Soup should not be pink!

Yesterday my team and I went to work at a place called Samaritana. The day started out with a bang!  Our driver never showed up because he had a headache and wanted to sleep, so we had another driver take us to Samaritana, but we didn’t know exactly how to get there.  Eventually we stopped at a gas station where some police were and they escorted us the rest of the way! 

When we finally got to Samaritana we were amazed at the beautiful facility.  It was created 16 years ago to get prostitutes off the streets, help them gain life skills to survive without prostitution and to teach them about God’s love. The women ranged in age from 19-31. Many had children and had been there for multiple years. 

                                                                                                   

One of the unique and lovely things about Samaritana is that the women make jewelry and homemade paper to sell. The jewelry that they make is incredible and the women love seeing other people enjoy what they have created. 

After morning prayer our team split up to do other tasks. We cleaned, cooked, helped make jewelry, and prepared the afternoon Fellowship time. I got to help prepare fellowship time.  This consisted of finding a few songs to sing, making up an ice breaker, and thinking of an activity to go with the parable of the day. The women love to be involved and interactive, so we had the women make up a skit to interpret the parable. I can’t tell you how great it was to see the women have so much fun getting costumes on, dancing, laughing, and talking to us and each other! They are so incredibly full of joy and love. I know most of us on my team had a hard time believing that these women were so loving and trusting with the situation they have come out of.

 

Right before Fellowship we were given a snack. I know one of the questions I kept getting asked was if I was scared of the food I was going to be served while on the Race. Yes. Yesterday confirmed my fear for me. The soup we were given as a snack was essentially chicken noodle soup…without the chicken. Instead of chicken they put hot pink hot dogs in the soup thus giving it its lovely shade of pink. The soup itself really wasn’t all that bad. The fact that the soup was pink…that’s what was bad! I’m sure as the Race continues there are going to be much more interesting foods to eat and I’ll be begging for that hot pink soup!

In all the day was incredible! The women were a delight to be with and I am so excited to go and minister to them again.