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There’s not a much more fun way to ride around the streets of Jalapa than on a school bus that’s designed for 45, packed with 85 people. One of the other team’s bus broke down and we all had the opportunity to get quite close, literally, as we tooled around town today. We even had the police with us, so apparently we were within the bounds of the law while accomplishing such a feat.

The weather was beautiful and we had no rain today which really helped us out for our outdoor activities both in the morning and afternoon. The little kids are awesome at the daycare where we’ve been working. We’ve really been trying to love on them as much as we can while we have the opportunity to share the good news of the kingdom with the kids and their teachers. We had about 60 kids from 3-5 years old today. Stuart and Nick had the opportunity to help one of the blind children to participate with a little bit of our  soccer activity and first and later with playing the guitar. It’s was such a delight to see his smile while we played, and to hear him light up with laughter as we shared in helping him engage and feel like a part of what was happening just like all the other kids.

There are so many stories of extreme adversity that the children there are facing. One five-year-old with a little sister at the daycare had witnessed his dad murder his mom… you could literally see the weight of sadness that he carried with him, but several of our students made sure to take the time to encourage them and to help bring a smile and some fun to their day for the time that we were with them. It’s often a lot to take in as we’ve been doing ministry here in the city, but the Lord has been at work in many mighty ways to provide and to work through his Holy Spirit.

We had an injury free lunch… no basketball tournament this time. When we headed to our afternoon VBS site we were blown away to see a group of kids waiting and cheering for us when our bus rounded the corner and our site came into view. Our afternoon VBS has ballooned from 25 the first day to 55 today. We even had a few kids that we met at the daycare in the morning show up to the afternoon VBS in the neighborhood. Alyssa Easley did a wonderful job teaching the lesson of Jesus walking on water in Spanish today. It was an exciting afternoon and everything seemed to be firing on all cylinders as our group has settled into the groove of the week. As we closed out our afternoon VBS, almost everyone of our students had a couple of kids either on their lap or in their arms. Stuart held the microphone in one hand and a little girl helping him sing in the other.

Quotes of the day…

Clint Kearney says, “Woke up, ate french toast, smiled and giggled with kids, crammed into a bus, and lastly…intertwined our hearts with one another and with Jesus.” Enough said.

Jeff Dillinger says, “Just make sure you get the right water in your jug.”

Lori Dillinger’s quote of the week has been “God take me out of my comfort zone” and it’s been happening!

According to Keri Phillips, “Today we were finally organized in what we were doing. For the most part we stayed with plan “A” today, and everything went great.”

Jake Boodt’s summary of today is, “Dry.” (the weather)

Stuart Creasey says, “For a smile you can be someone’s friend, for a hug you can be someone’s best friend, and for a piece of candy you can be their girlfriend.”

Kennedy Wallace says, “The days just keep getting better.”

More quotes to come…. these were the only people I could find at the moment…