in 2 Kings chapter 4. God is great at taking a little and doing a lot with it (even our lives are proof of that)!
So far, with the funds raised, we have been able to do several exciting things. The first, and probably the coolest, thing that we did was to buy a new wheelchair for Marvin. If you read our last blog post then you will remember that Marvin is a youth who attends our church who was left a paraplegic as a result of gang violence. His previous wheelchair was in terrible shape, so it was so fun and exciting to be able to bless him with a new one!
The next thing that we did was help buy building materials for a local family. This family resides way way up the side of a nearby volcano and their small home had been severely damaged by earthquakes and several storms. Actually, they live 11km up the volcano (accessible only by 4x4 vehicle), which just HAPPENS to be the distance the guys ran :) They are an extremely hard working family. The dad works as a security guard for a local company, they farm, and they also have a small bakery that they run out of their home. The mom bakes fresh bread each day and then the children go out and sell the bread to earn money for the family. They very much value education, which is sometimes unusual for families living in the country. There is no high school close by where they live, but they have slowly and painstakingly saved up to send each of their children to the nearest high school 15km away (a very long distance when you live on the side of volcano and the roads are only accessible by 4x4 vehicles). We loved being able to help this awesome family!
The third project that we have been working on is getting electric for Toni's mom, Blanca. Bobby just went with Blanca to the electric company this week to fill out the contract for electric. The company is scheduled to come within the next couple of days and do an inspection of the installation work that was done. If the inspection is approved then we can go in this week and pay the connection fee and then they will turn it on! Yeah! Blanca is going to be so excited! Imagine never having electric in your house, what joy you would feel the first time you turned on that switch! Wow, the things we take for granted sometimes.
The great news is that, even after all this, we still should have a little bit of money left over for us to bless someone else with.....fish and loaves, right?
