I had heard that electricity, internet, and all utilities on this island shouldn’t be taken for granted because they can go out any time. Last night I tried posting about our activities from the day, but we had no luck with the internet! Here is the post from yesterday…
Today was a bittersweet day for us as we wrapped up our playground project, but also had to say goodbye to all of the kids at the Methodist School. It was our last work day here in Roatan and we certainly made a full day of it! We worked on into the evening to finish up the playground, but we finished our project by the end of the day. It’s always amazing how things seem to come together on the last day to get finished up in time.
This morning we had all of the Pre-K through 2nd grade students together for VBS for the first time. We ended up having over 60 children today and we talked all about the love of God and how Jesus loves them. I think there is no doubt the kids’ favorite part of VBS was singing “the banana song” with Charlie! The kids just swarmed around him anxious to sing this fun song with him. Next time you see Charlie around you’ll have to ask him to teach you the banana song. It’s definitely a children’s favorite!
As we wrapped up VBS we said our goodbyes to the children and told them what an impact they had made on us. They certainly brought joy to our lives and I believe we were able to share some of God’s love with them and instill some hope in their lives.
When the high school students started arriving at school around lunchtime they found a big hotdog lunch waiting for them that we had prepared. We probably made around 300 hotdogs to feed all of those students! After lunch we had our last day of tutoring the students in English. Again, it was tough to say goodbye, but I firmly believe we made a difference in their lives as well. Some of them even chose to practice the English they had learned by writing us thank you cards!
While all of this was going on we had another group from our team down at the playground putting the finishing touches on everything. This team worked incredibly hard today to finish the monkey bars, ladders, handrails, decking, and the roof, as well as the swings and climbing wall. They’re getting a slide for it as well that will go on very soon. Needless to say the kids are very excited about it!
One of the really special parts today about our playground construction was the unexpected help we got from outside of our group. All week long there has been a man working alongside us building the retaining wall that is holding up the playground. He doesn’t speak any English, but we have been able to communicate through very broken Spanish and hand gestures. Today he saw a couple needs and stopped what he was doing to jump right in and help us. One of our group members, Carol, is fluent in Spanish and was able to talk to him and we found out his name was Alejandro and he is 74 years old! Alejandro spent the rest of his day helping us finish our project. We invited him to come have lunch with us and he joined us for a sandwich and some fellowship time together.
From our experience at the Methodist Church in Flowers Bay on Sunday, to working with all the kids at VBS at the Methodist School, to tutoring the high school students at the school, to building a playground and spending time with people like Alejandro, there is no doubt that God has touched all of our hearts this week through the people of Roatan and I believe we have been able to share some of the love of God with these people as well.
I have included some pictures from the day below including the kids singing the banana song with Charlie, the completed playground, some of the work that went on today, as well as the views from our balcony at the mission house we are staying at. We have certainly worked hard this week, but I will say it makes all the hard work and sweat a little easier when you get to wake up to this view in the mornings and come home to it in the evenings!
Tomorrow we are taking a free day to unwind a little bit and do some fun things around the island after a long week of hard work. I’ll be sure to post some of the fun things we do tomorrow!
