Well Folks --
The past few weeks has been a rush. First of all - Molly, Fie and I finished our futbol tournament and it was awesome. The kids just loved it. The winners got Championship T-shirts and all the players in the final got coke and chips. A ton of kids and staff came to watch the two final games as well, even the "Mommi and Poppi" of the Orphanage came to cheer on the kids.
Right after the tourney, myself and three other volunteers went to Copan Ruinas for a little fun and relaxation. We went ziplining, swam in a river/waterfall situation, went to a coffee plantation, and saw some ancient Maya Ruins. It was crazy to actually see the ruins in person after having seen pictures of them in history books for so many years.
Since coming back from Copan it has been a mad rush to do as many things as possible with the kids. It was a little rough at first because we had a bit of a flu epidemic here at the Orphanage... at one point 25 big boys came to the Clinic. It was nuts. We think we've conquered it mostly, which is great because we celebrate Christmas tomorrow! We don't want anyone to miss the fun.
The past two and a half days we have been sorting presents for 500 kids - and they all get at least two. Some get more depending on their sponsors. First we had to unload all the presents from the pallets, separate boys and girls, place them in alphabetic order, count how many presents each kid got, make presents for those lacking presents for multiple reasons (we have a lot of new kids which means they don't have sponsors yet), and then placed all the gifts "under the tree" in piles. It's a really cool picture to see so many presents around the tree. Apparently tomorrow we are all going to be in the church and volunteers will hand out all the gifts to the kids. They all have to wait until everyone has their gifts - I've heard it takes up to two hours! The anticipation is going to kill them! It already is because they keep asking me how many presents they have. I can't wait to see all of them open all their "regalos".
All of us volunteers decided to spread some Christmas cheer and bring a piece of home to the Orphanage (it really doesn't feel like Christmas - it's 80+ degrees most days) by doing some christmas caroling. So, the other night we started to carol at the small boys house, then onto the medium boys (they loved it and sang along) ... we pretty much sang to everyone at the Orphanage including the staff. It was pleasant - we even got some chocolate and hot chocolate from some of our audience.
A few nights ago was possibly my favourite moments yet here. Molly, Lindsay, Kate and I really wanted to have a big bonfire with ALL of the medium boys. Now, this is a big deal and really hard to get permission from staff to do something with so many kids. But, the Lord is cool. We asked and it wasn't a problem at all. We had about 70 boys ranging from 9 to 14 years old around a big bonfire (made by yours truly) - there was hot chocolate, which they never get, cookies, crackers, and peanuts. It was just a grand time for the boys. They were able to just relax and be boys - throwing stuff in the fire, running around, taking pictures, etc. Heaps of fun!
Well, I am off to play games with the team that is here for Christmas. I have four more days in this country and I plan to live it up. Thanks everyone and have a blessed Christmas with your families. And when you are with your families, if you could remember the kids here at Emmanuel, that would be amazing. I would love it if you could pray for a few things: that the staff with just be encouraged in a big way this next month, the kids would stay healthy, that the kids with come closer to the Lord, for safety for those of us volunteers that are coming and going within the next few weeks, for my hand/wrist (i may or may not have broken something), and most importantly - pray that the Lord will provide these kids with opportunities to better their country; physically, economically, spiritually, and through education.
Feliz Navidad!
