Our first day in Campamento began with some excitement for
Belle, as when she placed her feet on the floor beside her bed, her feet were
in a puddle, and that puddle extended completely beneath her bed.
Fortunately, the girls had a little more room than the boys, and she had
placed all of her clean clothes on the top bunk, and after removing her
clothes, she sent the suitcase in to stay in the boy room. So, she
just had some old clothes under the bed, which were all now completely
soaked. We found out that there was a clogged water drain outside
that apparently with the rain on that first night came into the room.
Crisis averted, and we all were downstairs to see the kids
starting to arrive at day care early that morning. I am always a
little hesitant at first, but the kids are so excited when new groups are
there, because there are many many people to play with. My friend
Yeni told me that I should come on into the jaula (room but translated almost
like cage, haha). And I did and had the best time hanging out with
some little friends for awhile. Ashley came in and wanted to sing
some songs with the kids, and I helped he with Cristo Mi Ama (Jesus loves me)
and Esta Lucecita (This little light of mine). Belle, Sarah Beth,
and Linley also quickly became friends with these sweet kids.
Donny came in looking for volunteers to help him get the
trucks ready with the seats on them for the week, and me, Davis and Andrew
volunteered. Fortunately, the seats were over at Carlos (YuYo)
home, so we got to visit with him for just a little bit. Carlos is
one of the best mechanics in the city, and a super awesome guy, but he was busy
this week, so this was the only time we got to see him. Then we
loaded up with the Wasner family for our first school visit to Coyol.
This school is the farthest one away from Campamento, and a very bumpy
ride. But it was a joy to see those kids again when we got off the
trucks.
Before we got started, the school there had some of the
children perform some songs and dances for us, and for their parents that were
visiting on this day to hear Maximo and Eduardo preach. One little
boy read the story of David and Goliath from the Beginner Bible that I
use. He read it in really good English. And in a
strange twist, he then sang a song for us in English...Katy Perry's
"Firework". I don't really understand this song
selection, but he did it well. After some dance demonstrations with
some girls in beautiful dresses, they turned it over to us for our skit we had
prepared.
I had taken "The Good Samaritan" story from the
beginner bible, and wrote it in a manner that could mostly be acted out while I
narrarated in Spanish. And we had practiced one time the previous
week, so we just rolled with it as we had it. Many of the church
had come together on a work day to draw and paint all of the backdrops for this
skit, and they really did well. Then Jonathan Bailey was the Lawyer
testing Jesus played by Sam. Brandon Rawls was the best person for
the role of the Jewish man, as he hammed it up when our trio of girls (robbers
- ladrones) beat him up and took all of his stuff. Brandon cried
out Ayudame (Help me). Scott Vinsant was our priest, then Ashley
Rawls the helper of the temple, and finally Davis was the Samaritan that
stopped to help Brandon. Another sure laugh was his donkey (Cash)
and all loved it when they put Brandon on the donkey to take him to the
inn. Our innkeeper was Brooke, and the rest made sure the backdrops did
not blow over. In the end, we brought the 3 people back out to let
the kids decide "Who was the neighbor to the man" and all cheered for
"Numero 3", the Samaritan.
Next was a little nervous for me in leading the songs, as I
love to do this with the kids, but have always had the awesome Sonja Angell to
lead these in the past. The Angell family was not able to join us,
so I had been practicing these songs for weeks. Our routine of songs
seemed to always start with Brandon leading "I'm in the Lords Army"
(Se Que Soldado Soy), then I took over with "Down in my Heart" (Yo
Tengo Gozo), then the kids favorite Hay Tomentas, which is about when there are
storms, we are weak, so we must hold onto Gods power. This song is
fun because after each verse, you get more and more fast. I then
would slow us down for Esta Lucecita, and finally we ended with ChuChuWa.
I really loved this singing portion with the kids, because I get to watch
them light up with smiles. And I even got some of the parents and
teachers to join in with many of the songs, with one dad leading a whole
section in ChuChuWa.
After this section, we separated from the Adults, and while
they enjoyed a lesson, we took the kids around to the rooms for some activities
and games. The Bible Match game was a big hit again, and
afterwards, I tried out the 17 Bible Period game, which worked because Gabriel
was there to help me with some translation issues, and got a couple of other
kids interested. I think this would work better limiting it to only
8 to 10 periods. Sam got the Bible Drill going as well.
I also laughed after getting some laughs from the kids. I
always do my joke where I pretend to be an artist drawing them, yet when they
see it, it is just stick figures. One girl wanted to draw me, and
when I saw it, I said, hey, that is good, looks like I have been working
out. And no lie, another girl said no, I can draw him better, and
she did that second picture below that had me looking like some weird wolf
man. hahaha.
At one point, I saw a young girl that looked very familiar,
then she introduced herself as Oneyda Avila's (one of our church sponsored
girls) sister. And I quickly flashed back to last year's sponsor
night and remembered her other sister as well. She told me that her
father was there, and I had never met him, so I went around the building and
chatted with Santos Avila for a bit. He was a really nice man, and
you could tell those kids loved their padre. After telling them
bye, I went back to the front and realized I almost missed out on lunch, which
would be consistent all week...chinese...fried rice and lo mein...every day at
the schools...there is a reason I have not had any since back in the
states.
At the school, we divided up three sets of food and
toiletries into backpacks to carry along a trail for a hike to some families
homes. And fortunately Sam brought an extra water bottle for me, as
I had forgotten mine back at the daycare, and I am glad he remembered, as this
was a long and painful hike. And really no matter how painful or
long it was, It really was not that bad other than the lack of water.
I was more concerned for Belle, and Keri Pena and Denise Vinsant, but
they made it to the first house, which ended up being my ChuChuWa dad that
danced with all the kids. We shared some laughs when I saw
him. His name was Santo Mesa Flores, and had a bunch of kids.
His oldest was one of the teachers at Coyol. After that visit, we
continued up the hills, climbing to where these kids come from their homes each
day to school. We passed by my old friend from last year's home,
Cecilio Mesa, but did not get to stop by...instead I gave his son who was
walking with us some little toys and told him to tell his dad Hi for me.
We made it to what I thought was the end of the trail and end of our
hike, but it was only about halfway. At this point, we had to pass
around a GIANT bull that was in the path protecting some cows. I
think it was at this point, we stopped for a little rest, and belle and I were
at our last drops of water, thinking all was over. Then we
continued further up. The second home, we delivered some food and I
got to play with the kids a bit more at each home. I always try to leave
them some toys and trinkets. I was mad at myself for forgetting the
punch balloons in my suitcase back at the daycare. At right before
we got to the last home, I saw a familiar face, big smile and wave...It was
Oneyda's house, and her sister was waving. So I got to see where
they lived, and visit for a short time again. Oneyda was not at
home as she was in school.
And finally we got up to the last home to drop off some
items, then return back down to the field where I thought we would end.
Denise and Keri has stopped there, and not come with us to these two
houses. I was also happy on this first day that my 1 hour a week
learning and speaking spanish seemed to have been working, as I understood a
lot more this year, and also learned that if I could initiative conversations
with people, I could usually stay in the conversation pretty well, as I had the
context in mind. On this long hike, I was able to chat with Sindy
and Ceci, Dana and Eduardo. Oh yeah, did I mention the heard of goats that ran past us on the trail...
Me and Sam and
Davis reminisced about the previous year completing a very shortened version of
his hike in a complete heavy rainstorm. And I think Davis found the spot
for this first picture, and I looked around quickly and we were all
together...which was difficult on this trip at the schools. I
almost never saw Davis it seems at the schools as we were always doing different
things.
Back at the field, they had a large igloo of water, that
Belle and I quickly used to fill up our water bottles. Everyone did
great on this hike though, and I was proud of all that even tried a portion of
it. Back at the Daycare that night, I am sure they fed us well, but
we were all just beat. It was a very hard first day, and even with
the 32 Texas people also arriving that evening, we all went to bed with no
issues. Cold Water shower, no problem...No Pressure shower, no
problem. Just get me in the bed! Good Night Moon!
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