Day 1 of "vacation"

At Luz y Vida, we're having 2 weeks of in-school "vacation", fieldtrips, games, crafts, and other fun activities. Today was the first day.

I got off the bus and Andy handed me 40,000 pesos. "Do you know how to make pancakes?", he asked. The store, he said, was just around the corner, and I should plan on breakfast for 60.

I recruited Linda to go with me, but when we walked around the corner, the only store we saw was closed. We kept walking until we found a bakery which looked like they were selling flour, but it turned out to be arepa mix. They gave us directions to what turned out to be the same store that was still closed. As we were walking out, we ran into some more of the staff who were stopping in for breakfast. We left, when I realized they could probably give us directions to another store, plus, I found money of my own in my pocket and really wanted some bread. So, back we went, and bread bought and directions obtained, found a little store that sold milk in bags and individual eggs with everything behind the counter.

While I made pancakes, our normally rambunctious dining room became chaotic. All the children from the Other Way, plus the continuing education students are spending these 2 weeks with us as well, so we have more than double the usual amount of students.

After breakfast, I shepherded all the children 8 and under into the first grade classroom for a devotional. A visiting team of YWAMers on their outreach from New Zealand led while I translated.

Afterwards, we split the kids up into groups for stations. I spent my day helping kids stuff bean bag frogs with cotton and toilet paper (we just didn't have enough cotton to go around. . .)

When we finished with that, we painted animal cutouts with glue and shook them up in a bag full of paper scraps (an idea I got from my friend Leslie).

The day ended with a mad scramble into the bus (which technically seats 22), as we stopped by the Other Way to drop off 10 or more kids there, then went on to Paraiso to drop off 11 more kids, and then headed back to the 127 house with 23 people still in the bus.

I think these "vacation" days are going to leave me more tired than regular days, but it's fun to see the kids enjoying themselves and doing new things.