Friday - Bag Day!

Hey gang,

When we last met we were about to begin decorating the goodie bags to be delivered to the children today, our last day of VBS. The group stuck a sticker on each of the 250+ brown bags and called it a night.

This morning we stuffed the bags with a variety of “goodies” including pencils, band-aids, candy, bubbles, stickers, small toys, and a kazoo. Many of these items were donated by St. Anne's members!

We had a little extra time before lunch so we traveled to the house the 2008 mission team helped build. It was a new experience for many of us. We were faced with a new level of poverty that shook the conscience.

The resident was extremely hospitable. He not only welcomed us into his home with a smile, he also brought out chairs for us to sit in. After talking with him for a while and finding six puppies to take pictures with, we hiked back up the hill to our church for another amazing lunch of beans, rice, chicken, and mango prepared by the best cooks on the island. The lunch was especially important today because today was Bag Day and we needed all the energy they had to offer.

At VBS, after singing a few of our favorite songs, we organized into the “baddest” bunch of security guards that church has ever seen in order to shuttle the kids out while handing them their goodie bags. After they were all out, we sat in the pews and gave each other high fives. We pulled it off-what an amazing week!

We rode back to our hotel and treated ourselves to more Helados Bon—the best ice cream around. After making a run to the Market for some “tourist” things, we all enjoyed hot showers and using the Internet café a few doors down. Dinner was again FANTASTIC - steak, chicken, rice, pasta, tons of vegetables and, of course, passion fruit juice. The day ended with worship time and our “highs and lows” of the day. We are all excited for tomorrow-we are going to a 15th birthday party where we THINK we’re going to learn to Meringue and if we do, we’re SURE we’re going to make fools out of ourselves. :)

Until next time…

Matt