Sunday... by Jessica

Today was a great day -- and such a whirlwind of activities.

First, we got to attend a church service (where Jon and Danielle attend) at the Holiday Inn. They had headphones there for everyone to hear the message interpreted into English.

After stopping back at our mission house (and I was so happy to catch the beginning of the Brazil match on t.v.), we headed out to Cipi, an orphanage which holds a flood of little crazy boys (who immediately flocked to us and hugged us all the second they saw we had come) and over a hundred girls. We set up little stations for both the boys and girls, where they got to rotate through and make balloon animals, necklaces, and water bottles. Played some futbol with them also, and we hung out with the girls group for awhile afterwards. Then, we ordered pizza for everyone and finally had to leave for the day. The girls had much more drama going on in their little "courtyard" hangout place (basically all the girls hang out on this cement patio, surrounded by a few caged "pens" where they kept all the disobedient girls for a few days). The two girls in the pens said they were put there for fighting, and so they weren't allowed to participate in anything. The other girls were instantly and madly in love with the boys in our group. They made us take their picture with them all...

We also heard many sad stories about the kids' background. The most unbelievable was about a small kid named Kevin, who, at age 5 decided he had to leave his family & home because there wasn't any food for him there (he had 9 other siblings and unfortunately was the youngest and most neglected), so he took up a job washing a bus for 75 cents a day. He took home the change to his mother until one day the owner of the bus paid him in alcohol instead of money. The police found him intoxicated and incoherent. He ended up in the orphanage soon after. Boy, what a difference it makes to hear a story like that and to look at this adorable little kid running around like crazy and hugging everyone in sight. It's hard to imagine that he has only lived a few short years, has been through so much, but is still so willing to reach out to everyone (even strangers) around him.

They were all so happy to just be around us, and I can't wait to go back tomorrow.

Knowing Spanish is the best decision I made... this is totally worth it, and there are no words in either language that can describe how awesome it is to have a flood of smiling kids running towards you to hug you and thank you and beg you to come back every day.