Saturday: We did some errand running and then Misha and Sara left to go with their group to San Vicente for the week. I stayed behind at the City of Children and waited on my group to get there. When they did, I spent some time with them while they got settled in then we went and had dinner and spent some time with the teens. After dinner and some hang out time, we went back to the rooms to get some rest before really starting the work the next day. I loved getting to see so many people that I love and have missed since I have been gone.
Sunday: We got up and got ready for church. We had service with the kids then Mario took us on a tour of the home. Now I have been on this tour about 27 times, but each time I learn something new. After the tour, we ate lunch with all the kids. I sat with Oscar, the little boy who my family and Leah sponsor. We have been sponsoring him for about a year and a half and everytime it has taken him awhile to warm up to us cause he is very shy. This time though, he sat with me at lunch and talked and gave me a picture he had drawn me. He's a really sweet kid and it made me happy to see him coming out of his shell some. After lunch we had some playtime with the kids. Once again I got to experience the feeling of walking up to a dorm and having a number of kids just shout my name or run up and hug me. There is no other feeling like it. Mike and Reba and the Thurmans sponsor Oscar's sister, Wendy, and our church sponsors a Ana, who just graduated high school this year. That afternoon we were able to get those three by themselves for a bit to give them the presents we brought them. Oscar and Wendy are both still getting used to getting so much attention and love from so many people. You could tell they were a little intimidated at first but they got better as we went along. This is where I have to brag on the group from my church. They technically don't sponsor Oscar or Wendy so really they didn't have to be there. But they have been so great about being loving and accepting of them as well. It was cool to see how close Ana was with everyone from church since we had been sponsoring her for several years and then see that process just starting with Oscar and Wendy. After presents, we got ready for VBS then had dinner. After dinner, we had VBS. My group had the younger medianas (girls from about 6-9). I translated for them and we had a great class. Then we had playtime and group devo before bed.
Monday: On Monday I translated for Reba's dorm mother's class. She did a great job with the class and the ladies really loved it. She gave them each a bag that Brian's wife, Lisa, had made and they LOVED them. Then we went and played with the babies. I love being in the baby dorm, they are so sweet and loving. Its hard to think about some of the abuse and mistreatment some of them have experienced at such a young age but its comforting to know they are at the City of Children now where they will be loved unconditionally and given everything they need. I also translated for the babies VBS on Monday afternoon. We talked about using our hands and feet to please God. We did handprints and footprints for all of the kids in the class. Monday night I translated again for the girls class and had a lot of fun doing it.
Tuesday: On Tuesday I went to El Zorrillo with a small group to help translate the house visits. I love house visits, they are probably my favorite thing to translate. Its great to watch the interaction between people in house visits. It is the one thing that really makes me feel like we are all part of a family. Tuesday night I translated for the class again.
Wednesday: Wednesday I went back to El Zorrillo to translate for the group for that day. One thing we stressed a lot this week in El Zorrillo was doing fewer house visits but really taking time to learn the story of the people who we were visiting. There was a lot of emotions on Wednesday. We visits one member whose brother is dying at a young age, one mother of 5 who was baptized on Sunday but is struggling with the relationship with her husband who is abusive and a drug addict, and Felicitaz whose husband has been unjustly imprisoned for over a year. Each of those were hard visits for me because these are people who I have come to love and I hate seeing each of them going through such a hard time. It was great to see people from the group really step up to say what they could to encourage and support our brothers and sisters. I did my best to translate in a way that conveyed their great love and concern. We had class again Wednesday night for our girls.
Thursday: Thursday we went shopping in Ensenada. It was fun because Ana got to come with us so we got to spend some extra time with her. I bought some toys to take back to Oscar (maybe Leah and I spoil him just a little :) ). We got back to the City and had playtime with the kids. I spent time with Oscar and the rest of the boys and then went to say bye to the babies. I spent a lot of time in the baby dorm this week, mainly because of Carlos. Carlos is Oscar's brother. He's 4 and has always been kind of shy with me when we have done things with for their family during our visits. However this week he was attached to me anytime I was in there. He would just sit in my lap and say my name over and over or we would look at/take pictures together on my phone and camera. Every picture he saw, he would point at each person and say, "mi amigo" (which means my friend for you Spanish slacker), it was adorable! Then it was letter writing time. Thursday ngiht we get to tuck the kids into bed and say bye to them. A lot of people like to give notes to kids who they got close to during the week. There were abotu 6 of us sitting in a room writing the letters. I was trying to help everyone at once, since they wanted to write them in Spanish. It got a little crazy but I loved it. Thursday we did a slideshow for the kids of the pictures of the week. Then we went to tuck them in. Saying bye is never an easy thing but the kids have gone from asking me IF I'm coming back to now asking me WHEN I'm coming back. After that, we had a devo and got everything packed. I stayed up pretty late talking to Lilly and Sophia and Beth, probably not a good idea looking back on it since we had to get up at 5:30 this morning but it was the last night.
I got up this morning and saw them off. It was great seeing so many people that I have loved and missed so much the past couple of weeks. And I love experiencing things like a week at the City of Children or working in Baja missions with people I love.
The leaders from the next group got in this afternoon so we spent some time with them tonight and will be heading out to get shopping done tomorrow morning and then heading to Camulu with the rest of their group in the afternoon. Please pray for the safety of the group as we travel tomorrow and the success of another week in Baja. God is alive and working here and I can't wait to see what He does next.
I wont have internet in Camulu so I will check back in probably Thursday night or Friday. Have a great week and do something nice for someone else this week :) Love you guys!
In His Service & For His Glory.
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