Día del Niño

Arriving home from furlough in April, we hit the ground running. Actually, it feels like we haven't stopped since!

The 30th of April in Mexico is "Día del Niño". We always celebrate with a children's party at the church -- piñata, cake, games, music. Iglesia Vida Nueva held their kids' party the first Saturday of May in the village of Tecomate, a suburb of Guasave.

This year, thanks to an amazing young lady in the US with a heart for children, we were able to give a baby doll to each little girl who attended the party. For the past year, families across the US have been sending baby dolls (new or gently used) to "Baby dolls for Mexico". We were even able to save some baby dolls for our planned Christmas outreach in the migrant camp! God is so good!

This little girl was so in love with her baby, she didn't put it down the whole day. I saw her a few days later and her grandma said she's been carrying her baby around all the time. What a joy!

We had a collection of wooden cars and trucks which another mission team had gifted us, so we were able to share with all the little boys who came. We're thinking, though, that maybe in addition to "Baby Dolls for Mexico", we might want to start "Hotwheels for Mexico". ;^)

Here are some more random shots of Kids' Day 2011 --

Hermana Eugenia leads the kids in a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the wonderful gifts He provided: the cake, the music, the sno-cones, the games, the clowns and of course the toys!

The ladies of the church really outdid themselves -- they even made sandwiches for each child!

We brought our handy-dandy sno-cone machine (a gift from a church in Tucson) with plans to make sno-cones for everyone. Arriving, we discovered that the power system (the church is powered by a car battery with a converter) wasn't strong enough to run the machine. So, we packed up the machine and buzzed over to the pastor's house where we were able to shave the ice and then cart it back over to the church. It was, most definitely, worth the effort!!!

Working with children here is totally rewarding! Yes, there are struggles -- just like in the US -- but the kids here are so ready to smile and they have such faith! Pray that God would be glorified in their lives and that He would care for them and provide for all their needs: physical as well as spiritual!