Dalhousie Church - Day 4

Hello from Mexico! 

Today was really cool, and by cool we mean hot. It was a high of thirty degrees with high humidity. No wonder the people around here take a siesta in the middle of the day. When we first arrived at the orphanage, it was obvious that the children were shy; however, after we partnered with them, we were able to make some meaningful connections and help them to be less nervous toward us. It was difficult to communicate with them due to the language barrier, but we still did our best with the little Spanish that we know. It was really good to see kids so happy when we were playing together. It was obvious that God was working with us this morning because despite the language barrier, lots of us were still able to make connections with the kids. While there, we walked to a local playground/park and played parachute games, hula hoops, and floor hockey. We returned to the orphanage and performed our Adam and Eve program. Afterwards, we bonded further over Little Caesars pizza. It's getting harder and harder to leave the kids that we bond with. After the orphanage, we had a prolonged siesta, which was needed after playing outdoors in thirty degrees with hardly any wind!

We then drove a while outside Merida to a lower income area, where we set up our program to perform at a public park, where a local pastor sent out an invite on Facebook to anyone who would show up and the children from the church. Before we started our evening program we got to play with the kids. Some of the kids played football, while some of them played with hula hoops, even having the large group participate in a game of red light/green light. We got to make connections with these kids through these fun experiences. We didn’t talk to them as much but we still got to spend time playing and having fun. We proceeded to put on our program for those at the park and had wonderful reactions from everyone. After our program, we did some crafts with the kids. We made bracelets that symbolize our faith and we gave them a craft for them to colour to tell the story of Adam and Eve. What was really impactful about this was that most of the people at the event did not attend church, and they were all really open to listening and learning about what God was telling them through us. The people were also open to taking a small pamphlet that had information about how to accept Jesus into your heart and where they could go to attend a Bible believing church. God was working with us here because he brought out all these people who may have never heard about him before. We hope that we were able to teach them enough so that they would think about beginning to go to church. We also gave out balloon animals. The joy on the kids' faces was incredible to witness. It was really gratifying to see the excitement that we were spreading. After the program we went to the church property for some incredible food and some really spicy chili peppers.

In summary, we learned much about how God works in Mexico, and the way his message is spoken through each one of us. Visiting those so young, who have so little, and yet embrace Jesus and us as missionaries so enthusiastically, is a testament to God's love. Each team member today got the chance to partner and engage with at least one child; however, most got to know several throughout our two program performances. While the language barrier continues to be challenging, the local people are always welcoming, and try their best to understand our hand signals and smiles (as we do for them)!