Today is Harrison’s
birthday, and it started with a bang. He
and Terry went for a 5 mile jog.
Harrison seemed a little tired this morning, but I didn’t know just how
bad it was until he returned. Eventually he told me that he was feeling bad
enough that he didn’t even go to the center.
He stayed at the Hetzel’s house all day – Krista said he slept 6+
hours.
Meanwhile, Susan and Kristen
were also feeling badly, so as of today, 6 of our 17 have experienced sickness
of some sort. It doesn’t seem to last
long, but – long enough to be annoying. Why
God allows these difficulties, (other than for our maturity in Him) I don’t
know, but I do know that He isn’t surprised by it.
The team walked to the
church, ate breakfast, and then had devotions.
From there we headed off to the center in 3 different vehicles. Vehicle 1 had the nationals and the Haef’s –
they were going to get ice cream and cake (to celebrate the second floor being finished,
and as an aside, Harrison/Harold’s birthdays).
Vehicle 2 had most of the adults and Richard – heading off to get
supplies needed to finish the wall.
Vehicle 3 had mostly kids and 2 adults and we were going to the
center. Van 3 arrived at the center to
see over 150 kids bouncing off the walls ready for us to be there. We played with them. Took pictures, sang
songs, whatever we could for a little over ½ an hour until we assumed the
others would arrive. Then I asked the
kids to sit down and the only thing I could think of was to sing some songs
with the guitar – the only problem was – the guitar was in van 2. So, I counted kids. Seriously, it was the
only thing I could think of that would keep them sitting down for a little
while as I counted to over 145 kids (and many were standing around and talking
with the other team members).
Eventually the rest of the
team arrived, and we got to work. The
wall was finished, the kids were taught bible lessons (and they listened very
well due to the sound system that this team brought to Richard and the
projector that they gave him). The team
did crafts, played games, sang songs, and eventually served the kids meals and
cake and ice cream for the celebration.
We had a great time.
After lunch, we went outside
and played volleyball and soccer with the older kids. They really enjoyed us spending time with
them. I think the team enjoyed playing
with the kids and just spending time caring for them. This stuff is critical, because it shows the
kids that we care for them – we are not just here to get them to listen to us,
we want to listen to them as well.
Around 4:00 we headed off to
the church for dinner, had cake (after singing Happy Birthday to Harrison – who
is now feeling better) and then wrapped up the day with our usual discussion
time lead by Richard. It was a full but
wonderful day!
Tomorrow we go to Buen
Pastor – the other AMG center in Lima – and start the process of building
relationships all over again. I am
looking forward to spending much of the day with Norma – she is a treasure!
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