TheAg_news #Scotland & #Mexico: Work in La Loma

For the moment as Andrew is studying language full time (he has just 3 weeks to go) we are trying to prioritise our involvement in other activities. The things we have written about in previous posts are the things we have considered to be a priority.

This week I (Carol) have been getting around. On Wednesday I had my meetings with Paty and Sandra. On Thursday my plan was to go to La Loma around midday but as Tabitha hadn't slept in the creche the day before (too many kids to play with!) she was exhausted and had a 3 hour morning nap so we were delayed a little. That's ok, I know my priority! We were able to be there for a couple of hours. The team from N. Ireland were working hard preparing murals for the 'Day of the Child' celebrations at the church and mixing 17 tonnes of concrete and carrying it in buckets up about 30 stairs and then a ladder to fix a roof that was leaking! I was pleased to be able to connect with some of the church ladies who were there to help. Every conversation is encouraging as we get to know people in the church.

Today we went down into a shanty town close to the church where we ran a breakfast club program. The breakfast club was started when Jonathan Morton was pastoring the church but has been stopped for a while. Today was the first day it has happened in a very long time. I was very excited. One of the ladies stayed back at the church to look after Tabitha (who didn't sleep!).

What I notice from most of our photos is the absence of smiles. I am so glad that we were able to bring happiness to these kids faces just for a little while as we played games, shared about 'New Life' in Christ and gave out gifts. Some of the mothers seemed interested in coming to church on Sunday. Our prayer is that they will find not just happiness, but joy that never runs out.

Guille (gui-yey), the pastor's wife was announcing that the breakfast club will restart properly in May. Interestingly that is when we said that we would be available to be more involved in church activities. I reckon there's a fair chance we will have a lot to do with the club but that's great. This is a work that could prevent kids ever getting to the streets and it's one that we will really enjoy.

It was a very precious moment when I held a little 7 month old girl and she smiled as I played with her. Her mother looked just like one of our street kids and her little girl is her fourth child.

I left the church around 1.30 with Tabitha who was asleep before we had gone 25 meters and slept the whole way home!