After a morning of home visits, translation, and prayer, I spent our siesta time Wednesday cutting out hearts with Emily for a craft activity that afternoon for VBS. (We were doing Joseph's story, with a love your enemies theme.) One of the hearts I cut out freehand turned out so awful that I named it the "evil heart". This of course sent Emily and I into fits of laughter, which we tried to keep to ourselves as the other girls were sleeping.
Everyone is trying really hard, building relationships, using their Spanish (no matter how much they know), and persevering through illness, sore muscles, and bad medicine combos.
VBS started out great. We taught the kids several new songs (one of which we even sang in a round), and Bianca and Emily did a great job reading the story while I asked the kids questions. The kids were amazingly attentive and answered everything I asked! Things started going downhill, however, when we started the games and the craft. Suddenly there was pushing and shoving, yelling, stealing of crayons...it was just a mess. I might have been able to deal with it all if it hadn't been for the fight (pulling of hair and attempted punches thrown) that broke out at the back of the church right before we were to close in prayer. Some of the older kids broke it up, but I was done. It took everything I had to lead the closing prayer, dismiss the kids, and walk out without completing losing control. My face, though, could not hide how crestfallen, angry, and frustrated I was. After spending an hour talking about love, a fight breaks out in the middle of the church.
After I talked to Fior (FH/DR staff), she decided the kids needed to experience some consequences, so we didn't go out to play with them that night. I felt really bad, because I knew that it was many of the well-behaved kids who were outside waiting for us. Byron and I had a long talk that evening, which really helped me cope with the situation. And he shared an important realization with me, "Imagine how God feels every day when we break His heart with our actions."
It's been a hard day, but tonight I am so grateful for my dear old friend.
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