Not Just a Cement Floor

We have been working with a church in El Coquito and we recently did a project together to put in a cement floor for a woman in the community.  For us it's just a cement floor but for Felipa, the women who lives in this house, it was a huge blessing, provision and demonstration of care and love for her!

We have gone through a process of identifying community needs followed up by a asking what projects can they do.  While we had a lot of needs listed like; latrines, water tanks for cooking and cleaning, hand washing stations, etc., the one that really stood out as a good starting project was cement floors for cooking areas.

This is a poor church and it would have been totally fine for them to have chosen to start by helping someone within the church but, amazingly to me, they chose to help a woman in the community who is not attending the church.  When I asked the pastor why they selected here, he looked at me with a sad face and said, "because she is very poor."  Let me restate that this is a poor community, the pastor himself lives very meagerly, and yet they chose this woman.  I found it to be very beautiful!

Here's a photo of the house with the pastor's truck parked outside.  It is a one room house about 12' x 14'.

A very exciting verse for the guys coming out from the church to help this woman was Psalm 127:1a

Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain!

This is Felipa, her three daughters and the pastor's son Benjamin.

Felipa's cooking area.

We started by leveling the floor.  We had to dig one corner down about 10"!

There are actually two more people in the room who don't show up in the photo.  It was a bit crowded, as well as a bit worrisome with people swinging pic axes, but the work went really fast!

We left the cooking counter in place and dug around the legs in leveling the floor.

Pastor Gustavo's wife showed up around 9:00 with a breakfast of  eggs, beans, cheese, tortillas and soda!

Mixing the concrete just outside the door to the house.

The cement is transferred to buckets to pour in the house.

Pastor Gustavo is smoothing out the floor as we bring in the cement.

Pastor Gustavo is adding a colorant to the top of the finished, but still wet, floor.

We wanted a group shot of everybody but folks sort of came and went throughout the day so this is the group at the finish!

Ellen kept the kids busy with fun crafts and Bible stories.  She also took them up to the church where they were holding a two hour children's program!


At the end of the day we celebrated in singing praise, praying over Felipa, her girls and the house, and encouraging each other with some favorite Scriptures.  One of those Scriptures was Mt 5:13-15 where Jesus says:

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."  

We prayed that the community may give praise to the Lord as they witness the blessing Felipa received!