Today, we ate breakfast and then we went to see the kids before church. I spent some time with Yolany before church and then we walked to church together. Along the way up the road, the BMDMI van got stuck. They tried to get it out but had no luck, so they had to leave the van there and walk with the equipment up to the church.
Benjamin and Waleska
Dawn, Kate, and Maria
Our walk from the casona to the casitas.
Julie
Alisa and Kate
Karen and Carlos
Alison and Yolany
Julie, Becky, and Esmerelda
The church was high up on a hill overlooking the valley with the mountains in the background. The view was beautiful, especially through the cross shaped designs on the open air windows. There was a picture of Jesus holding a lamb painted at the front of the church.
Christian Samuel, Esther, and Armando sang many beautiful songs as they led us in worship. Then Pastor Abner gave the sermon. He spoke about God bringing blessings out of tragedy. He used a story about a man being left on a deserted island. He builds shelter for himself, but it burns down. Then, a boat comes to rescue him. He asks the people on the boat how they knew that he was on the island. They tell him that they saw his smoke signals. Therefore, without his shelter burning, he would not have been rescued. His worst day ended up being his best day. Pastor Abner said that God will always be with us. God can bless us through the lonliness.
Next, Becky and Kate performed a drama without words based on Jesus being the bread of life. Kate had to put the bread on the cross. Then, they put a crown of thorns on the bread. Kate cried as she stuck a stake in the bread. The bread represented Jesus who is the Bread of Life. Then, Becky unwrapped the bread and gave it to Pastor Abner. Pastor Abner used the bread and juice to explain the elements of communion.
Later that day after lunch, Waleska translated a conversation between Yolany and I. It was nice to be able to communicate with each other. This has given me an even greater motivation to learn Spanish faster with Rosetta Stone. We have been using it since May, but I still don't know very much. I can understand more than I can speak. Yolany and I were able to talk about God, faith, forgiveness, grace and communion. It was nice to be able to have a meaningful conversation with her.
I also got to meet Miguel this afternoon. He smiled and gave me a hug, but we didn't talk long. I told him that Joe was coming on Saturday with our children. Then, Benjamin, Waleska and I realized that our team had left to go to the casona for dinner. While we headed to the casona, Waleska and I had a great conversation. We didn't even notice that Benjamin had disappeared until he jumped out at us as we were walking down the road. Of course, Waleska and I both screamed and Benjamin just laughed. They have both been a welcome addition to our team. Jimmy, Kevin McKenzie's nephew, also joined our team for the week. He had been at the home for six weeks before we got there helping out at the school.
Me and Miguel
Jimmy
Later, after dinner our team split up to read books the the young children, do a devotion, or just talk with the older children in their casitas before bed.
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