Fun at Orphanage Emmanuel

It's that time of year again when the Maryland team comes to Honduras for 10 days at Orphanage Emmanuel.

This year's team included folks from Maryland, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Arkansas.  There were 36 team members!!

One of the big treats for Ellen and me is getting to catch up with our sponsor child who is now 14 years old!!

The day after arriving, we jumped right into two days of field events for three of the children's houses.

The groups ranged from about 38 to 60 kids... it was a really good thing we had a big team!

We made several stations with different fun activities for the kids to rotate through.

They only had about 10 minutes at each station so they knew they had to move fast, obey the leaders and have fun!

She wanted to be a kitten!

Even the team members were able to get in on some of the fun!!

Ellen even put on some speed while playing a type of tag with the kids!

Each group ended their time with a meal of hotdogs!  This is a really big treat for them and the loved it!

Sunday morning I preached in Spanish and Ellen translated into English.

I was so blessed to have some of the boys say they liked the message and comment on specific points.  After church we had lunch and then off to another afternoon of field events!

Monday morning we started sharing with the kids during their morning 'circle' time.  They usually stand outside in a circle for a morning devotion, prayers and songs, but this particular morning it was raining so we were in their dining hall.

There was a soccer tournament with some other schools in the area.  The girl's team won 7 to 1 and the boy's team lost 0 to 1.

Some brother-sister yak time during the soccer game.  An extra special blessing is that Ellen's brother, Matt Jones, also comes for the orphanage trips!!

Ellen sharing with the little boys one morning.  We were inside because it was raining... again!

Sandra is the little girl in red.  She was quite pleased with herself for stealing my hat!

Sandra with Ellen at big circle time which is each Friday morning at 6:00 am when all the kids from the whole orphanage come together for discipleship, prayer and singing praise!

In our "free time" we would often head to the special needs yard.  These kids are here during the school hours as they don't attend school.  It's a joy to play with them!

One of the big projects that we have been doing each year for the orphanage is measuring all - as in over 500 kids - for their weight, height, shirt size, pants size and shoe size.  This is used for the Christmas list that folks can access to send clothes, and is also part of the reporting to the government.

Another big projects the guys took on was a cement floor for a new greenhouse.

We had two cement mixers going.  Matt Jones has extensive experience with making cement slabs so he was heading up as well as mixing the concrete!

The finish slab was gorgeous!  Lots of hard work and sweat!!

The little girl on Ellen's left is always soooo excited to see Ellen because they both have the same name, "Elena".  That's the name Ellen goes by in Honduras so they both have the same name here!

This is big circle at 6:00 am Friday.  The little boy's house are in the middle reciting the chapter of the Bible they memorized!

This is the middle girls singing at morning circle time at 6:00 am!!  Sooo precious!!

It is always a blessing to go, to get to be with a team from the states, to share in English, and to serve!

This post really only touches on such a little of all the work, fun and loving that went on during the orphanage visit.  We had teams in the school, teams cutting hair, teams doing crafts, teams fixing all sorts of stuff, and still there was more.  We worked hard, from early in the morning into the dark, and we praise God for the opportunity He made to serve Him!!  May He bless the children!!

But Jesus called them unto him, and said, let the little children to come unto me,

 and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Luke 18:16