Las Tunas||Emma

Las Tunas, a community that is third world evidenced by the fact that they have had no running water in three days and it is normal to throw your trash on the ground. Livestock walks through the road on a regular base (or so it would seem from the day spent there.) Everything seems to have a layer of dust on it in and is poor in appearance. This is where we are teaching our VBS and photography classes. We had five students for our morning class and around twenty in the afternoon. Both classes enjoyed learning how to fill the frame and had fun on the hunt for the perfect photo.

During the afternoon session, we had time to take individual portraits of the students. I enjoyed seeing their personalities peak out as they posed and posed each other. The girls seemed to be reserved, yet there were sparks of fun in them. I look forward to getting to know them better during the week and figuring out how to overcome the language barrier between us. One young man, who is deaf and we actually met on Friday, is always smiling and it was super fun to photograph him as he posed himself and showed the other fellow how to pose.

Today was a major step outside my comfort zone but God reminded me that this is not about me. It is all about God and when I get outside my comfort zone God can work the most. Even more important than the photography lessons are the spiritual lessons. It was encouraging to see the students listen to the analogy of salvation that Ashlyn gave today and see them get involved during large group where the story of David was acted out. Those are the lessons that I hope stick in their mind the most. We come outside our comfort zones to touch others with the love of God and teach them about Him. Las Tuna is a place where God is going to work.

Emma