At first I thought that a handful of the kids were just waiting in the street until we arrived. Boy was I wrong. What had been a steady 25-30 children was now 150 and growing. The kids were in front of the church because there weren’t really many seats left inside. We weaved our way to the front and looked out across the audience to see hundreds of eager little eyes peering up at us. Luckily children aren’t like adults; you don’t need something profound to tell them. A few games and a gospel message and you’re good to go.
I start off by leading a rousing rendition of Oh-lay-lay. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a game which requires a lot of yelling (which I’m good at) and spinning in circles (which I’m also rather proficient at. It’s a gift, I know). After Oh-lay-lay we sing some songs, which as was noted in an earlier blog, is a Team Pi specialty. However, due to the fact that a) we were singing with kids, and b) the worship band the night before was nothing short of awful, we really had no expectations to live up to. We opened the set with a classic, “Gozo, Gozo, Gozo, Gozo en mi corrazone,” also known as “Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in my heart.” It killed. The chorus of “en mi corrazone” which rang out after we shouted “Donde?!” (where?!) was hilarious. Not wanting to press our luck, we decided to wrap up our two song set with “If you’re happy and you know it.” Lots of clapping, lots of stomping, lots of spinning around means it was a hit.
Now, for the main event. We pull some kids up out of the audience and dra
matically interpret everyone’s favorite, “The Good Samaritan.” I played a captivating version of the man who was robbed and left for dead on the side of the road. However, I think in this version I may have actually died because Ashley, who played a disturbingly believable assailant, pretended to shoot me while she robbed me. Didn’t know that they had guns in ancient times, Ash! It must have been a mere flesh wound because I was still alive when the Good Samaritan came to rescue me. After our Oscar-worthy performance was complete, Ashley gave a great salvation message to the kids, with Dre translating. Some kids paid attention, some were still laughing from the skit, some were hitting the child next to them, and still others were picking their noses. Not the most captivated audience, but I know God was moving that day nonetheless. Another skit and a few more games and our program was over. That’s when I pulled the camera out and started taking some pictures. For the next 30 minutes every child made sure that at least 3 pictures of them had been taken; it was really funny. As soon as the flash popped they would run over, wanting to see what it looked like.
Our time in Rosario was special. What began as stressful and very overwhelming ended as fun and extremely rewarding. I don’t know specifically what our role was that weekend other than to just spend time with the people. But God does. He was there the entire time. There for the worship music. There during the message. There during our house visits. There during our meals. There during our time with the kids. And there during our trek to and from the village. We didn’t need to know the what, why, how, or when of what God was doing last weekend. All we needed to know was that He wanted us in Rosario. And we went and gave them, and Him, our all.
2 Corinthians 8:14 “At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.”
