During our month in Peru my team had the unique opportunity of working with a Compassion International program based in our church. More than 300 kids from the community would come 4 days a week to receive a hot lunch and learn about hygiene, life lessons and God.
To say the kids were wild is a bit of an understatement. The first second they set eyes on us we had no chance. They jumped on us, pulled us and hugged us. It was love at first sight, and they were all so full of joy. It didn’t matter that they only had one pair of shoes or that their dad left before they were old enough to remember. They were just so grateful for what they had, and even though I came to love on them, they just seemed to love on me so much better.
Most of the time I spent with Compassion I spent helping in a classroom of 7-9 year olds. When I would walk in their classroom after lunch they would see me and they come running. The poor teacher, Ana, had a hard time keeping them at their desks after that. I would try my best to get them to sit down and do their work, but the darn language barrier would keep getting in my way. That was my biggest frustration of the month, the language barrier.
Usually when the kids were done with their assignments and were starting to get restless Ana would call me to the front to lead the kids in some songs. I thanked the Lord for all of my teaching and camp counselor experience giving me a selection of songs with big hand motions and funny sounds. By the end of the month those kids had “Boom Chicka Boom,” “Swiss Boy” and “Baby Shark” mastered and my lung capacity had improved from singing them over and over and over again.
