Day of the Student at INFOP

We continued to be blessed and honored by the wonderful staff and students at INFOP the agricultural school and this time it was their invitation to join them for a recreation day - the Day of the Student!

I think it's one thing for us to go and teach a lesson but uniquely different to be asked to join them for fun!  We have been there for three years and never knew that they had a Day of the Student, so this was quite touching to be invited in as part of their fun time or down time.  We really praise the Lord for this, as it is wonderful to be so fully accepted by the staff and students!!

We asked them how they celebrate Day of the Student and they said they had games like tug-of-war and relays and the students had the whole day off.  I asked if we could bring some games and they gave us permission to do whatever we wanted!

It was time for the three newly appointed "game masters" to put on their thinking caps (which looked amazingly similar to their everyday hats) and get to work!

Matt finally figured how to make a hole in one... one golfball at a time!  But what type of game is this?

Next Matt was cutting up some PVC tubing... this is supposed to be a game?

Kelly was busy tying up loose ends, but how is this going to be fun?

Finally, the day of the student came and true to their word they had games... to be precise they had two; tug-of-war and a relay.  So, our odd collection of stuff was a welcomed addition!

We had made four sets of lawn goals or bola toss!!  The students LOVED it!!  Each team gets three bolas and each bola has two golf balls, so that's 48 golf balls!!  Each bola ladder (the PVC thingy) is made from 24 feet of PVC tubing, so the four sets used 96' of tubing!!

 We also brought some empty pizza boxes!

 We had pizza box relays in which they runners needed to hold the boxes with just one hand over their head!

Some of these guys should consider changing from agriculture to pizza delivery!!  In the next round, we notched it up by making it five boxes instead of three... sooooo much fun to watch!!

The officials were always on hand, overseeing the games, and ensuring fair play was maintained... or, maybe they were talking about what's for lunch?

 Matt is explaining the next game to a group of rather unsure contestants.  The game is simple: dunk the huge sponge in the barrel of water, pass it back over your head and the last person squeezes out the water to fill a bucket.

We explained to the director that the games would include this water game and he said fine.  Then he told us that the water pump for the institute was broken and they had almost no water, but they would give us water for the game.

The day of the games came and in met the other Equip missionary, Greg Brewster, at the entrance of the road that leads down to INFOP.  Right there on the corner is a water pump station that was currently pumping water to the city and there was a hose just pouring water out like a fountain.  So, Matt explained to the attendant about the games for that day, that INFOP's pump was broken, and asked if we could have water.  He said that was fine but that the pump would only be running for 15 more minutes.  We filled the two barrels in just over 10 minutes and left the attendant with a big handful of some of the candy to be used for the games... he was pretty happy!

We had already been to INFOP that morning and had not noticed the pump station, the hose or attendant, but when we came out to meet Greg we couldn't help but notice it all.  Just a coincidence?  I don't think so.  God is truly a loving Father who loves us all as His own dear children.  He provided what INFOP really could not have provided themselves.  He can provide what we need and can not provide for ourselves, the living water - Jesus!

 When the action started, only some of the water actually made it back to the bucket.  It was really fun... to watch!!

Matt stayed in the middle cheering them on to wetness and glory!

After all the wetness of passing the sponge back, the last man really worked to get every drop possible into the bucket!!  They liked this relay so much that we ran it until there just wasn't enough water to have another!!

We also introduced our own version of tug-of-war, one-on-one, and on top of crates.  The first person to let go or step off looses.

Greg had previously worked at a children's home in Comayagua and was excited when this young man came up to him... he was one of the boys at the home who is preparing himself at INFOP for a career in agriculture.

After the games we moved on to a craft - the FPG-9!  What is the FPG-9 you might ask?  It is the Foam Plate Glider - 9" and you can look it up on the internet to find out how to make this at home!

These are young guys anywhere from 15 to 21 years old and they all loved making the foam plate gliders!! 

We did grease the competitive spirit by bringing a HUGE bag of candy.  While we did give the candy to the winners of the relays, in the end, everyone received candy!!

This is what I have observed to be good: 

that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction 

in their toilsome labor under the sun 

during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.  

Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, 

to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. 

They seldom reflect on the days of their life, 

because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20