Evening Fun

Today at boys circle, I shared Luke 10:30-35 which is the parable of the good Samaritan.  I mentioned how none of the 3 men had known the wounded man on the side of the road...none of them, yet one decided to help.  One felt the need to help.  I let them know that there are some friends and family back in the States who do not know ANY of these medium boys, yet are working hard to gather shoes for them to send them down.  I told them about the time I took Doris into town for ice cream and as we were walking back to Emmanuel eating our ice cream, she saw 2 children without shoes, dirty, and hungry on the side of the road and she gave them her ice cream...she didn't even know the children.  So I asked the boys, what are YOU willing to do for a stranger?  Or maybe when a new boy comes to the orphanage to their house, what are they willing to do for the new boy that they do not yet know?

After circle, we headed to breakfast with the boys and then to the school.  I chatted with the new long-term volunteer, Whitney, a bit about Skarleth Michell and our progress in reading (Skarleth is a non-reader) before we walked down to get Skarleth so that she could begin working with Whitney.  I let Skarleth know that by next year when I came down, I expected her to be able to read me a children's book.  As Whitney settled into working with Skarleth, I walked over to the school to check with Profe Ramon on how the math tests went from yesterday.  He said there were for sure 2 students who would not pass it.  He asked if I would have time between now and Friday to go over some more examples with these 2 students and we decided to block out a time tomorrow to work together.

When it was time for lunch, we went with the medium boys to lunch and then headed quickly back to our room because it was the last time we'd be going into town on for 2016.  We got coffee and treats to bring back home for family and then made one last stop at Glenda's for some guacamole ingredients, since my plan was to make a big dish for the girls who work in the kitchen.  We said our goodbyes to Glenda before heading back to Emmanuel.

Alina, Noah, and Glenda at her small food stand

When we came to the gate of Emmanuel, we gave some Mexican suckers to the security guard.  This guy has been there for the 9 years I have been coming.  He's super nice and I'm very appreciative that he works security here.

Alina and Noah with Emmanuel's security guard

We were told that there would be no church this evening because Wade and Lourdes had an activity planned for staff and volunteers.  We met up above the girls volunteer house, just below the water towers, where a team had put up a 3-man swing a few years ago.  The activity was going on the swing.  Alina had been on this swing before, but I never had and since it's Noah's first year here...he hadn't either.  We decided to go for it!  They secure you in with ropes and then use a gator to pull you at least 30 feet up into the air (or higher...I don't know, it's CRAZY high!).  You can see the mountains all around.  You have to pull a rope which sends you swinging into the air.  The first try, Alina could not get the rope pulled.  I think she may have tugged it 6-10 times before we finally were let go and swinging.  The second time they sent us (each person got 2 times at the swing), we didn't think she'd be able to send us swinging on the first try, so we were shocked when she tugged and we were released right away.  What a rush!

Waiting to get pulled all the way to the top of the pole behind us

What we looked like coming down after Alina pulled the rope

After everyone got their chance on the swing (who wanted one) and it was dark, we walked down below to the medium girls comedor and there were baleadas and beverages waiting for us.  Baleadas are Honduran tortillas with beans, eggs and butter in them...super delicious!  It was a great way to end the evening!