Jesus me ama.

This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. We had been doing informal spanish/english lessons all week. Mainly because of our lack of understanding each other when Daisy wasn't around to translate. I think I was saying "Como se dice..." in my sleep! So I would ask the kids how to say something by either pointing to it or - if there wasn't an object around - acting it out. :) We taught the kids colors and numbers and family names along with common phrases (How are you today? How old are you? Please...thank you...etc.) and typically easy English to begin with. Then we taught them Bible verses in Spanish and had them help us speak to them, too.

Then one day I had the great idea (in a time filling moment) to see if the kids knew any songs. We had done "Yo tengo una barquita" about a THOUSAND times (awww....I miss their little voices!!!!) and I wanted to know if they knew anything else. I asked one of my permanent hip decorations (Hellen - on my right in the stripes) if she knew "Jesus me ama" and she started singing it for me. So after the kids taught it to me in Spanish, I decided that I was going to tackle teaching it to them in English. And it worked! :) It was so amazing to see their eyes light up with the knowledge that they were communicating to me and that they were learning a different language. Of course, their pronunciation wasn't perfect - haha - but that's what made it all the more fun.

This picture is actually a few days after I taught them how to sing the song. Daisy had her guitar and we were practicing for the church service that night where the kids were all going to do their songs and bible verses for the community. I tried to use hand motions to help them remember the words...and that's what we're doing here. "The Bi-ble tells me so." Haha...it was all broken down syllable by syllable so they could better reproduce the proper sounds.

Ugh. I love these children. All 5000 of them. :) Okay...so maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but this picture certainly doesn't do justice to all of my little angels. This must've been a slower time of day - or they were all off playing some other game - because only a very small group of our kids is actually represented in this shot. But don't you worry....more pics and stories to come soon.

"Jesus me ama. La biblia dice a si." And not only does the bible tell me so...but so did the love of all of these children. And their parents. And their teachers. And the church memebers. And the volunteers. And the mayor. And the local doctors. And the store owners... And EVERYONE in the community who welcomed us in with a love that I've never experienced from complete strangers before. It was unbelievable. And truly only possible straight from the heart of the Lord.

Yes, Jesus loves me. These children show me so.