VBS in Honduras looks a little bit different than it does in the States.
We take for granted having a nice church to host the event, materials that are readily available for crafts and activities, even markers and paper to write on. The basics. So God forces us to be creative here. We write on white pieces of paper, we do activities that require no materials, and we play games that can be explained by motions instead of words. With all of that, kids still come. And not only do they come, they bring their friends and have a blast! We laugh a lot, we use our charades to communicate, and the kids love it! God is teaching us a lesson perhaps?? Maybe our activities don’t have to be elaborate. Maybe we can use the time we would have used planning to simply sit with a child in our lap and sing a song together.
We have also been teaching English classes which we face the same obstacles with. However, there is no pressure to get a good grade, no tests to be taken, merely games and activities to learn English. Something I am learning is a blessing here.
Things are simple.
Kids go to school until 12:00 and do chores at home in the afternoon. The women wash clothes, fix meals, and clean house for their families. Everything is laid back in El Horno. We have spent a lot of time with a particular family in El Horno that has absolutely welcomed us into their home with open arms.
One of their daughters, Pamela, is 19 years old and is going to have a baby boy any day now. She has her family to support her even though the father is not in the picture, but to see their joy for new life is contagious.
Her younger sister, Alexandra (16) jokes that Dustin and I will be the baby’s second mom and dad. That’s a lot of love for people you have only known for a week. We have absolutely loved spending time with them and learning how to relax and invest in the relationships. We came on the World Race to build those kinds of relationships.
That is what we are about.
We want to live like Jesus did. Building relationships and living with the least of these. We want to share the joy that God has given us on the people of Honduras. We pray that we can continue to have this mindset for the duration of the race and also upon returning home.
