A Final Farewell

This afternoon, we enjoyed the children's company, did a little more shopping and had a fun dinner with the all of the Tapachula houseparents and Steve and Hope. The food was delicious and the company was awesome.

The rooftop pictures were taken from the top of the girls' home. The flowers are all growing in the backyard there.

After dinner tonight, we had our last devotional in Tapachula, led by Melody.

We are grateful for the time we have shared here with the children and with each other.

Saying goodbye is not much fun

We had to say goodbye to the children this afternoon before they went to school because we won't see most of them again before we leave. It is difficult, because we feel we have just begun to deepen relationships.

It is very moving to have the children surround us and pray for our safe travel, for our families at home who are ready to see us, and to thank God for the blessings they have received since we have been there. Daniel said the prayer this time and he is so well-spoken. It is humbling.

Most of them know our team and know that we will indeed be back in another year!

Some of the team left for more shopping and others decided to stay at the boys or girls home this afternoon.
Tonight we will go out to eat with the house parents from 2 homes, along with Steve and Hope.

Tomorrow is a travel day, so blogging may not be possible!

Wednesday - our last day here

It is unreal to me that it is already our last full day here! This morning we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and were led in a meaningful devotion by Reddan.

We have invited the younger children to swim in the hotel pool. There are 21 kids ages 10 and younger! We are quite busy keeping an eye on all of them.

Tuesday's Talent Show

Another busy day

Today, we had breakfast with the girls. We ate pancakes and fruit. Becky and Mopsy then did a short program on self-esteem and feelings with most of the children. She presented many concepts to them that were probably brand new. For example, that each person's feelings are their own, based on their own perception of their situation, and therefore, it is not appropriate to judge how someone else feels. We gave the children a "feelings chart" which had more than 30 different feelings and an accompanying facial expression on it. The had fun talking about the feelings on the chart and comparing their own feelings to the faces represented there. We then asked them to draw and describe their feelings before they came to the homes they live in and how they felt today. Most described feelings of sadness, confusion and frustration before coming to the homes. Now most of them are happy or hopeful.

Becky also told the children that it was very important to have someone to talk to when they were sad or angry or frustrated. Most of them said they had a trusted friend they could talk to. All of them said they knew there was an adult in their lives that they could go to when they needed to talk. Many of them said they talk to God about what is going on in their lives.

Although we just scratched the surface with these children in this area, we feel we have perhaps opened the door for future conversations with their house parents and with each other.

For lunch, we took the 21 youngest children to Burger King for hamburgers! They were so excited, as this is a treat that they don't often get. Afterwards, we went to an ice cream shop called Irma's. The ice cream shop had an indoor playground and the children had fun burning off some energy before enjoying their desert. We took them back to the homes by 1:15 so they could change clothes and get ready for school before 2 pm.

At that point, Norma took the eight team members out to the women's prison to visit the two mothers of our children who are incarcerated there. Manuella is Daniel and Moises' mom; Zoila is Zoila and Paco's Mom. We talked to them about what we had done with their children this week and we talked to them some about their lives in the prison. They both love their children very much and know how much of their children's lives they are missing. But, they are very thankful that the children are safe, well fed and are being educated. It is so much more than they could give them anywhere else.

We went on a brief shopping excursion to two area pottery shops and the Gramlich coffee shop that we always visit here. By then, it was time to get back to the boys' home for a pizza party. This is such a fun night for all of the children, as the older kids were preparing for the annual style show. This is when the kids get to "model" their new clothes and shoes. This year, we included a talent show to the evening's festivities. The younger children had an opportunity to participate, and, as you can see from the pictures, we were all entertained!

We returned to our hotel for the evening devotional, prepared by Anne.

Monday with the moms

Today, we arrived at the boys' home at 7 am to help prepare breakfast, eggs with ham and onion, refried beans, and of course, tortillas!

We took a few minutes for a team devotional led by Joan about light. We talked about how we reflect God's light to others, and how sometimes, focusing on the light of God is the only way out of a particularly dark situation.

We walked down to the girls' home to get ready for the seven moms from the prison to visit. These are the moms of our kids who live with their incarcerated husbands in the men's prison. Some of them have been in the women's prison for whatever reason and are now "free." They still have to live in the men's prison because most of them don't have relatives to stay with while their husbands are in prison. We gave them makeup, toothbrushes and toothpaste, nail polish, diapers and other necessities. Mopsy shared a brief devotional with them about God, three in one. It is a comparison of God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) to an apple (peel, flesh, core). We talked with them about their children and they all shared that they feel so blessed to have their children in homes like these. They know that they are eating healthy meals, are taken to school and have help with homework, etc.

Later in the day, we took the eight older boys shopping, just as we did the eight older girls. Those who needed them got new shoes, and everyone got at least one new outfit to wear.

This evening, we took the older boys out to dinner at a traditional mexican restaurant. It was really delicious and we had so much fun visiting with them. The oldest, Ulysis, speaks fairly good english.

We were ready to get back to the hotel for out evening devotional, led by Linda.

The Olympics in Tapachula?

Sunday afternoon was busy with preparing for a huge fiesta for all of the children. We are using the Olympics theme this year. After giving the children (all 38 of them!) a brief history of the Olympics, we dressed everyone in togas. We had an Emperor (Faustino) and 2 Empresses (Norma and Mopsy). Their togas were specially made with gold trim and their laurels were painted golden!

We had a brief processional from the boys' home to the girls' home and had such fun. The neighbors were all entertained by our noise-making parade. The children all had Mexican flags. We even had an Olympic torch (we used sparklers, not fire!) which was passed from Yanitza to Daniel, and then was prominently placed in the backyard of the girls home.





Once everyone had arrived, we played games. Everyone had so much fun. The royals (Mopsy, Norma and Faustino) judged the games and announced the winners. Ann made balloon animals for the younger children.











For dinner, we enjoyed hamburgers cooked on the grill outside, with queso and chips. As a special treat, we made ice cream sundaes with all the best toppings for desert.

The team adjourned to the boys home where we gave out books and blankets to the 10-year old boys. They sang for us and it was time to get back to the hotel for our team devotional and bed.

Becky's devotional was based on Matthew 25.

We found out that Steve and Hope (MOM directors) would be coming in late tonight, so we know things will be very busy for our last few days here.