Guatemala 2011- Day 3

The day began like many other - we ate breakfast, had devotions and headed for Las Vistas.  We were originally assigned 4 rooms to paint, but by lunch time we had 2 more rooms added.  By later in the afternoon, we had all 6 rooms painted yellow on the top, and the bottom of 4 of the rooms is 90% done (dark blue).  From a work standpoint - a very good day.

On the other fronts, we had a great time with the children.  When I first arrived in the morning, I had 5 children that I had to give gifts to from their sponsor, so they brought them to the office and I gave them presents, hugged them, took pictures and just loved on them for a moment.  Then they headed back to their classrooms. 

For lunch, we fed the children.  We gave them rice, beans, and a tortilla, along with a drink.  The kids waited very patiently to eat, and then prayed together.  One child would lead in prayer by saying a phrase and all of the other children would say the same phrase.  Their prayers were prayers of thanksgiving for the food (most of them thanked God for the individual elements of the lunch), thanksgiving for their teachers, parents, friends, and the gringos that were visiting - their "padrino's" (they referred to us as this, which means their sponsors - although we are not the sponsors for the children, they still refer to us as that).  I had the opportunity to harrass the children as I usually do so well.  "Stealing" their food - and acting like I'm gonna eat it.  Sitting in the childrens seats as they get up.  Just having fun with them.  I even did exercises with one class while the teacher was helping them to stretch - they all kept laughing - it was fun to visit with them.

The team spent some of the day playing soccer, playing with the kids on the jungle gym, talking with them, loving on them, playing games...  Just interacting with them as God gave us opportunity.  It was a great day!

Tomorrow...  Meeting kids in Verbana (sponsored children - giving gifts), going out to lunch with staff, finishing the painting in Las Vistas, and playing the maintenance guys in soccer after work.  It is going to be a long day - we might not return to Thelma's until after 7:30.  The maintenance guys are looking forward to the rematch from last year - they beat us then, but we have a secret weapon (not sure what it is, but hopefully we can win this time :-)  )