Images for the Heart

When I was around 12 years old my Dad gave everyone in my family black notebooks in which to write our life goals, dreams, ambitions, etc. I hadn't seen my book around for quite a while and just recently it reappeared in my room. When I turned to the back page of this little notebook, I saw a list of goals I had written for my life. There are somewhere between 60-75 things on my list, and in the middle of the page were the words "Work at an orphanage in Mexico".

As of today, I have officially crossed that off of my list!

Our day here in Mexico began with an extra hour of sleep, which was a HUGE blessing for the whole team! We then headed off to breakfast and continued on to our morning devotions. When our devotion time had ended, we all piled into the van and began the day's journey! We were finally on our way to the orphanage!

Immeaditely upon our arrival some of the ladies from our group began preparng breakfast for the kids, while the rest of us kept them entertained (with games such as scare the new visitors with a ball that is a lot heavier then it looks...and games of that sort :). When breakfast was ready all of the kids filed into the main room and took their seats. The next thing they did was so neat for all of us to see. They prayed. All of these kids spoke to God, thanking him for us, the breakfast, and the day. It was so amazing to listen to, not necessarliy understand, but listen to. Breakfast was indeed a huge hit! :)
After breakfast came the singing and the puppet skits we had prepared. The smiles on the kids face's were priceless! So many precious little voices were joined with our voices in song, and created a sound like no other! So many kids came up to the front to sing with us, and left few standing in the audience. Next came the puppets. It's funny to watch the kids' different reactions to these strange new toys. One little girl wasn't especially fond of the puppets, so we watched from afar.
When we were all done singing and puppeteering (sure, that's a word! :) we played outside some more. Games such as soccer, basketball, tag, and jump on Zach's back were all very popular.
My hightlight of the day came when I had a relatiavely normal conversation with a child at the orphanage...in spanish (what else? :) All of a sudden words and verbs and verb forms just began coming back to me and I was actually able to talk to these kids and understand them. It was so exciting! :) Our time at the orphanage had finally come to a close. This life changing experience is one never to be forgotten by any of us.

After we left the orphanage we exchanged our money, and headed to our Mexican-Itallian cuisine for lunch. Then came the town! Our first stop was a musuem of sorts, followed by a visit to a local souvenier shop. We spent a while in there and then set out to explore the rest of the sights, sounds, and smells that Mexico had to offer! And of course, what would a trip tp Mexico be like without a visit to a local pottery shop??

Our long day had come to a close. Almost.

We have been praying ALL week that there would be a rainstorm (mind you, it hasn't rained very much here since January). Our prayers were answered tonight the minute I sat down to write this! Of course I had to leave the blog for a little while. :) We could all see the black coulds closing in over us during the evening meeting and the sunset. It was BEAUTIFUL!

Well I have written a lottt now :) and we all are headed to church at the brickyard tomorrow morning...So goodnight friends and family! We love you all!

-Aleah_for the team. :)

Some things to pray for are:
-Healing for Josh B. and Monte (the missionary we are working with here) They haven't been feeling well. :(
-Energy for the team
- Safety
-Unity
-That the air conditioning in the van we are using would be fixed soon
-That no one else would get sick
and that we would continue to be a light whereever we go!

p.s. please excuse typos. It's gettin' real late. :) :)