March 12, 2009

This morning started out like every other morning: people rushing around and gathering last minute things before the bus arrived. John and I where experiencing a little jet lag because John was starting to get the flu that Daniel had and I had stayed up late having a good conversation. In the car, we prayed and ran over the day’s events. Arriving at St. Margaret's early, everyone prepared their lessons as I sat on the sidewalk and talked to a mentally challenged child. He seemed very happy, even with his situation, and that made me happy to be there to tell him how much God loves him! We taught forgiveness to the children of St. Margarettes today. Please pray for the children. While classes went very smoothly today, I think it’s hard for the children to pay attention and grasp the things we are teaching them. We also worked with the skills students. Mr. Forman gave his testimony to the young men in the skills group, which applied to them perfectly. Thank you, God!

We arrived at Christ the Redeemer safely and on time! While most of the team presented the Joseph skit, Amanda and I got a chance to talk with the skills women outside under the tree. The team taught the lesson about forgiveness, which the students enjoyed. While everyone was doing that, I got to talk to five women about their lives: what they are going to do and how God will fit in. It was a friendly conversation that ended up with them telling me how they liked me, but not my hair! :) So I told Fayann that if she didn't like my hair, she could cut it. She said that she had not yet learned haircutting in her class, but she and her friend still wanted to do something. So we moved our talk to the classroom to get my hair cut (supervised by Fayann). By this time, the rest of the team came in to sing with them and talk about forgiveness. Minutes later, when I walked Fayann to the gate, I got to share the gospel with her and give her the book of John which she promised to read. Pray that these women would allow God to take control of their lives!

On the way home, we stopped by a tee shirt shop where most of us had to sit for an hour till we got the key back from Gary. Arriving home, we ate dinner then headed off to the band of Christ the Redeemer practice. (Everyone went but John, who went to bed early to get well.) We arrived a little late and parked outside the gate. The band includes drums, a brass section and cheerleaders -- all together it as thrilling and beautiful! They saw that we came late, so they were gracious enough to play it all again just for us!:) Afterwards, while we were saying hello to everyone, they called everyone together for the circle they do after every practice. In the circle, they all gave us a hand for the things we had taught them. We, in turn, told them how happy we are to be with them this week. For the next hour or so, we went around taking pictures, giving out tracks out, and saying goodbye.

Back at home again we got together in the laundry room to talk about tomorrow’s plans and today’s memories. :)

TODAYS QUOTES:Gloriel - "Responsible one, you have failed."Nathaniel - "Good thing Johns sick, he wouldn't fit!"Celina - "Let's be useful in full clothing."Amanda – “You're such a good fan."Gloriel –“Knives, I can do...it's glass I do bad with." Celina - "and pitch forks."