Dia 6

Hola! Feliz ano nuevo!

This is our 6th full day here, 7th day total. We are more than halfway through our missions trip; so far it feels as though we have been here forever, but I bet the second half of this trip is going to fly by, and coming back home is going to come oh so soon. Sounds wonderful to see everyone again, but hard to think of the day we have to say good-bye to these children, not knowing when we will see them again.

The New Year's Eve party was a huge success! Mass chaos, but so fun! The preparation was a bit stressful for the food as well as the entertainment, but it all came together. Many of the team members went to the houses they will be staying at during the staff retreat for dinner. A group of us also stayed in the normal eating area with our guests: Jesus de mi Cristo. It was so wonderful to see them again! They were ecstatic to see us again!

For the games New Year's Eve: There were four stations of games set up and four groups of children that came around to them. Only 2 of the games really worked: Duck duck goose (Pato, pato, gonzo) and playing with the parachute. Where's my chicken and a relay race with balls turned into chaos. The kids had so much fun, though. We had ages toddlers to 12 year olds until 9pm, then the older children came. When the older children came, we played Ninja and the kids caught on fast. Shortly after, we played a game of charades where Josh Rumbarger, Jon and Kevin Forster, Bryan Raycraft, and Mike Rettler were all contestants and they had to guess in Spanish what the chosen child was acting out. The catch is that not all of them know Spanish, so they had to ask the audience what certain things mean in English. They were very funny! After that game, Matt and Mike McDonald came up as "Minnie and Mickey." Basically, Matt had a girl's shirt on and, well, Mike was a guy as he normally is. Then two of the young men at the orphanage were blindfolded and they were Matt's and Mike's hands. Mike had to eat cereal with milk, shave his face, drink water, brush his teeth, and gel his hair. Matt (Minnie) had to eat breakfast, put make-up on, drink water, and brush his teeth. Matt's and Mike's facial expressions were hilarious and the young men being their arms did a good job getting them messy. After that, they played a few rounds of Airplane and Samurai and all the young and old kids gathered together and worshiped. Dana Rumbarger, Kayla, Josh Rumbarger, and a couple of the workers here led worship. After a couple of songs, different people would get up in pray; there was a mixture of English and Spanish prayers. Then at midnight, we went down to the soccer field and at exactly 12am they set fireworks off. They were incredible! It was a very unique way to bring in the New Year.

The first sicknesses have been experienced on our team. Dana Rumbarger was out yesterday with a headache, body aches, and the chills. Kayla came back to the room after serving in the baby house last night with a headache and chills; both Dana and Kayla are back to normal today. Mike Rettler and Mike McDonald experienced the same last night, and they are better today. And Kristen Forster got either food poisoning or another bug; she woke up sick at 5am and has been sleeping the whole day. As I write, she is getting back on her feet. 2 of the SBU team memebers experienced the same as Kristen; it's hard to say if it is a 24 hour flu or a reaction to the food. Please pray against these bugs spreading and against food poisoning.

The men got a slow start yesterday morning; it took them a while to find out their assignments and that was hard on them. However, once they got rolling, they all seemed to be doing great. Mike Rumbarger, Bob Muhleck, Bryan Raycraft, Mike Rettler, and Mike McDonald were all mixing and pouring cement over a pipe to keep it from getting damaged. They worked so well together and helped each other keep the momentum going; many great quotes were coming from that time. One off the top of my head: Bob Muhleck pointing to Mike Rettler and Mike's response, "Best from the west." "Beast from the east." The rest of the men did more trenching. Not to mention, every day when they take a break, they play with the children.

Yesterday Mrs. Rumbarger distributed the sponsor gifts. How beautiful! The children's faces light up! To them, sponsors are more than sponsors. It means so much to them to receive gifts and letters. All of the girls came in and sat around in Casa Lamar while each girl received their gift. They were all excited for each other, as well as excited for receiving the gifts. Kristen Forster and one of the workers took turns translating the English letters. There was so much joy! In Casa Alabanza the children started playing with their gifts right away. The letters meant so much! One little girl could not leave her letter sitting anywhere. She had to carry it all around with her. I now see how important it is to the children to have a relationship with their sponsors. It means the world to them!

A lot of euchre has been happening in the evenings, so that was enjoyed by many last night after the kids went to bed. Mrs. Rumbarger and Dana baby-sat the children of the house parents of Casa Alabanza (toddlers) while they went out; what a sweet treat for them. Dayna Muhleck and Kristen Forster spent a couple extra hours in the baby house last night watching two 4 month olds while the night shift lady went to a movie. That was a big change of pace in the baby house when usually we are all used to children and noise EVERYWHERE; it was silent.

Last night a group of 6 of us went down to the soccer field: Mike Rettler, Mike McDonald, Bryan Raycraft, Kevin Forster, Kristen Forster, and Dayna Muhleck. We experienced star crashing and had some great laughs about it! We took turns picking out a star to look at and spinning around as fast as we could, then when we could take no more, having a light shined in our face; you drop right to the ground when that happens. It was really funny to see how everyone spins in circles.

Every night the boys have story time with Mr. McDaniels in their room. Sounds like last night's story was quite a hit. He has been formulating stories throughout the day since to prepare for their nightly "story time."

Today is Sunday, so everyone has the day off of work, which means more play time with the children. We all took a walk with Casa Ester (girls 12-18 years old) to a look out where there is a beautiful view of the volcanoes and a valley below. Mr. McDaniels was picking flowers and putting them in all of the girl's hair. On our way back to the orphanage, we stopped at a little shop to get pop in a bag; literally they were bags like what you would put a goldfish in, and we drank pop out of them. Most of the pop stayed in the bags, but Mr. Forster had a little spill. The girls are precious! Mr. and Mrs. Forster are looking forward to staying with them during the staff retreat.

Earlier today we experienced a church service here. There was a translator, so the sermon was half as long as it could be, but it sounds like it was really good. Many of the women from our team along with women from SBU went down to the baby house to help bring all the children up to the church service. All 3 babies fell asleep during the service. They stayed through the praise music and then went back to the house during the sermon. The toddlers left at that time as well; Kayla, Dayna, and 3 SBU members played outside with them until the service was over.

Somehow despite the little sleep we all get, we all seem to be finding waves of energy. God is good!

Blessings to all!