Faith Community Church, IN

We welcomed a team again from Faith Community Church in Elkhart, IN.  This team has been faithfully coming every three years for the past....I don't even know how long.  They have become such good friends and we love that we get to see them often as they live so close to our family in Fort Wayne!

This team came to work! 

The team!

 Dinner at our house is always a must!

Always packed at our house! Especially with lots of interns!

More interns--what's that face, Kaitlyn!?

Rita is a school teacher and she presented doing a special project for Minds in Motion.  It is something she uses in her school everyday.  It is to help the kids use parts of their brains while doing different exercises--without them even really knowing it!  And it is fun!



 First part of the team started building all of the parts of the Minds in Motion materials.

Rita hard at work!

Painting

 We also added parking stops to the parking lot--so people would stop running into our beautiful wall!
Harold was in charge of this task--with Jonathan.

Working hard! Or at least one of the two....

 The team also worked on the kiosko and building a cabinet for Candace and Aaron for their new house.

Some of us even painted!

Me and Kaitlyn painting away!

 We also had some of the experienced electricians work on some gremlin problems in the daycare!

 And some of the team "worked" on whatever they are doing--besides looking cute!

A common expression from Bethany!

 We started out by doing a presentation to explain to the daycare teacher what it is and what it looks like and explain WHY.

Daycare teachers receiving the information

 Then the teachers had to DO the tasks.

Hurdles

Rolling--they loved this part!

The team trying out the balance boards!

 Last, the teachers got to go through the tasks WITH their kids!

kids going through the mazes

These two here were probably the winners for being most dirty!

We also had a little July 4th party with the Children's Homes kids

There were a whole lot of other jobs that I didn't have pictures of because the team was a little bit of everywhere.  They also worked at Candace and Aaron's new home. Helping them move, clean, plant grass and whatever else they could do!

This team is always a blessing and we are so thankful to have Pastor Randy and Tammy Smith in our corner!

In HIM,

the crawfords

Scheduling Institute, GA

We had a small group from The Scheduling Institute from Atlanta come down and work with us for a couple days.  They did stories and activities with the kids in the daycare.  They were really engaged in the stories and the activities--the kids were too!

They also donated several Spanish kids' story books!  What a blessing!



Where the Monsters Live

2-3 year olds

3-4 year olds

4-6 year olds

4-6 year olds

4-6 year olds

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Working with the kiddos

Andrea working hard!

Seriously, the kids were engaged the whole time!

Add caption

 Jack and the Beanstalk

Coloring with the littles

so much fun!

Everyone was coloring!

Ended their time with dinner and a coffee demonstration!

Dinner time!

Traditional coffee demonstration (and my laundry)

Steak, potatoes and veggies! YUMMY!

We are so thankful for our relationship with The Scheduling Institute! They have always been so involved in the many ministries at the Abraham Project and in Costa Rica!

Blessings,

the crawfords

Mount Pisgah, GA

We welcomed our team from Mount Pisgah UMC, from Atlanta, GA.  It was a smaller team, but man, did they DO WERK!!!

Their church supports several of our partnering ministries, so the week was full of visiting those ministries and meeting with the pastors and serving alongside them during the week.

When the team first arrived, they were having a celebration in the street and were welcomed by big headed mascaras (masks).  I'm pretty sure they were scared at first! But they soon realized that it was normal!

Las Mascaras!

The team!

The first day we headed up to La Carpio to minister at a Feeding Ministry with Pastor James and Christina.  Our teams ALWAYS enjoy their time in La Carpio, and this time was no different!

Dancing and games in La Carpio

The next couple of days we went to Platanaras with Pastor Christian and his wife Prisila to work on kids classrooms on their church.  It was prep work for the next couple of teams that were coming in--one big team from Mount Pisgah lead by other leaders.

Mixing concrete and pouring it into place!

Had to clear out about 2 feet of water before we could begin pouring concrete! But the footers were poured!

Just a little dirty!

Snacks with the ladies in the kitchen!

After lunch we moved A LOT of bricks to prepare for the next group coming.

We usually took turns watching Kathy work!

This is Kathy....she fit in our team perfectly! FUNNY!!!

This lady, Dottie, worked circles around people half her age!

Always need to take a break!

See, we did work! Well some of us....

At the end of the day....

Hi ya!

The team in Platanaras

Funny (not funny) story.  While in Platanaras, my phone fell out of my car (don't know how) and later, Bruce ran over it!  It was smashed, bent and DEAD. Instead of sympathy from Kathy, she said, "Did you hear that? Was that your phone?" It was a common joke for the rest of their time here.

My phone......

Then the team had a break and a fun day at Turtle Island. 

Jon and Bruce on the bus

Leyton got to have some Daddy time with the team

The we were back at AP for church and some time with children's homes.

Lunch with Children's Homes.

Jon got to drive the truck he helped us purchase! Thanks Jon!

 We were so thankful for this team! They really were lots of fun, flexible and just a joy to be around!

Thanks Read family and Jon!

Blessings,

the crawfords