Saturday, February 16, 2008

My alarm went off at 6:25 a.m.. I got up - got in the shower - it felt so good - warm and plenty of good pressure! Breakfast was bacon, eggs, toast and Frosted Flakes - DE-Lish!

Next we loaded on a school bus and headed to Magdalena. The bus took us to "the crossing" and we had to walk up the hill to get to the church. It was a tough little hill - but manageable. We arrived to a long gray concrete building - with plenty of painting and tiling supplies awaiting us!

When we left that afternoon, a beautiful yellow-gold church was standing. Inside, the walls had been painted a beige color. What change a little paint can make! While most people painted - I colored posters for Bible School. One of the ladies in our group drew pictures from a children's bible for the stories we will share through the week with the children of the village. They had to be colored in. Lori, Rachel and I worked on that most of the day. We finished David and Goliath. The only bad thing was the crayons. I am a Crayola girl. These crayons were not very good - they broke easily and the colors were not accurate. We managed and the posters looked great!!!

I forgot to mention I had lunch duty - part of my job before we left the house was to help prpeare lunch for our entire crew. Jackie, Earl and Jeremy (not my brother) were also on lunch duty. We prepared 31 sandwiches of ham & cheese, turkey & cheese and PB&J. We had a few others who joined in to fill our brown bags with chips and cookies.

My lunch was a PB&J, Cheetos, an orange Fanta and cookies! Danny Irvin took a trip down the hill to the store to buy soft drinks for everyone. I must say that Orange Fanta was quite tasty!

After lunch, about 40 kids showed up for an English lesson taught by one of the young men at church. We shared the story of David & Goliath, sang songs together, used clothing to teach them the english words for hat, shirt, tie, t-shirt, pants, skirt, shoes, etc. They did extremely well! From tehre it was time to play. The kids loved our cameras and adored Kensley! I was surprised at how well I did communicating with the children! Even Lea Ann (my sister) was impressed. I was able to learn their names, ages, grades and relationships to one another. When it was time to leave, several of the girls asked if they could "take Kensley to their house to show their parents". That was so sweet. I don't guess they have an opportunity to have a playmate with strawberry blonde curly hair. I was hesitant. They promised to walk her down and bring her right back! I still said "no" so then they asked if Emily could go too. As it ended, Karen, Wendy, Emily, Kensley, Rachel, Lori and Emma all went together. Kensley and Emily were invited into the girls courtyard and met the mom and dad. They really enjoyed the experience.

All day I have fought a terrible sinus headache! After dinner of a stew with chicken and potato (which wasn't really a potato) over rice, with salad and chocolate cake, I went upstairs to lie down. My head hurt so bad that I opted out of devotion time. It is still hurting after a nap but not as severe. I don't get headaches very often - but when I do - they are usually severe! I hope it goes away very soon!

Emily and Kensley are sun burnt. Emily, Paul, Kensley, Emma and Mitch (the veterinarian in our group) walked all over Magdalena caring for animals today. I think they walked more than tended the animals. Emily, Kensley and Emma held the cows and pigs while Mitch gave them shots. They had a few other stories to tell as well! Kensley was exhausted. She did not eat dinner or even take a shower, instead, she fell asleep at about 5:30 p.m. She is still snoozing and should be ready to go in the morning. Emily said that the things she saw while with Mitch and her dad were "gross" and she hoped she never had to do that or watch that again. Don't ask - but it had something to do with a pregnant horse and the vet only had short gloves :-)

It's after midnight now and we have church tomorrow - so I must go to sleep to start anew tomorrow.