A great celebration on day 3

Day 3 - March 9, 2016   

Today we studied Matthew 5: 1-12 for our bus ride Lectio Divina - The Beatitudes.  Let us all be blessED witnesses so that others may be BLESSed.  

The kids were again waiting all along the road as we drove into the village.  We noticed they decorated their community pavilion for celebration of our visit and later presented us with handmade tokens of appreciation and sang for us.    

Before morning devotion, we visited the school class in session and Kate K. did some math homework with the kids!  

Senior Carlos Kovac led morning devotion about the mustard seed.   The message was powerful and his compelling use of metaphors grabbed all our hearts.  In closing, our song team Eliza, Elyse, and Josie, lead by Amanda,  sang "I got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart" in Spanish. 

it was the perfect message leading into our group skit of the Matthew 13 Parable of the Sower.  Our huge thanks to Beverly Proie for costume, production and narration! We were the farmer, seeds, thorns and weeds, and the sun.  We hope to post a short video to show you!

We did so many craft activities today for the kids!!  Painted nails, fingerprinted canvases, took polaroid fotos. 

Game on!  The men of the village live for baseball and couldn't wait for the reunion match.  

Lunch was at the home of the couple Eulalio and Pilar.  They have 2 sons ages 28 and 24 .  They came to Tierra Nueva 2 years ago.    Eulalio farms coffee, corn and beans about 2 miles from home.     His crops rely on the rain and this year the beans did not grow higher than a foot and did not reap any harvest.  And the rain won't come till May so they can't plant anything right now.   His coffee plants usually can be cultivated 4 times and the fourth time did not produce much crop.   Eulalio said they “are fighting” and rely on their strong faith that everything comes from the Lord and He will provide.   

Sandy led the woman's craft to decorate nylon drawstring backpacks.  It was wonderful to see the smiles on their face as they nurtured their inner child and creative spirit.  

The love of Christ has brought us all together and will certainly keep us there.