Day One-Success!

We had a great day at the orphanage today! To the left is a picture of us decorating the orphanages' chapel or capilla for the Christmas Party we threw for the children today.They had a great time. First we served them chicken (pollo y papas) box lunches furnished by Southmont Baptist Church (thank you!) which were delivered in three seperate taxi cabs. The first children were served at 12 and the last meals did not arrive until almost 1pm. But, one thing we did not account for is that the children do not begin to eat until all have been served. We were all a little stressed out over this, but the children are quite accustomed to it, and did not complain a bit while quietly sitting and staring at their lunch for almost an hour without being able to eat it!
After lunch, we had a Christmas play in the Capilla, narrated by Dr. Baldour which the children loved! We then sang songs, did crafts, then gave each child a gift consisting of a beanie baby, a hot wheel, and some candy. They were very excited about their gifts and it was so rewarding to be able to offer these gifts to them. Along with meeting dozens of children who wanted nothing more than to hug me, find out my name, and talk for a minute; I was able to spend some time in the baby house, which was a wonderful experience.
We are now preparing for an exciting day we have in store for tomorrow. We will go into the dorm rooms or casas for small group lessons. We will tell them the stories of Jesus´death, burial, and ressurrection during the next few days and will also present salvation to them.
In the afternoons we will have large group time in a VBS style program. During the same time, some of the group will be going into the city of Ventanilla outside of the walls of the orphanage to share the gospel with the neighborhood children.
This is an exciting time, so please pray for us and for the people we will be witnessing to in the next few days.
-Sherry Rettinger