.: loving these little children

As we were planning activities for the children to do we were told to expect about 60 kids on the first day and then around 100 on the last. After church on Sunday we knew we were looking at 300+ kids. We had to improvise and try and do things in somewhat of an organized chaotic manner. We were greeted by the children and visited for a while. A few soccer balls came out and the kids went nuts, I have some great video of it! We left part of our group out playing with the kids and then some of us went in to set up our crafts. The church where we held the VBS also has a school so only the school children were allowed to attend; we had many visitors watching through the windows. And actually only the youngest 2 grades were there, we must have had 200 children. I read the story of Noah’s Ark and Ebralie interpreted for me. Even though these kids are in school they are not really being taught English in this area because there is no one there that is able to teach them. We set up 3 stations of activities. The first was coloring a picture from the story of Noah’s Ark, the crayons were a hit! The second station they made paper airplanes and talked about Isaiah 40:31, they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. The third station they made crosses that read “Love God” and talked about John 3:16. After dividing the children up into 3 groups we got started. Round one went well. When it was time to throw the airplanes they went crazy with excitement! It took a bit to regroup them but we did and in the mean time other children started showing up and it was no longer quite as controlled. At the end of the time we had fun, they had fun and we are all looking forward to tomorrow!

Another part of our group put a roof on a house today, made and set bricks. I did not get to experience that at all.

The church served us lunch again. It was quite the spread and I got to eat more passion fruit, yum! And pineapple, the food is so good here you really don’t feel like you are in a third world country while you are eating. I do know they went all out for us being there.

One detail that I can’t forget to mention is that William, a pastor from here, and about 6 of our group members walked 20 miles this morning. This was something that William had decided to do. Legacy Mission Village supports about 15 orphans and these are older orphans who need to be educated so William walked a path that he walked for sweet potatoes as a child and asked for support from people back in the US. They were able to complete this walk in 5 hours and they were walking through villages, up mountains and in the dirt. He hopes to do this every year to raise support for the kids. If I am here again when he is doing it, I AM WALKING!

Tonight we eat out. We are walking to a restaurant in about an hour.

Something that I learned today while I was waiting for the next thing to happen is

that I am always waiting for the next thing to happen. I think I have taught my

kids the same thing. I love how Africans are content in the moment and

enjoy the now and don’t worry about what’s next. I know some things need to be

planned BUT I am learning here that I rush through life too fast and don’t take

enough time to “smell the roses”. This is something that I have to work on.

As we were waiting for lunch today I sang with some of the children that hung

around and as we sat on the steps I noticed the kids feet, many were shoeless and

the cracks and sores they have are unbelievable. I thought about Hope and

Benjamin and really wondered had they not been taken to the orphanage

where in Rwanda would they be or if they would even be alive. It is really hard for