Woke up this morning and had some God time before heading out to the van. We headed out to a day care center/kindergarden. There we were welcomed by at least 75 children. So adorable and so strange for me not be able to talk with them. I could have been on "are you smarter than a kindergardener?" Nope! My spanish is pitiful. haha So our group joined them all outside to play games with them, toss water balloons then went inside where our kids graced them with some awesome Jesus songs in spanish. The teachers and the kids seemed so happy we were there. I talked with one of the teachers who does speak english. Watching our highschoolers run around with them and playing games was awesome. Some of us wondered if they even understood what English was since they were so young. :)
We left from there and our driver took us on a windy ride up to the top of the mountain. A most breathtaking view. On our drive down the mountain we/I had a very enlightening conversation with a our driver, a local pastor here. With the help of one of the other chaperones who knows spanish fairly well we were able to learn so much about the people here. Manuel needs all of our prayers. Please pray for him and his family as they serve here for 4 more years. It is difficult to reach the people with Christ - people don't want to give up their sinful ways of life to follow Christ. They are open to listen, but it is a slow process. Please also pray that God raises up men of God, and young men of God to show what it is to be a Godly leader.
After lunch we headed off to another daycare center. One of the teachers there spoke English so it was nice to chat with her. She said she tries to teach the little ones English. Our team had a blast playing with all the children and I am sure that the teachers appreciated getting some relief. I ended up helping in the toddler room - 12 children to 2 adults. Talk about a long day. When I told the teacher that in the US the ratio was 4-1 she was blown away. After playing with the children for a long time they were all gathered on the outdoor patio area and our kids sang songs for them and did a skit. One litte girl I held the entire time - she was motionless. I think she was about 18 mo. old. She almost fell asleep in my arms. As the teacher motioned to bring the little ones back to their room, Brandon and I carried the ones we were holding back for her. Natalie came along too. After they closed the gate behind us I noticed a little girl standing by the gate alone just crying. I went over with the little one I was holding and bent down to pick her up too. I put down the other little girl so I could give her my attention and she just clung to me. We were then told that it was time to leave and the three of us, who were all holding little ones, were all having a hard time leaving as the kids would not let us put them down. Tears filled my eyes as I had to put her down and step on the other side of the gate with her crying. I bent down on the other side of the gate, held her cheeks, kissed her nose and told her "Jesus ta ama" (Jesus loves you) That is all I knew to say to her. I broke my heart to walk away and leave her standing there crying. They just need attention, hugs and love and I wanted to stay so bad.
These are all Jesus precious children. "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
I have heard the song "We Must Go" many times and I am so glad that God sent me.
I love our closing worship in the evening.
All glory to our amazing God.
No comments:
Post a Comment