Ni River Update

Last night was another late one so I apologize for being a day behind.

We spent yesterday morning working at Hannah´s Home. We´ve gotten a LOT done there and have before and after pictures to prove it. While we were scraping, painting, varnishing, and knocking out concrete pillars, three of the kids who had previously lived at Hogar de Ninos came by to help. John David and his sisters Erika and Cynthia were at Hogar when some of us were here before, so it was good to see that they are still in the area and helping out ChildReach. They worked right along beside us all morning and had lunch with us.

We worked at Hannah´s Home until 2, then got packed up to go do an afternoon session of VBS in a nearby village. We went across the street and picked up the kids at Hogar to take with us. It´s always good to see them! I don´t think many of them had been on a bus before and they were very excited. A few of them wanted to hang out of the windows while we were on the way b-c the air felt so good (and believe me, it was HOT again yesterday) but we had to pull them back in.

VBS (vacation Bible school) is not the same here as at home. We got off the bus in the village we were serving, split up into 4 groups (the kids from Hogar went with us) and went door to door to tell everyone that we would have VBS in the park in the middle of town. I was feeling a little worried b-c I didn´t see many kids around, but at the appointed time kids came pouring out of homes and shops in droves. The local pastor offered to let us hold the VBS in his church since it was so hot, so it was nice to have a shady area. It´s hard to be exact b-c there was a lot of moving around, but I counted around 75 kids packed into the church once we got started. We did some songs, a Bible story, prayer, craft, and game with the kids and I think it was a big success! It was hot and dusty but seeing the kids come out during part of their afternoon free time to hear about Jesus was very inspiring. I caught myself getting all leaky around the eyes again. : ) We will be visiting another village this afternoon and reaching more children.

After VBS, we dropped off the Hogar kids, went back to Ola Grande for a quick shower and change of clothes, got a bite to eat, and went to church in El Salvador. The service started at 8 and went on for 2 1-2 hours. You would think everyone would be exhausted at that time (the Americanos certainly were!) but it was still an enthusiastic, uplifting service. We are looking forward to working at Hannah´s Home today and holding another session of VBS.

Please keep praying for us! We´ll see you soon!


amy