Amazing One

on thursday night we visited our first orphanage. it was a lot easier than i expected. the kids were so joyful and playful. i thought that my heart was going to break more for them, but they were just so happy and joyful that my spirit was actually lifted some. its amazing to see children be so happy with so little, not even a family. i could really learn a lot from them about being content with what i have and also about enjoying spending time with people, especially meeting new people. they were so happy just to be with us and enjoy our company. yesterday (friday) we split into two groups and went to two different college campuses. i went with brian, trent and mikodo to the facultad de lenguas while everyone else went to a different campus. most of the students there are studying english and french. actually, it wasnt just for college students, there were a lot of high school aged students there as well. we started off by talking to one group of students and showing them a short dvd that is an illustration of the prodigal son story. we talked for a little longer and then they all had to go to class. after that we walked around a little, got some coffee and then found another group of students to talk to. they were very interested in watching a video with us on our portable dvd player so we went to a larger table and invited a couple more students. afterwards we started talking about what the video represented and how we can all relate to it because we have all been prodigal sons in some way or another. (keep in mind here that i´m doing all of the translation because im the only one with any spanish abilities and those arent very much. some of the girls can speak some english so that helps.) that led us into more spiritual conversations and brian asked them if they wanted to hear about the 4 spiritual laws. luckily i had a little booklet with me on the four spirital laws in spanish with me from when i was in spain so i was able to read to them from the booklet as they looked on. they said that they understood everything that was in there and agreed that they needed jesus in order to have a relationship with god. so, we asked if they would like us to pray with them to accept jesus as their lord and savior. they said that they would so i led them in a pray in spanish out of the booklet that i had. 4 of these students gave their lives to christ! praise god! (i think one of them might have already been a believer though). i cant believe how god uses the weak and unexpected to work his miracles. this was the first time i ever helped somebody pray to recieve christ and it was with 4 people i just met and in spanish! god is amazing. we invited them to come to church with us on sunday and they said that they wanted to. we may also see them again when we are on campus again on monday.

last night we went to an all girls orphanage for girls ranging from about 4 to 15. they were very sweet and much more well behaved than the last place that we went. some of us sat around in circles talking while others played with the younger girls. some of the older girls (13 to 15) to a liking to me and wanted to show me their casa. they were very proud of it even though they all had to sleep in a very large room full of beds. each bed had its own unique stuffed animal on it though. i was again amazed at how happy these girls seemed. after this some of the kids perfomed a skit for them that explains the gospel and then we helped them make their own bracelets with leather and beads. after this we showed them the jesus film for kids and they seemed to like it very much as well as understand it. once this was over we went outside and played kickball until the girls wupped us and then they started flirting with our high school boys until we had to leave. it was very hard to leave them though as they didnt want us to leave.

last night for dinner i had some mole poblano. que delicioso! most americans don´t like it, but i though that it was very good. today we went to a very poor neighborhood to put on a vbs. those kids were really cool as well. we played dodgeball for a while and then sang songs and played musical chairs before performing our skit again and making bracelets. tonight we are going back to show the jesus film and told the kids to come back and invite their families and friends. i cant wait to see what god is going to do tonight! he is amazing.