Another warm spring morning and I was ready to go.We ate breakfast and then hopped in the car to go to the church.
When we arrived we waited for the pastor to assign us jobs. A few stayed and cleaned up around the church lot clipping grass and pulling weeds. Others went with Ariana to walk around the block and pick up trash. Ruth and I worked together and cleaned up the drainage ditch littered with trash and dirt and fruit peels, while Bethany and Olivia cleaned up the other half. It was not the most pleasant job and I was splattered with nasty smelling water and mud by the end. We also went and took food to the family that we knew was in need. They were very happy and thankful for much needed supplies. Afterwards we were to go hand out more flyers around town.
The pastor took the lead and went from house to house calling through the barred gates asking if the people that lived there had children. If they did one of us would hand them a flyer. What I found interesting is that the people did not care if he asked them if they had kids and seemed fine with talking to a stranger. In the U.S. if someone came knocking on the door you'd probably call the police. We call ourselves safe and free in our country, but do we really feel happy and secure? Just small differences in our culture. We handed out at least 100 flyers and I had a feeling a lot more children would show up for VBS that day. We finished our task and then headed back to the church for lunch.
After lunch we prepared for VBS. The second day of VBS seemed more relaxed and we all were excited to spend more time with the kids.
Right around 1 kids started coming, and this time I knew we would have much more. They didn't straggle in like they had on Saturday. They came in groups and it was a little crazy finding name (nombre) tags for them all. Most of them came on time that day and twice the amount of parents showed up as well. We were all excited and ready to go! Everyone gathered around and we sang songs.
The chorus of song we sang both days went:
"Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo, "I have joy, joy, joy, joy,
en mi corazón, (¿dónde?) In my heart (where?)
en mi corazón, (¿dónde?) In my heart (where?)
en mi corazón. which translates to: In my heart.
Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo, I have joy, joy, joy, joy,
en mi corazón, In my heart
porque Cristo me salvó" Because Christ saved me!"
The first day was a little difficult to get them to sing but by the last day they were singing along with us. We all sat down then and Mrs. Tann continued on with the ressurection egg story. All those little hands loved opening eggs and discovering what was inside.
After song and story time we did crafts and games, but this time we had to split the kids up because there were so many! The second day we had around 68 kids. We did older kids first and they especially liked the salvation bracelet project. The second group of kids was younger and we only did one craft with them because we were running out of time. With our second group a few of the older kids stuck around to help us. They knew a little bit of English and were really nice and helped us out.
Ruth made a new friend and he taught her a hand clapping game.
Helping the little ones with the craft was fun and seeing their happy faces made our day.
I made a new friend too. Roshell was one of the favorites among us. She was so cute and everyone loved her. She pointed at my camera and wanted to take a picture.
After a bunch of fun games and crafts we sang again and it was very lively and everyone sang along.
After songs we got out all the treats and candy that we had left. I had made plenty of rainbow loom bracelets and brought some silly bands as well. I started passing them out and a huge group of kids hand their hands out eagerly waiting for one. I got bags of candy out too and shouted, "confites, confites!" and they would all come waiting for some candy. "Uno, uno." I'd say as they tried to grab some. I had one of the adults by me too who looked eager for some candy so I left her have some and I gave her a bracelet too. She seemed excited. A lot of the people there don't have enough money for sweets so this was a treat for them.
Our beautiful finished wall
They played soccer with some of the kids.
That day we left the church building for the last time. It was bittersweet and I knew I would miss coming back. We went to the hotel and on the ride back Ariana informed us that she wanted us to find a verse or two in the bible that applied to our experiences that day or days before that. Everyone else swam in the hotel pool and I sat down by the pool under an umbrella and reflected on everything that had happened that week. For some reason Psalm 113 popped into my head and I looked it up. It read:
Praise the
Lord, you his servants;
praise the name of the Lord.
2 Let the name of the
Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.
3 From the rising of the sun
to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
4 The
Lord is exalted
over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the
Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned
on high,
6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor
from the dust
and lifts the needy
from the ash heap;
8 he seats them
with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He settles the childless
woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
This verse is true in all that it implies because we are called to praise the Lord. In church on Sunday everyone had smiles on their faces and the worship was genuine and glorifying God in every way. We are called to be joyous in our worship and praise.
After that I swam and it was actually a bit chilly out!
For dinner we went to another restaurant and the food was absolutely wonderful yet again. I got a giant quesadilla and there was some more of my favorite refried beans. Oh my goodness, the guacamole was AMAZING.
Fried ice cream for dessert. Perfect ending to a wonderful day.
