Sunday School and Church in Honduras

Sunday morning was Sunday School... for children only.  No adults came.  Alex (one of the houseparents) took the bus around and picked children up.  If I understand correctly, all of the kids he picks up come to the feeding program during the week.

Our team was responsible for the entire hour and a half. 

We started by singing our songs from the night before.

The kids knew them, so they sang along.

Our skit was repeated as well, with a few modifications for the younger audience.

Then (with translation help from Dago & Dilia) the kids split into 3 groups and rotated through three stations: games, lesson, and activities.

Scott ran the games with the help of Ruth and Sam.

Autumn and Daniel made balloon animals, Brooke did origami.

Licia painted nails.

And Ellyn and I painted faces.

Elliot manned the coloring table.

Steve taught the lesson (with Dago translating), and Toby  & Ashtyn did bracelets with the kids.

We got to ride the bus to take the kids home, so we could see where they lived.  It was a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, it was a bumpy ride, so we didn't really get any pictures of the community to show you.

That night was "big church."  Adults came, and a lot of the kids from Sunday school came back with their families.

Dago made this Christmas tree...its a bunch of garland wrapped around a cone-shaped frame.  Its super-awesome.

Mariana (Alex's wife, the other houseparent) lead the singing with Leonardo (another staff member).  We didn't have a sermon, because the kids did their Christmas program.  Guys... it was A.MAZ.ING.  I love every second of it.

And that was it!  I got a garden tour in the afternoon, but of course that deserves its own blog post.  Maybe I'll share that mid-February, when I'm itching to start my garden.

The kids that came for Sunday school had so much energy and love.  One girl (Cindy-Carolina) came right up to me as soon as she got there for church and latched on my leg and said  (roughly, in Spanish) "Stephanie!  Do you remember me?  You painted my face this morning!"

These kids are pretty used to having teams come and go, so I didn't expect the kids to be too "impressed" with us.  But she remembered my name when I only told her once, and she was so excited to see me.  I really love how open the kids are to get to know you and spend time with you, even though they know you're going to leave soon.  I really wanted to experience things fully while we were there, even if it was just for a week, and relationships were part of that.  I tried to spend time with and get to know the kids and people down there.  In the back of my mind, I was thinking that this won't be the last time I see them.  I really, really hope I get to go back.  Soon.

More to come...