Day Two of our Winter Bible School (as our kids renamed it) was focused on how Jesus is our life. Our team of boys were ready to go (and the puppets were ready too!).
Our girls were pumped up as well! A couple of days of housing building is better than any fitness center.
Gabrielle did a great job as the mascot today - Rosa the Rabbit. Gabrielle has been invaluable with her grasp of the language... helping us through customs in the morning when a Mexican Border Crossing agent came onto our bus to find out what we were doing. The colonae kids have loved her as well -- some giving her the nickname "Chili."
The adults were ready to love on the colonae kids as well. Bill did a great job, coming up with an unplanned lesson using a mirror to tell the kids that the "person in the mirror is special and loved by God".
The kids were fascinated and full of giggles... why?
Well - have you ever seen Diana teach? She cannot speak Spanish - but you would not have been able to tell by the way the kids were laughing and following her lesson. Seeing Diana mimic a thunderstorm is something that should not be missed!
The songs, the stories, the face to face time were huge for the kids.
Simple things mean so much to these kids. A little boy was standing off to the side, frowning, and not involved. Shayne had a bottle of bubbles, went over to the boy and showed him how to blow bubbles. A few minutes later this picture was taken...
The end of the time involved a scene I wish we had been able to capture as a picture. The camp we are staying at in Texas has a large orange grove around it, and the camp is partially funded by selling these oranges. We bought several bags of oranges to give away to the kids. These oranges were almost grapefruit sized and bright orange in color. When the kids left the church after the WBS, they all ran down the streets holding their craft for the day and these oranges. You would have thought that they were made of gold, or very delicate like an egg the way the kids held them.
Tonight our discussions included how we take many things for granted at home. Fresh fruit for us is a given, or something easily purchased. But a single orange to these kids -- an amazing gift.
Our team has changed since the start of the trip. Everyone is much more relaxed. Many of our cares, our burdens seem to have disappeared. We are tired in the morning, tired in the afternoon, yet strangely energized when we are at the colonae. The shock of poverty is still real, but we are able to step past it faster each morning to interact with the families we meet. Our own kids are making friends with the kids on the street -- everyone knows who two colonae boys (Santiago and Guelliermo) are, and can tell you about conversations they shared and games they played together. The impromptu games of soccer are providing humor and fun each day.
The families are far more receptive, as well. Our family at site 1 greets us all with hugs, handshakes, and their yard is open to us. While our time with the family at site 2 was limited today, they continue to venture out to us and the dad, Bulmaro, played his violin today for Jim, Heidi, Michael and Paul.
On the drive in this morning, someone commented on how strange it was that in the midst of the poverty and homes built out of cobbled supplies, that there would occasionally be a really nice home... perhaps even one that looked complete and finished. It made me think about how the towns might have looked in the time of the New Testament. I am sure that the majority of people were living in cobbled together homes, barely making enough money from hard work to feed their families. But every town would likely have had a few wealthy people in it... an government or Roman official, a tax collector, or some other person of status.
Jesus talked about how difficult it was for a rich man to make it to heaven because of how hardened their heart could be. He said that people who put their life's effort into attaining possessions would only find that they had lost their life and entrance to His Kingdom for eternity. This was a strange thought because it seemed by logic that those with money, success, and position in this life would have the same status in the next. Jesus' statement was radical... how could a poor man be closer to God? If this was true, why did God not favor the poor man in this life as well? Perhaps the poor man did something to offend God, or had to work hard to regain God's favor. And yet Jesus said the opposite was true.
We pray tomorrow to have the opportunity with the kids and families to share Jesus' love for them in a real way. I would believe that they see us and think we have it all together like the rich man in Jesus' story. While we may have material possessions they can only dream of, we are just as poor, dirty and opposed by our own sin. We have only been lifted out of spiritual poverty by Jesus' free gift of salvation. Tomorrow we hope to clearly explain this profound truth to our new friends. And we pray that they will accept not only the free gift of a new house, but more importantly, the free gift of salvation that comes in belief in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
God's Blessings to you -
-MJ
