Children's Ministry

Sleep was interrupted in the middle of the night with the power coming on and the water pump completely filling up the roof-top tank (good news for showers and toilet usage). With my earplugs in, I simply thought it was raining and fell back asleep, but others in our group realized something was wrong as water cascaded off the roof into the back courtyard. We woke up our host and she tripped the shut off switch for the pump and everyone went back to bed (we saw this happen for a tank near the church later in the morning - pictured below). 

In the morning, we headed back to the church for breakfast. We enjoyed freshly pureed fruit juice. They had saltine-like crackers on the table that we were told were made locally. They had a little sweetness with the salty which made them addictively good. We were also pleased to get warm scrambled eggs. Some of the group took to making sandwiches with the large rolls each morning (spam, cheese and egg). 

We got to the church early to prepare small gift bags for the children who were expected for their Saturday program. They usually have 15-30 kids from the ages of 5-12, but with the spread of the chikungunya virus, they weren't sure how many would show up. Several of the members came with the grandkids or great grand kids. 

The church has a large grassy courtyard off the fellowship patio. The younger kids went out and reenacted the story of the Good Samaritan. I joined them because my Spanish is about pre-school level and I could mostly understand the story they were telling. They also sang songs and danced with the kids. 

View of the church patio from the yard.

The kids made friendship hearts to share.

We continued to build our bridge of friendship

Their "sound guy", Edgar, was brilliant with the old tech that was available to him to queue music in the followship space and the sanctuary. We continued building our Bridge of Friendship with the kids. They wrapped things up with some games and some of the candy we brought. That was a special treat! 

Some of the kids are brought in from the edges of town by horse carts that the church funds so they can participate. They loaded them up at the end and they headed home. The horses have a pretty hard life. They pull the carts (for people and for goods) and they simply graze on the side of the road. Most that we saw were painfully skinny. People get around with lots of kinds of transport, but very few cars. I regularly saw motor scooters with 2 or 3 people on them. One family of four went by, but I didn't get a picture