Day 1 Stories

Howdy folks.  I gave you the basic breakdown of what happened earlier.  Since then we have learned patience yet again.  Our dinner did not arrive until an hour and a half after it was supposed to.  The food was good but we were definitely glad it was there when it finally arrived.  Now for some specific stories.

Christine's story - The bus pulled into the batey with the VBS crew after having gotten lost on the way. The crew was always hanging out the windows seeing what they could see.  As soon as the kids caught sight of Christine, they started yelling "Chino, Chino".  They were quick to notice that she was Asian and apparently they hadn't seen that before.  She quickly gained quite an audience.

Zach's story - Shortly after the construction crew began our work, a little boy started asking Zach what his name was.  From then on, he had friends.  The boys that hung around us were always calling to him and wanting to talk to or play with him.  The most entertaining moment came when the little boys started playing with Zach's hair and he didn't kill them.  Mendy has a video to prove that he actually let them do it.

Traci's story - A little girl's hand found Traci's hand.  She looked intently at the paleness of her skin but held closely to her hand.  It was a special moment for them both.

Mckenzie's story - Upon arriving at the construction site, we were told to put our stuff inside the church.  A lady was mopping the floor and her young daughter was standing around.  Mckenzie wanted to take her picture with the girl so I asked and she smiled large and nodded.  The picture is adorable and I will post it later when I can.

General VBS story - The group had a tough time communicating but thanks to the translators, they had a great time.  They handed out toothbrushes and toothpaste, played fun games, did some crafts, and had the children sing songs for them.  I believe lots of eyes were opened.  There are pictures of children with clothes literally hanging off because they were so worn.  Bailey said that he had never had more fun.  All the others were very moved too.

General construction story - The group spend most of the day working to move a rock/dirt pile from one place to another.  It was hot and backbreaking work but everyone cheerfully pitched in.  We had an audience of young boys who wanted to play with our guys and take pictures with our girls.  We moved quite a bit of block as the masons were laying them into the wall.  We had stopped work and were waiting for the bus to return when a truck load of cinder blocks came in.  With no complaints, gloves went back on and we unloaded and stacked well over 1000 blocks.

Life is different here but God is the same.  Tomorrow we will worship in places that we will not understand the language but in a place that we have already seen God.

Tonights group time focused on Matthew 9:27-31.  We talked about the fact that Jesus told the blind man that he would be healed according to his faith.  May we have faith this week to continue to have our eyes opened to God.

Goodnight.