Day 3 ~ Visiting

What a beautiful day here today. It was packed full of time with kids. We spent the majority of our day loving on children who need time with people who show them that someone cares.
This morning we headed out to Good Shepherd. This is an orphanage up on the most beautiful mountain. The owners teach these children how to care for all of their own needs. They farm, wash their own clothes and take care of the animals. There is a different feeling here. The kids are very well cared for and seem happy. That is definitely not to say that they didn't eat up our attention. They ran to the bus to greet us and get to spend some time with us. The girls were pretty much immediately getting their nails painted and their hair done. They were very patient and graciously accepted anything that we wanted to share with them. On the other side of the field there was a massive soccer game. The kids had such a blast and even got to play in jerseys that we were able to share with them.
This afternoon was a bit different. We went to an orphanage that is a boys home. The boys here are basically jailed. They are kept behind bars because if they were not, a life of gangs,drugs, and murder is almost impossible to escape. We were told that last year this visit was just so heartbreaking and desperate. This year was a little better. The owners have added fencing in the back so that the boys are finally allowed to be outdoors some. There is a large wall on the outside, within the fence. Nathan, a Honduran friend and artist, kindly drew a mural on this wall to add some variety to what they see. Our job today was to paint the mural. It is very good. The colors are pictures were bold and beautiful and the message even more so. "Jesus is Everywhere." The boys were invited to help us paint and they very much enjoyed this. They were calm and peaceful even for just a few minutes.
Meanwhile, several of our guys were making another long term difference. They brought lumber and spent 2 or so hours teaching some boys how to build a table and stools. These were needed for the home anyway but those boys LOVED learning to do something with their hands that produced something so awesome. Our guys were so patient and kind with them.
This evening we returned for some delicious dinner and then moved immediately out to the garage to begin the job of making food bags. The process is really something to see. Rice, beans, salt, coffee, chicken bouillon, lard, tomato paste, spaghetti, sugar, and flour are bagged up and an assembly line is made to add the items into a large sack. Sometime this week our team will go into the mountains to deliver these amazing bags of food to families that have no idea where their next meal will come from. We will hand them their food and we will hand them a Bible. That is where their next meal will come from, from their God who is working hard through this team this week.
Lane and Luke are doing better. Thanks for the prayers.