The last two days of the week at the orphanage were filled with time spent with the children finishing vacation bible school, crafts, and just having fun with the children. The kids went crazy when we presented them with a snack of peanut butter and chocolate. In this country, peanut butter is so expensive and hardly available. The kids literally hung on Rebekah to get more and more. When the jar was empty, Rebekah had it caked on her hands and left to wash them. She never made it to the sink since all the kids followed her and literally licked her fingers until every last bit was gone.

When Rebekah finally made it to the bathroom, in the kids school, she realized the lock on the stall didn't work. She used a toothpick from the craft we were doing to slide the latch closed. After doing so, she lifted up the toilet seat and found distgusting unmentionables. When deciding to try another stall, she realized the reason the lock was broken was because it didn't have a handle to slide it. She then realized she was stuck behind a 15 foot tall concrete door which ran from floor to 2 feet below the ceeling. She was truly stuck. She screamed for me. I came with a whole group of kids behind me and we tried to figure out a way to get her out. There wasn't one. Finally, she climbed on top of the toilet and, since she has years of gymnastics lessons, she leaped to the top of the stall wall and balanced herself on top of a six inch wide wall with only 2 feet of clearance between the top of the wall and the ceiling. From there, she hung over the door and we were able to lower her down! Never a dull moment with Rebekah.

Josh had the opportunity to help in the kitchen with food prep and then got a lesson in making homemade tortillas. It is a skill God gave to the Central Americans inherently since they can make perfect circles every time!

We never before realized how isolated we were up at the orphanage until we spent a week there. We hadn't seen moving cars, or markets or light in the evening for that matter. It gets dark at 7pm so after dark there is nothing to do but go to bed. You get up and work with dawn and go to sleep at dusk. The children are such a blessing despite battling with scabies and lice. They are always smiling and wanting more hugs.

In retrospect, we think we were sucessful helping the children to learn a little about God. They have memorized
God is real- Dios es real
God is with us always- Dios esta con nosotros siempre
God is strong-Dios es fuerte
God is awesome-Dios es grandioso
God is in control-Dios tiene el control

I guess if nothing else, they have these verses to rely on during their lives. We also have wonderful memories with them.
Thank you for praying for us.
Love,
The Ziners