With a visit to the feeding center in Sabaneta, VBS in Cantarranas, and a church service in Suyapa, Tuesday was incredibly busy. We started the morning off by setting up for the first day of VBS to be held that afternoon. It was a Grand Prix theme with many of the decorations and supplies used for a pine wood derby.
The cars we used were a blessing in and of themselves! Last year we ordered and took with us about 100 pre-cut cars, but we ran out when more than 300 kids showed up. This year we had roughly 400 hand-made pine race cars that were donated for our trip. These were not ordered over the Internet or out of a catalog, but hand-made as a ministry by one of the men from our church.
Having everything set up for VBS that afternoon, around 10 am or so we loaded back up in the trucks and headed to the village of Sabaneta. Halfway up the mountainside sits one of the churches under Pastor Wilson’s care; beside it, the feeding center that was completed in the past year. What a blessing to see the finished building and so many children that will benefit from it!
As in most places we visited, we distributed many more flip-flops, clothes, and goodie bags for the kids. We made balloon animals and just enjoyed seeing all the smiling faces. We also had a church service with the children, parents, and other adults that showed up at the feeding center while we were there. Our group sang in Spanish and English and the children from the feeding center also sang.
It was a real blessing to be able to worship with fellow believers in another language. Pastor Wilson speaks very little English, but you can tell by his enthusiasm the passion he has for Christ and his compassion for the people of his country. Before leaving, we set up a piñata for the kids and it was clearly evident that a child’s love for candy is universal! You could tell by their excitement how grateful they were that we had come to visit!
We left Sabaneta around 2pm and had to be back to the feeding center in Cantarranas before the first day of Bible School at 3pm. Wow, what a turnout! We used every one of the 400 + wooden race cars that we brought and it was just enough. There were scores of parents that also showed up. The room where we had VBS was roughly 40 ft x 60 ft and we packed almost 600 people in there with no air conditioning, but there was a really good breeze blowing through the big open windows. As I think about it now, with the excitement in the room and seeing all the fun the children were having, we didn’t really notice the heat at all.
To keep some sort of order, we had the boys sitting on the floor on one side of the room and the girls sitting on the other side of the room with an isle between them – the youngest ones in the front. We had songs, Bible lessons, puppets, and games for most of the time. About halfway through, we passed out all the wooden race cars and colored markers so the boys and girls could decorate them. They had a blast doing this and some of them were really creative!
At the end, we passed out candy as they were leaving, which was quite an interesting task in and of itself! Imagine 400 children rushing toward the door to get candy and trying to use only a few words of Spanish to control the mass exodus toward our very brave team members distributing the candy! We did have a few on the team that spoke Spanish, but they could not be everywhere at once. It was wild and crazy, but we enjoyed every minute of it!
Tuesday evening we were able to go with Pastor Wilson back to the village of Suyapa to join in their weekly church service. This time we took with us all of the food bags that we assembled on Saturday and a piñata for the children. What a sweet time we had with the people that evening during the service.
The church service we had with them is not quite what we consider “church” back in the states. If you remember from my description of our first visit to Suyapa on Sunday when we showed the movie, these people do not have a building to worship in. We were all gathered underneath some large trees, along a one lane dirt road with barbed wire fences on either side. The neat part about it was that just behind one of the fences is the piece of land that was recently purchased so that a church can be built! It almost felt like a dedication service for that small piece of land the Lord has blessed them with. Mark Andrews from Providence preached and Tim Posey translated for him. Pastor Wilson also led the people in songs and again, I was truly humbled by the passion and sincerity of His love for God.
After the service, we strung up Dora the Explorer in a tree. No, not a person, the piñata we brought looked like Dora the cartoon character. To me, it was somewhat comical, but since this village is too poor to have TV, I doubt the boys and girls in this village have ever even seen the Dora cartoon. They were mainly interested in all the candy that was stuffed inside!
Before leaving, we were able to pass out the food bags that we had assembled earlier in the week. From what I understand, this is a crucial part of establishing a church here. These food bags, which will feed a family for a week, let the people know that they are cared for, loved, and more than just numbers on a report. It showed that their physical needs are just as important as their spiritual needs.
As I sit here and write this, back at home, back in the comfort and bounty that I have taken for granted so many times in the past, I cannot help but think – who will help feed these people next week or two weeks from now or next month? What more can my family do to help meet the physical and spiritual needs of those less fortunate? Not just in exotic places around the world, but right here at home also.
Arriving back in Cantarranas that night, our day was not yet finished. There were 400 race cars that needed wheels put on them. That's 1600 axles and wheels that had to be hammered in by hand! To our dismay, there was only one hammer in a toolbox at the feeding center so we reverted to times of old and used rocks, the floor, a table, whatever we could find to hammer the 4 axles and wheels into the cars. I can only imagine what was going through the mind of anyone passing by the feeding center that night. It must have sounded like we were building The Ark!
No comments:
Post a Comment