We all made it here to Ometepe, Nicaragua
safely! We crossed through El Salvador
and Honduras just fine and made it to our ministry site on Monday. The kids at the orphanage we are working at
are quite different from what I thought but I love being here! The kids are around jr high age or older and
there are only two younger kids- an 18 month and 4 year old. It is a little hard to connect to the kids
because they are older and we we do not see them that much accept at some meal
times and a little bit after dinner. The
kids are in school during the day and we are off working in different parts of
the orphanage and town during the day.
This past week I was able to go and do
“construction” for a couple days and we helped build a pig house and the next
day we went to the park and helped cut the grass and weeds with
machetes!!! The last couple days I have
been helping out in the kitchen and have gotten to know a couple of the kids
and some of the older women better. But
the one thing that truly stands out this week is that a smile transcends all
languages! When we were at the park,
there were a couple kids with one boy in particular- Eduardo (age 7), who were
setting off firecrackers near us and we got to play around with some of these
kids. We hardly spoke to them but they
understood our smiles and just played with us on the swings, monkey bars, and
teeter totters.
After lunch we came back to the park to finish and
here comes Eduardo with two of his friends- Eduardo (age 10) and Tonito (age
7). They of course set off more
fireworks (which are just little noise makers that smoke and make noise) – they
like to see our reaction J
and you do get use to them after a while!
Soon we started to work again and take breaks on and off and swing or
just sit down. Tonito is swinging and I
just sit by him, smile, and start to swing as well. Soon the other two boys are next to me
swinging as well. Then back to work and
before I know it the boys take over the wheel barrow that I was using and start
to pick up the grass/weeds that were cut and start helping me/doing my job for
me! Soon we stop work altogether and
just play with these three boys. Tonito
started to push me on the swing and had the hugest smile on his face and one of
the Eduardo’s gave me a high five every time I swung past him. It was a fun afternoon just playing with
kids- no talking was really involved- just lots of smiles and a couple of
broken phrases in Spanish J
God showed me that love and smiles transcend all
languages and gave me the confidence that I needed to interact more with the
kids at the orphanage. Love is all that
is needed and all these kids need is for people to love them- if you can talk
to them what an added bonus J So hopefully over these next couple of weeks
while we are here, Jesus’ love will be so apparent through us that these kids
will know that they are truly loved!
Thank you for all of your comments and emails- it means so much to me
and I love seeing that I have an email or a comment from you when I check my
email! Thanks for all the prayers and
encouragement as well!
