Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Barrio Flores and Barrio Cercado Abajo Outreaches

One of my favorite pictures I've taken since living here. Her role was to help the little kids color, but she took it one step further and got out the bible and read to the calm kids while they were coloring. The kids really stepped up and did a great job.

The kids lining up to have their evangelism bracelets tied on by the Ark kids.

In Barrio Flores coloring with the kids. They kept coming and we had about 200 by the end.

It was a challenge trying to do a bible story with all these kids!

These are 3 sisters that I got to know in January and hadn't seen since. I went to their house to see if they could come to the outreach and they weren't there. About 5 minutes later I saw them running towards me down the street with huge smiles! I was glad they hadn't forgotten me.

Kids working hard on their evangelism bracelets and cards for the kids.
The kids at the Ark have all come from incredible situations and extreme poverty. Some of them have been living here for 5 years and it can sometimes be hard for them to remember that they have some incredible blessings in their life that can be taken for granted. They have food, attend a private school, have birthday parties, have beds/clothes/shelter, and loving house-parents. On the other side of the walls the kids have next to nothing.

The 6 week summer interns and I all had the same reflection when talking about the kids in the Ark. We decided to do something about it and started teaching the older kids how to lead VBS for kids in the community. The kids may fight and get mad about little things sometimes at the Ark, but they all really stepped up and did a great job. There were more kids than we expected but the Ark kids had a great attitude. I think they really learned more about the blessings they have and about serving others that aren't as fortunate as them.