It was a strange thing that happened on this first day of the week...The group from Chelsea was the first ones to church. Our group is probably not all as late as Magan tends to be often, but as a periodic "greeter", I would say we are pretty commonly right on time. But on this Sunday morning at the church up on the hill in La Cano, we were first, and made our way to the back row of the church building. There were a few men there in the back area, but when we asked Maximo where everyone was at, he told us that it had rained much of the night, and the creek rose, and people actually just couldn't make it to church that morning. So it was like the saying "If the Good Lords willing and the Creek don't rise"...well on this day, the creek rose. It was amazing to see that for the many that were there, it was predominantly men. This is very important, and something that we know that Maximo and Eduardo have been instrumental in establishing that more men need to step up and lead at church. It was not this same case when we first started attending back in 2018 and 2019. I was also excited to see Modesto, who owned the home where we poured concrete the previous year.
We all stayed together with the main group, while some songs were led, then Brandon led some songs in both spanish and english. Then me and some of the girls snuck out to help share an activity with the kids in their class, and sing some songs. I think all went well. Our lesson with the kids class "make time for Jesus" went really well (Big thanks to Ashley Rawls for prep work)! We also worked on learning books of the NT, and the 17 parts of the Bible. I have been working on my spanish for these new memory games with the kids, but there are some pronunciation issues I still have with books of the bible.
We came back to the daycare for lunch, but no one wanted PB&Js, so we walked a block to a taco place for lunch. I tried the Baleadas (bean burritos) having been told I need to try them once, and once was enough. The nachos that Belle had and shared were much better. Then we all came back to the daycare to rest.
It was super strange the previous night, and I got a picture with Davis. It was actually very cold at night. As in I was in PJ pants and a pullover. I later learned that Belle had moved to a top bunk right under the fan, being nice to allow Maddyn a bottom bunk, sweet girl. I felt bad and made sure she had my PJ pants for the next night. I also felt bad for her in that the bugs were biting her legs each night, so she was dealing with that as well.
Strangely enough, I could not rest that afternoon, so I sat down at the dining table, and ended up playing card games with Emelio and Myra. I think both of these guys became good friends. Emelio helped me out tremendously later in the week, and Myra was just the sweetest, never walking past me without a small hug. We played 9s where I explained the rules to Emelio in spanish, then let him teach Myra in much better spanish.
Then in the very middle of our game of cards, I saw Eloisa (our sponsored child) walk in, and we ran to each other for a big hug, which was great, but then I looked down to see that sweet cutie of a sister also running towards me for a big hug. There are plenty of moments in life you wish you could capture on repeat to experience them again, and that was one of those sweet moments. They had come with their brother Kelvis, and this was our first time meeting him. He was also very kind, but you could tell a little stand offish. Also, he was in a hurry to get back home, so I hollared for Belle and Davis so we could grab a quick picture, and then told them I could not wait to see them later in the week at the sponsored kids night.
That evening we attended the church in town at El Pino, and repeated much of the same process as we did that morning. I want to remember that for next year, because it keeps our group together for a large portion of the service, but then gives us plenty of time for an activity, while also giving Daysi and Sindy time to cover class material they would normally provide. The kids seemed to enjoy the 17 parts of the bible because of the hand motions, but the books of the bible is still catching on...probably because of the horrible pronunciations trying to fit them into the english tune.
And finally after a long long day, we got an opportunity to facetime Magan and Ruby. Did I mention I did not get a nap? Well, I was beat, and while not angry, Davis and Belle said it was getting close to "Mac N Cheese O'clock", which seems to be my time to go to bed. First of all was a dad failure listening to Ruby tell me about her great day selling stuff at the Chelsea Farmer's market. My response should have been "That is great", but instead it was questions about profit margin, and ensuring that she is not spending too much on supplies. Puke, sorry, bad dad moment Ruby. Then Mom and Ruby got together to tell us a long long story (Bless them both, but they are one in the same in how they frame and tell a story, looping in random nuggets of info that may not be needed) about Ruby getting lost at Sams. I really tried to follow it, but then looked up to see Belle and Davis just cracking up! They had taken a picture of me listening to the story, and well, I will be nice and just say it was time for me to go to bed. Oh well, Magan and Ruby forgave me for my bored look, but then Magan told one more story...that of course went on and on...but this one (Camera was not working while trying to get pictures of Sam and Noel) seemed to be heading towards a camera issue that she magically fixed at the last moment and made everyone happy...but then she could see I was bored and she just ended the story...with Anabelle and me actually wanting to know what happened. "Oh, batteries in the camera were dead"...hahahaha, no one will laugh at this later, but Belle and I will remember and I think we can laugh at this later because it was such a build up for the "Oh, it just needed power" ending, that we cracked up laughing even retelling it to each other the rest of the week. This may have been our only facetime all week, but really every day was so busy and MacNCheese Oclock hit early almost every night, so I would collapse on my bed to pass out.
But it was a perfect day of rest. And Daisy already gave me an idea for the activity next year, so I guess that will get started soon. And just so I will remember when I look at this next year, Eduardo's mother-in-law and father-in-law were both not well this week, so he was helping with them alot, so I did not get to visit as much with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment