Update from the Tegucigalpa side while the South Carolina group was in Comayagua
Saturday
The day started special with a devotional, led by Kevin Kline, at the Jesus statue. I do not know of a time in recent years when the team has been able to see the area in the daytime. There is a beautiful garden and peaceful places to relax that none of us knew about. It was a refreshing change to start off a very cool day.
Terry is very specific to clarify the different meanings in “orphanage” and “children’s home.” They may be used interchangeably; however, there is a significance difference in how the children are treated in the two different places. We went to a children’s home with 206 kids—WOW. At Good Shepherd, the children are shown lots of love and attention from all.
We brought 300 hamburgers and 300 cheeseburgers to have a fiesta. It was quite a site to see those eyes light up when the McDonald’s bags came out. As you can imagine, buying fast food for 206 kids is not an easy feat and rarely done. So, this was a cool surprise for them. We had a lot of fun playing for hours afterwards. Saying good-bye was sad (except for those who were secretly planning how to get these children to fit in carry-on luggage). Yet, we look forward to the next time we can be blessed by these little ones.
That night, the devotional thought was given by Matthew Vaughn. He read Acts 16 and related the history to the question of all time—What must I do to be saved? He encouraged us to live in a way so that people want to ask us that question.
Sunday
Once again, the docket was full of great fun. Today, we went to an “orphanage.” The people that run the facility are nice and kind, but they don’t relate the kids together like one large family as well as Good Shepherd does. Don’t get me wrong—they are great with the kids. There is just a slightly different environment.
In the morning, a bus traveled a good distance to pick up 34 kids from Dadasko Orphanage. The kids were transported to the church at Valley of Angels for service. This is an awesome act because of the normal routine of the children. The director of Dadasko has only one van to take kids to church. Because of space, only 12 kids can go to church each Sunday. So, they have a rotating schedule of three different groups who attend church together. The director was overjoyed that his kids would be able to praise God in church 100% together. Matt Vaughn gave a sermon (in both Spanish and English) about Psalm 1.
Afterwards, the kids with their Gringo buddies traveled back into Teguc for lunch at the fast food court in the mall and then a movie. For those who spoke Spanish, Cars was a fairly good movie. For others, it was a good nap. As you can guess, the kids loved it; they are never able to go have a fast food lunch and a movie. Then, to top it off, they all received a toy from McDonald’s to remember the day and have fun with later.
One bus then took the kids back and the group grabbed a quick dinner before heading back up the mountain. The other bus went to Baxter Institute to play soccer—there is nothing like a little competition to end a good day. The night ended with a “Where did you see Jesus?” devotional with many wonderful stories shared about the past two days.
Dios te bendiga,
JMA
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