Wednesday Food Crew -- Humbled and grateful and truly happy

Humbled and grateful -- those are usually the two emotions that our food crew teams report back with after they've delivered food and a modest number of household items for cleaning to the homes we visit in Maneadero. They also often remark in the wake of their visit to these homes how surprisingly happy and gracious the people are even though they have so little compared to us. Slowly...we're beginning to realize something we've always been told, something we've always known but that now is real to us because we've actually experienced it for ourselves and there's no more powerful a lesson than real life. Slowly...we're understanding that true happiness is independent of circumstances, that things can't make us happy, that they don't define, that sometimes the things that we count as blessing are obstacles to the real happiness we seek. And if that knowledge and understanding is the only souvenir we come home with from this trip. We will be truly blessed, indeed. Lord knows.

 

Wednesday Morning -- Pressing on and not growing weary

Today, we continued the third day of the routine that's been established for the week --  morning devotional, breakfast and then we divide up to work at the home with the children with puppets and games and activities or break up to take part in one of the work crews -- the kitchen renovation crew, house building crew or food distribution crew. After three days, we're a bit weary. The constant activity and long days, staying upbeat for the kids and stepping up to serve whenever and wherever there is a need for the children or our group has all begun to take a bit of a toll on the team. But parents, you'd be proud of this team. They pushed through and kept on going. And we hope to bring some of this enthusiasm and energy and spirit and love of service home with us. Because as Skid likes to say, this trip isn't about one week. This one week is a huddle to prepare us for 51 more weeks of service. Parents, family, friends, members of North Boulevard, we hope you see a difference. And that we and you do not grow weary in doing good for at the right time we will see the harvest.... 

Our July 11th devotional if you're joining us.... We apologize in the delay since we last posted. We hope you'll pick up the devotional with us where we last left off.

Thank you to our amazing kitchen crew. You spent most all of your time preparing our meals and didn't have as much of a chance to play with the children and experience all of the interactions in Maneadero and blessings of the many activities. Instead, you worked so that we could enjoy those things and we thank you for your sacrifice and service. The food was fantastic...making it difficult to explain to our families and friends how it is we gained weight while on a mission trip....

 

 

 

Tuesday Skit — A cultural exchange of two wonderful performances

Tonight we were treated to two performance -- the regularly scheduled skit and a surprise treat. More about the surprise in a minutes. Instead of doing individual skits each night, years ago, Skid decided that our week of skits would be one story divided up into four nights.  Tonight, the plot intensivifies. The Circo de Ole looses one of its leading performers -- the male half of the Flying Salinas. He wants to be paid for his talent and to be part of a more talented circus and so he leaves to seek his fortune with the self-centered Circo Siniestro. But all is not doom and gloom. A hippo and giraffe discover each other and romance as they perform a stirring version dance of Rewrite the Stars. It's followed by a song that stands as a moving anthem for all the tired band of misfits that make up the Circo de Ole and represents most of our lives and situations as our own bearded lady Addison performs This Is Me. To see all of the songs, dances and plot twists for yourself watch these segment of our week-long show by following this link: Part 3 of our Skit. 

Now about the second performance.... At the conclusion of our skit, we were treated to a surprise performance by a flamenco dancing company. They were incredible. But the real surprise wasn't the excellence of the performance.... It was the identity of the performers... They were all from The City of Children. We were blown away. It took us several minutes to recognize them but we quickly realized their talent. What a truly incredible night. And, once again, as it's been all week long -- we received far more than what we gave. Thank you, ladies. Thank you, City of Children. And, thank you, Jesus Christ that we can celebrate the hope that is within us all with laughter and singing and dancing. Life is good. Because God is God.