We went to Cristo Redentor, the Honduran Episcopal Church. There are about 50 congregants with the priest Connie, and Suzy and Sallie (!) playing guitar and Mari singing. We started with the Great LItany. Keith, the priest from St. Aidan´s, read the Gospel. Suzy translated the sermon for us exhorting us all to remember to be patient and wait for God´s blessings in His own time. We immediate gratification Americans paid close attention. Minta held and rocked Cesia Maria through most of the service. She was in heaven. After the service, while waiting for the van, I played with Sallie and some other children on the slide. I was a human bridge, straddling the slide with El Mano Malo that tried to tickle them as they slid shrieking between my legs. Lots of laughs especially when they managed to knock me off!
After church we stopped by to see Casa LAMB, the new guesthouse. It really is lovely, lots of room and comfortable accommodations.
After a delicious lunch of chicken noodle with a type of squash called pepian. The pepian was wonderful. Then off to San Buena Ventura! We arrived during the children´s rest time so Wheeler took us on a tour of the new construction. The school is amazing! Huge and will be great. There is still alot of work to do on it but wow. A couple of the older children came running to see us. Gina flew into John´s arms. She didn´t know he was going to be there today and was so very happy. John fell to his knees and completely enveloped her in a bear hug. Next thing we knew there were children everywhere! I guess I got a year´s supply of hugs in about 10 minutes. It was so great to see them all again.
We all had a great time playing with the children. Some of the boys and I played on the playground - they wanted to show off on the monkey bars! The new team members promptly fell in love with the children. It is funny to see how the Americans and the children pair up. I´m not sure who picks whom but it´s not long before an adult and a child have become attached. Thanks to Pat Klausman at St. David´s we gave out tons of brand new beanie babies! The children were so excited! Naturally, the little boys were playing with them like cars and whacking each other with them... Boys are the same everywhere. But they also hugged and cuddled them when no one was looking. One boy, who arrived in September, is Fabio and looks to be about 12. He was thrilled with his Toucan and walked around proudly showing it to everyone. I wonder if this is one of the first times he has gotten a toy of his own. Keith played hide and seek with the girls and, it turns out, does not seek very well! The girls were pretty much easy to see but he just couldn´t find them amidst many giggles.
We had great fun with the babies in the nursery. Oh my gosh. They are so cute. I was particularly happy to see Fanny, Paola, and Lester David. These three were rescued from extreme violence last fall. They are doing so well.
We are getting ready for dinner. Erika is fixing tilapia. Bill is practicing his singing and guitar playing for our evening sing a long. After dinner we will sort all the clothes and such we brought with us. OH! Great news for Anne and Margot. The lost suitcase arrived today at the airport! Danilo will go get it tomorrow. I am particularly pleased because it also contains all the homemade goodies Anne is famous for. (For those of you monitoring my Lenten no-dessert discipline... Fr. Paul gave me dispensation since we are all here working all day for the Lord. At least I think he said that...)
Tomorrow the work begins. Margot, Jan K, and Dorita go to Flor to work with the ladies at La Cantera. (La Cantera is the squatter´s village, extremely impoverished. We support several single mothers,families, and elderly women through the CAP program.)The rest of us return to SBV. We will be painting the inside of cottage 3 where the babies live and some of us will be building a wall around what is now the kitchen. This building used to be the laundry but now is the kitchen. It needs a wall built as a windscreen.
Boys on the playground
Margot and the babies
Fanny laughing! What a change from when she arrived at SBV.
Lovely Angelica
Nursery children
John and Gina
The school
Sergio and Carlos with their peluchas (stuffed animals)
