Monday, July 16th

Monday started off pretty crazy! Jen had been getting ready for the big VBS launch and the time was counting down... Everything came together wonderfully though (as always), and the kids absolutely loved every second of it!!

The theme for the Vacation Bible School is Lava Lava Island... Everyone got dressed up in their favorite pajamas (since it was pajama day) and headed to Todd and Beth's backyard... The kids were divided up into 3 groups: the Fiji's, the Maui's and the Tiki's... I (Chad) had to get into character to lead worship... My name is now Chief Mahalo... All the kids call me Chief Mahalo now around LDM...

There were several stations for the VBS - storytime, crafts and games/snack... Brilliant! The kids loved each station, and as they went from station to station they chanted the names of their tribes the whole way!! You could here them from a mile away, "Fiji! Fiji! Fiji!!" It was so great... There was truly a buzz around campus because of the excitement of the kids! I hope they are as excited about church functions in 20 years...

After I, Chief Mahalo, led worship for the kids I ran to change and walked to Casa Hogar Douglas just up the road... The group left to go to Douglas while Chief Mahalo was leading worship, so I was about 15 minutes behind all of them... I was about to learn that there was plenty of work waiting for me there!

When I got to CHD the group was shoveling gravel and cement to make concrete for the steps on the side of the palapa... Todd worked on making the forms for the steps while the team mixed and brought the concrete over...

I worked on cutting down 3 trees that were hanging over the playground... The trees were dead or dying so we wanted to get them out of there... Todd is going to build a treehouse across the top of the three stumps of the trees... We cut the trees off at about 7 feet off the ground, so it was pretty precarious! We had to remove some of the fence so we didn't destroy it... This was quite an ordeal, so ask me about it sometime!

When we finished with the trees they were finishing the steps as well... We took a break for lunch, then everyone cleaned up their area for the trip home...




On the way back to LDM we encountered some huge ant hills... These are about 5 feet wide! Charlie is standing next to one of the anthills (he's 5'4")... Everything is extreme in Mexico! The heat, the rain, the sickness, the anthills!!

While I was at Douglas, Jen went to go see her little girl at Del Norte... We found out that her name is Daisy! They cut her hair really short so Jen didn't even recognize her at first... A lot of times they will cut the hair of smaller children so that they can control lice... Even though she didn't have hair, it didn't take long for Jen to recognize Daisy's smile... Here's a picture of Jen holding her...

So that's it for now... we're hoping to get fully caught up tomorrow, so stay tuned!!