Our first day in the schools was also at my very favorite school to attend, Coyol. The Coyol community is a long drive from the city, and prior to CRF focusing groups on this school, it was a struggling area where many of the kids ended school in the 2nd and 3rd grade, and then the young girls would shortly afterwards become moms. CRFs focus on that area, and providing more educational opportunities, and providing transportation opportunities into the city, has been successful in that the school had their first 3 students graduate from high school 3 years ago. And young ladies like our Oneyda Avila will finish high school in the spring, while also learning skills in computers, hair cutting and sewing. While the opportunities are still rare, there are now open doors that were never open before.
Remembering last year and the long hike, I knew we had to remember the extra bottles of water, so I made sure those were in the truck, but unfortunately when we got to the school I had forgotten the actually cooler, and we later remembered that we forgot the teacher gifts. But it was a perfect first day other that those few things. We stopped at the lookout where we always get a picture each year. Our skit went really well, having only practiced a couple of times.
The skit this year was "Miracles of Jesus" and we started at the home of Mary and Martha with that story, then had Jesus visiting the home of Jairus, then passing some lepers, and finally returning to the home of Mary and Martha to raise Lazarus. I was the narrator, Davis played Jesus, Belle played Mary, Linley was Martha, and Andrew was Lazarus. For the next scenes, we had Brandon playing Jairo, and Lauren playing his daughter (altho Savannah had to sub in on this day, since lauren was feeling sick), Sarah Beth, Ashley, and Maddyn were our lepers. And Jonathan and Elizabeth were our disciples. So while few in number, everyone had big roles and they all did great. Even the set up team, which was all of those same people did amazing getting backpacks latched onto all of our backdrops quickly to ensure they they did not blow over.
After the skit, we did our songs for the first time, and I think I led all of them on this day, but quickly turned most over to the girls on the second day, and Brandon led "I'm in the Lord's Army". My favorite is "Hay Tormentas (There are Storms)" where we go slow at first, then the kids keep requesting we go faster and faster. I have found that we can step it up about 3 times after the first time, and it always gets a laugh. But we always have to end with ChuChuWa.
Coyol each year has had several improvements in the area behind the school, where it is now fully covered large area. It also has a huge table that fit all of the children of the school, so that we could do some activities centered around the Mary/Martha story. Elizabeth Bailey put together three fun activities (A fold up coloring sheet, a popsicle stick Lazarus, and a fortune teller fold that asked questions about the story).
Everything went really well, and I was so excited to visit with another of Oneydas sisters, Helen, and one of her brothers. I also immediately got a big hug from Oneyda's dad Santos when we arrived. They are a family of 8 and absolutely my favorite to visit with. After the activities, I started the Bible Drill area, and had a good crowd, that really did well racing each other to see who was fastest to different parts of the bible. One of the joys is to see them close their eyes and open directly to Psalms, or Matthew, or 1 Samuel, their big smiles and wide eyes are like they have stumbled upon a little magic. Later I watched three little boys walk over to my three big drill bibles and start the game on their own, while one called out the book. Boom, I loved it! They also love love the bible match game cards, and you can tell if these cards are still around, I don't know how they make it with us playing in the dirt, on the grass, ont he concrete, wherever, but they are still holding up. For next year, I did limit the players to 4, which helped tremendously on the crowd management around this game.
Next we were about to help feed all of the kids and their parents (Eduardo preached a lesson to the adults while we were doing our drama, activities, and games. I always put off the food till last so I can squeeze in as much time with the kids and parents as I can. I got a flashlight to three of my favorite dads Santos Avila (Oneyda's dad), Santos Mesa (Oneyda's uncle, and I call him the "Father of ChuChuWa" for being the one dad last year to dance along with us), and Cecilio Mesa (a dad I first shared a conversation with in 2019 when we delivered mattresses to his house). And little Helen was my tagalong everywhere I went, which was no problem to me.
Next we divided up food for two families, and to get to these families, we had to go on a long hike. I first wanted to visit Cecilio Mesa's house because I had not gotten to see him at the school, so we planned to visit him first, but I remembered the family at the top of the hill that seemed isolated, and I wanted to visit them again (The Estradas). Many of the families at the school took the same hike up the mountain that we were taking as they also did this every day. So we hopped on the trail with these families, including the Avilas, so Helen held my hand all the way up...always pointing out the "sombra" (shade) as a place to rest.
Helen also went over to Belle for a while and also to Davis to ride on his shoulders, and one time just giggled while she swung between me and Davis. At Cecilios house we again found that the fidget spinners, punch baloons and baby dolls were big hits. Just past Cecilios, we arrived at Helen's house, her parents had just left her with us, and at their home, their mother (Reyna) got me to follow her out to the tree next to their house that produces a really sweet fruit. It is one of the few things I do try, and I have eaten quite a few because they have a good mildly sweet flavor. Knowing I like that fruit, Reyna had brought me a small bag earlier in the day to the school, and loved showing me her tree where she got them from.
After we left their house, Helen just kept on coming with us at least until we made it to a small farm, where she finally had to return home. Our journey continued through grass over my waist. I was glad I had pants on, but hoping for no poison ivy for the others in our group with just shorts on. But finally we made it up to the Estrada's for a quick visit. While at both of these homes we got pictures of their families and were able to print them with the wireless printers so they could keep them in their home.
It was a long long day, we had to return to the farm area, and travel in the truck back into town. There was some cards going on that night, but I was tired and ready for a shower and sleep. And it may have been on this night, but I had been hearing rumors of a hot shower, and it finally happened. For the first time in all 6 years, they had hot water in the showers. Honestly the cold showers are not that bad after the heat of the day, but it did feel pretty good. And every day this year, we had full water pressure. So, no complaints on the showers and bathrooms on this trip.
.jpeg)
No comments:
Post a Comment