Day 4

- 2 more VBS

- paving stones, gardens and dirt, oh my!

- weeding and getting it done!

- with the pastor

- to the park

I can't tell you how great it is to see how our team has come together.  The skits get better, the songs get louder, the hugs get stronger.  It's wonderful.

Today was VBS day again.  We were able to do two VBS sessions, one with the kids from the new church again and one with the afternoon group of kids that attend Imagine Ministres school.  It is so adorable to see the group of little preschoolers.  They are so precious.  It's hard to think that these clean, nicely dressed, well-groomed kids are living in a dusty, dirty, poverty-racked town.  I appreiate the care, time and effort that someone took to make them look so nice.  It obviously shows that many of these parents are grateful for this opportunity for their children and support the education.

It was a BIG work day today too.  There were  few teams of kids and adults that especially stuck out today too.  My son, Matthew and Noah worked harder than I've ever seen them work, for hours, putting in paving stones into the new sod as a walkway.  Just FYI, each paver is about 50-60 pounds, large and round.  This was hard, dirty work and they never complained once.  On the other side of the school was the garden.  Connor and Lexi never stopped until what was at first a gravel and dirt patch was, at the end, a beautiful garden with a red brick border, nice dirt, brand new pants and even a cute caterpillar decoration.  I'll take a picture of all this today.

I have to also mention about weeding.  One of the things that can be frustrating here is when a project gets started, but cant be finished in the time we are here.  Well, Laura, with the help of some others as well, finished the weeding!!  The back garden looks so good!  And, it is so satisfying to see something completed.  Yea!

The pastor of the new church also came by for our VBS time in the afternoon. The thing that stuck out to me was his voice.  It had power in it.  When he spoke the children listened. His smile lit up the room.  His heart for the Word was there.  It was great to feel like we really were "coming alongside" the work the he is doing here.

We also went back to the park for a bit.  Some guitar playing, chalk drawing and fun with the kids.  I have to be honest and say this is why I think the kids remember us.  We spend a lot of time with them.  We know their names and they know our names.  We have watche them grow over the past three years.  We love them, pray for them and care for them.  We've shed tears for them.  Our hearts are truly with them.

Things are going well.  But, we always need your prayers:

- M'Cheyne still hurts very badly.  He can still hardly move.  Very frustrating for him.

- a couple kids got worn ut in the heat yesterday.  Prayers for continued energy.

- this is usually the point in the trip where we start to wear down, the first excitement is gone and things get 'real'.  Pray that we would love 10x as strong for the rest of the week

- some of our BEP kids are getting to the age of working out their own salvation.  Pray that this trip would allow them to do so and that God would speak to them

Hasta manyana.  Nuestros corazones estan con ustedes y no pudemos esperar cuentar les todo lo que ha pasado aqui esta semana!

Ciao!