Hmm. The children arrive tomorrow. I think this place will be simply bursting with joy when they do. It is amazing to see the joy of the Lord in children, and how much He must delight in them, as He delights in us. We are His children. :)
Yesterday was quite the day. We went on a picnic with the family, which of course included a few second cousins, fifth cousins, and Edgar, our German brother, who is also a volunteer here. We rode a rickety bouncy young bus for about an hour and a half. then we reached the waterfalls where we would have our picnic.
This was a most marvelous and extraordinary thing, a novel idea. The waterfalls? They are used like a communal shower for the people. The men go “upstairs,” to the first waterfall, while the women go to the lower waterfall. They all take showers with their clothes on, except the small children, who unabashedly wear no clothes at all and run around splashing through the water. Halfway through this wonderful experience it occurred to us that all the water from the men was splashing down upon and we were showering in it. Ha.
Every evening now at 5 o’clock the children come. All the games we play become a competition to see who can get the “sisters” on their team. Sierra Sister, Bridgette Sister, and Tacie Sister taught them to play red rover, and this is now their favorite game. I think they like the aspect of holding hands, and being a team.
Jeba, a skinny little boy of ten, dances ever spare moment he can. He is quite the dancer. If a little child gets hurt, or cries or something, he breaks into dancing, rolling all over the floor till the baby is laughing at him. If any child gets hurt, every single other child gathers round and fawns over them till they are better. There is a lot to be learnt from these children as to caring for others, and how we as the hands and feet of Jesus should be.
When we were in town yesterday, there were monkeys all over the streets. :)
Another thing that is everywhere is pictures of light skinned people. Even the believers have these pictures in their homes. It’s a sad thing to see.