It is a good thing that we had a restful Sabbath yesterday with worship and our recreation time with the children, for today we were up early and had a full schedule all day. Breakfast (of beans, eggs and tortillas)was at 0630 so that we could be at the school's opening exercises for 0710. On Mondays, the children and staff present the Honduran flag and sing the national anthem so we were fortunate to witness their national pride.

After the children had gone to classes, Claudia, the director of El Hogar, met with us. She is extremely appreciative of our time here and of the support that all the churches give to help support this home and school. She introduced us to each one of the 19 new children who have just started their first year here.

Their lives have been unbelievable to this point and we heard each of their stories - some were from incredibly impoverished or dangerous situations, some living with their grandmothers who had been unable to look after them, some did not know where their fathers were. Some have come from a community several hours north where the conditions are horrendous and where the children have never had a chance to be children. One 12 year old girl had never had any formal schooling for she had been a mother to her two young brothers who are also here. She had started out last year in the first grade and has been in their accelerated learning program to advance to her a higher grade. This young girl has had to LEARN to be a child and enjoy dolls rather than mothering real children.

"You are in front of many miracles," Claudia said. "I see God in all of this." Each child is a miracle and each has been given a new life here - ones of hope and full of love and of a family. We have become their family this week and they come to us for attention and for hugs and time of one on one both in play and in practicing reading and mathematics.

They love our young people - Hilary, Alida, Erika and Mateo (Matt) who have all the energy to play soccer every spare minute they have. The rest of us play quiet games such as Bingo, jump rope, puzzles, or artwork. We also have been given suggestions as with whom to spend extra time and attention.

Some of us observed in the classrooms today and then spent one on one with some second and fourth graders who needed tutoring in math or reading. They love the attention and the ability to demonstrate their skills. We delight in them.



The rest of the team started today´s tasks of painting in the new dormitory.


Or knocking out adobe walls to put in two new windows in the biblioteca (dirty job!)



Some started on the repair of the wall of the laundry building that has been disintegrating.

At lunch time we were told that the teachers had a staff meeting and so we had a 30 minute warning to prepare activites for all 99 children for two hours while the teachers disappeared! The afternoon went well. The 14 of us work well as a team and we pulled it all together well. The children love all sorts of games and drawing and could skip for hours at a time as long as we turn the rope!







At the end of the day, we enjoy our sharing time together as a team, assessing and analyzing the day. Our devotions and time together have been very special.

We look forward to the surprises and what we will be called to do tomorrow.