Yes, it's always a race to the finish on the house project by Wednesday. I mean, we're raising a house in three days. Pretty amazing. Of course, here in the States we'd think of the modest structure as more of shed than a house. Still. It's all complete in three days. We've also prided ourselves on being free of lost-time accidents at the construction site.
We did finish the house in time. We even had enough time to build a ramp at the front door since the head of the household is in a wheelchair. It was our first house ever with a ramp. Unfortunately, it was also our first time to have a serious accident at the construction site.
While cutting with an electric saw, our team member Jerry accidentally had the saw blade brush the back of his hand while blade was still turning. It was an extremely serious cut that required stitches. But thank the Lord because it could have been even more serious. Jerry went to the hospital for stitches and then received additional care back The City from the medical personnel who were on our trip. The injury kept Jerry off his drywall stilts and also kept him from playing the world's tallest man in the skit. (But it didn't keep him grounded for the lip dub!)
The children really loved Jerry's character. You might even say...they looked up to him. And so do we. Please join us in continuing to pray for Jerry's hand and that he'll have a complete recovery without any lasting damage.
The final night of the show. You may have noted the talent villains who star at the Circo Siniestro are always masked while the lackluster performers of the Circo de Ole are unashamed to show themselves. Masks were a theme for the week and the thought that we worship when we take off our masks before God and admit who really are and how much we are in need of Him. It's a thought that began the week with Skid's sermon -- click on this reminder from Sunday -- if you'd like to see. And so we end our week-long skit series as we began the week, with a story about masks.
Circo Siniestro is about to put the Circo de Ole out of business. The evil ringmaster at the Circo Siniestro has distributed masks to all the children at The City of Children so that they will fall under his spell. The the performers of the Circo de Ole discover there's a collector looking to obtain masks at any price. The good ringmaster Leonardo Flamazos (named after Skid's two favorite Ensenada restaurants) unveils a plan to save the good circus. He will collect all of the children's masks and sell them to the mysterious collector.
We were actually a bit worried, since the children had labored over their masks as part of a craft project and were quite proud of them, that they might not eagerly surrender there masks as part of the show. We needn't have been concerned. As soon as the good ringmaster made the decision and rolled out a wheelbarrel to collect them, the children came forward out of the crowd, one after the other, surrendering their masks. It was a poignant moment made even more poignant when Karla was the last to surrender her mask.
The mysterious collector -- a character who had been lurking on the edge of the stage all week -- makes himself known and sacrifices everything to pay for the masks. The money is enough for the show to go on. But wait, the evil ringmaster has a change of heart. He and the good ringmaster once were part of the same circus. And so, the two circus join together and promise the audience that they'll be treated to The Greatest Show in Mexico.
This final chapter of our skit featured the evil ringmaster (Sam) lip-dubbing the song From Now On as he goes through his change of heart and concludes with a rousing performance of The Greatest Show.
It was fun to wear crazy costumes, bring to life some pretty ridiculous circus performers and lip dub to songs from The Great Showman. We definitely saw some smiles on the chidren's faces, made a point about wearing masks and coming clean about your true self in Christ. We hope we put a smile on God's face, too, seeing his children, young and old, at play at The City of Children.
Last day, last day, last day to play with puppets, for ladies classes, soccer and nine square on the plaza. But the friendship and the faces, catching a glimpse of Jesus laughing in the eye of young child that will linger on in our memories, inspire us to service for the next 51 weeks and, Lord willing, be rekindled next year. We love this place because we love who we are here. Thank you City of Children.
