Thursday Update

"You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house" Acts 20:20

When we came here only a few days ago, we came with a plan. That plan included teaching, or "preaching" publicly; what we didn't expect was the chance to go "house to house" - or "casa a casa".

Previous groups who have been to the orphanage have primarily used the school classrooms for for their activities with the children. Since the second floor of the school is still under construction, we had planned to use mostly outdoor areas. One of the wonderful surprise blessings has been the invitation to go into the casas to interact with the children.

Kathy, joined by different team members, has gone to 10 of the casas in the past two days to tell the "legend of the candy cane", sharing the salvation message through the symbolism in the candy cane. The children have had many, sometimes difficult, questions that have shown how much they are seeking hope and truth.

After the story was finished, each child received a candy cane:

Many other team members have had the chance to share with the kids in small groups. Always, the children are full of questions. Please pray that they will find the Truth - Jesus Christ.

We're all enjoying the time with the children, who are all hungry for individual attention and affection.

Lane spent some time with the little ones:

Josey has spent a lot of her time going from house to house, speaking with them in Spanish:

Another wonderful activity that has been going on all week is training for the teachers of the school. Lori and Carol spent some time early in the week talking with the teachers, affirming them and learning what their needs are. They then spent time training the teachers and showing them how to use the teaching tools that we brought with us.

We will be leaving the teachers with many new tools and skills to help them as they work with the children.

One of the favorite activities of the kids today was receiving temporary tattoos. It was one of our favorite activities as well because it gave us the chance to interact one on one with them. We had planned to use the tattoos as part of our Friday afternoon activities. Once again, God has shown us that when He allows a disruption in our plans, it is often to accomplish His purposes. Doing this activity today worked out so well with our planned craft; the children were able to come to a separate table a few at a time to receive their tattoo, while the others worked on their craft. Each child was touched physically by one of our team members. It was a very special thing to be a part of!

Even Brother Bruce came to the table for a tattoo:

Having six of our team members stay at the orphanage has been invaluable. They have had so many more opportunities to interact with the children and share with them about Jesus and His love for them. As we left this afternoon, Nancy was sitting on the soccer field surrounded by a group of girls:

Tomorrow will be our last day at the orphanage. The children have a fiesta planned for us in the afternoon, so we're all looking forward to that. What we are not looking forward to is saying goodbye. It will be very difficult to get on the bus and leave these precious children who we have come to love. Please pray that God will be in the center of everything we do tomorrow.

Wednesday Update

Today has been another amazing day! The bible story was the story of the crucifixion. Many of the older children are asking questions about faith and what the truth is. Two teenage boys prayed to receive Christ as their Savior!

There are many stories to share, but it has been a long day, so the stories will have to wait. For now enjoy these pictures of some of our activities today and please continue to pray for the children and for us as we share God's love and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.

ESL class:

Recreation:

Crafts:

Relay race:

Rocking babies:

Tuesday Update

In yesterday’s update we reported that things didn’t go according to our plan. The main “glitch” came from the fact that we had planned to work with half of the kids in the morning, while the other half stayed in their casas, and then switch in the afternoon. We quickly found out that the house parents didn’t want half of the kids to be in their casas all morning with nothing to do. So, we made changes to our plan and some of our team members went and played and talked with the kids while they were waiting to do our planned activities.

As we share stories with each other of how we see God working, most of the stories are coming from the time spent with the kids in their homes, and not necessarily in the things we had planned. While we didn’t have those interactions in our plan, clearly God did.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result. Genesis 50:20

Here are some pictures that represent just a few of the wonderful things that happened today:

Preparing for the worship rally:

Playing frisbee:

The guys continued to do really hard work on the school; they also took some time to repair one of the basketball goals. Dick obviously enjoyed this task:

The repaired goal:

The kids participated in a dress-up relay:

All dressed up:

Bible verse puzzle:

The college group taking a break for lunch:

Tracy hanging out with some of the girls:

Heather talking with some girls as they worked on their craft:

Donna getting a Spanish lesson - the girls were telling her the Spanish words for the stickers on their craft, and she was sharing the English words with them:

Finished feet - they say Sigue a Jesus (Follow Jesus):

We cannot say enough about what a gift God has given us in our translators! Carlos is with us 24/7, staying with us at the hotel and helping us in countless ways. He has a team of translators that join us during the day and they are all wonderful! Not only do they translate for those of us who don't speak Spanish, but they also jump right in and help with the kids - playing, crafting, singing - whatever we need them to do. They are also a lot of fun to be around. Several of them went to dinner with us this evening and we had such a good time - much laughter was shared around the table. Speaking of dinner - some of our group went to a Peruvian restaurant that had some unusual offerings - such as guinea pig and goat. None of us tried either of those, but we did try Alpaca and beef heart, as well as some other amazing dishes.

Here's a picture of one of our favorite Peruvians, Carlos:

God continues to bless us abundantly - it is such a priviledge to be here to witness and be a part of the work He is doing!

Monday Update

While nothing today went quite as we had planned, things went beautifully and we enjoyed wonderful times of interaction with the children.

Several team members went in groups to play, teach, and talk with the children at their casas.

The kids loved hearing about our families and seeing pictures of them.

Playing sports:

They came to the chapel for a "worship rally". There was a time of high energy music and then Brother Bruce told the story of the calling of Peter, Andrew, James and John to be fishers of men.

A few of the children were chosen to come up on stage to act out the story, as another child retold it.

More sports:

Craft time:

The children did a wondeful job decorating their fish and impressed us with their creativity and artistic abilities.

When the fish were finished, we tied them to fish nets to be displayed in the children's casas.

Outdoor Bible activities:

While most of our team was busy with the children, three of our guys worked very hard moving sand. They carried it bucketful by bucketful to the second floor of the school, where it will be used to make cement to plaster the ceiling.

Part way through the day, two young men who live in the community outside of the orphanage came to volunteer their help. They worked very hard, and continued after we left.

It was another great day and we look forward to all that God will continue to do this week!