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[Page 7 of our Fall 2006 mission trip to Central America]

(19)  [Oct 10th]  Back to the Casa Guatemala orphanage [conveniently on the Rio Dulce river so just a sail upstream or downstream a few miles or so] to finally get to perform our Children's Crusade program with puppets and skits.  When we visited there last December they asked us to return and do something special for the children and we were thankful that they could schedule us in during the last week of school before the season break.  As it was, they were deep in final exams so - needless to say - the little ones were happy  for the 'change of pace'.

Every child listened with facination

David got a little help during a skit called Professor Snoodledorf from one of the volunteer staff, a fellow from Argentina, who was very  touched personally as he later translated David's story of our missionary journeys.

Debbie takes over with Pinky while David changes for the next skit.

The Noah's Ark Puppets stole the 'show' with music and a wonderful story dialog written in Spanish by Debbie telling of God's love and protection.

David's skit "Let Go and Let God" spoke especially to the older children and adults, including staff from many European countries, about what it means to truly put your life into God's hands.

Debbie's closing prayer to a reverent crowd was very moving - even a few tears could be seen in the eyes of some of the volunteers.  It was only a brief opportunity to bring Christ into a mostly secular setting but, as it always will be, even a little light will drive away darkness and that's all the Lord has asked us to do - shine!

(20)  [Oct 12th]  Now we sailed across the El Golfete, a large inland lake, to the Mayan village of Cayo Quamato, where our friend Richard aboard the catamaran La Vida Feliz has been helping the community in a variety of ways [see his website: www.lavidafeliz.com]. We have been invited by Patty, the school headmaster, to perform our Children's Crusade on the last day of school.  We are filled with joy.  With our scripts in Spanish now more polished and some new material added we are ready to see how the Lord blesses this time. 

View of the village taken from Faith

Richard helps us transport our "gear" to shore.

Children row every day to school in cayucos as seen in these photos from Richard's website

Richard financially assists a number of children to be able to attend this humble but efficient hilltop school

Setting up in the heat and high humidity was a real challenge.  Fortunately David decided to move the 'stage' to another part of the playground so we and the "audience" could be in the shade.  Halfway through, however, all of the children had to slide their chairs forward as the sun had moved!

Patty introduced us to eager children who were seeing a program like this for the first time!

Pinky started things off by happily dancing to "If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands". Well, she doesn't have hands but she did get everybody stomping their feet.  And she explained, in Spanish, that Jesus is why she's happy.

Then David's "Let Go - Let God" skit left him hanging and the audience standing.

Hysterical laughter was everywhere as "Baby C" (David inside of a baby blanket) appeared next.  Debbie's dialog with the children about how God looks on the inside, not the outside [even with an ugly baby], was a well learned lesson, however.

But the "main event" was once again the puppets who, through their dialogs and the words of their music, told a story not so familiar to these children about how God protected Noah and the animals but only through their faith and obedience to Him.  Every eye was fixed, every ear attentive, and most importantly many hearts open.  When the closing prayer was given there was a clear sense that decisions had been made, especially among the older ones.  Thank you, Richard, for your role in making possible this Children's Crusade and for the work you are doing for this precious island of souls!

As we try to do each time, we recruited one of the young girls to help us with the puppet show in hopes that it will inspire her to do more with her own faith.  At the Casa two of the volunteers, Faye from England and Jennifer from Canada, gave us a hand.

Patty can be seen enjoying the performance [standing, at right] along with the children.  Later we will give her a set of puppets as we did also to the Casa Guatemala orphanage.  One of our goals is to impress on local leaders how effective puppet ministry is in communicating Bible truths to children.  Thanks to Valerie & Fred Bowman of North Carolina and Kyle & Lorin we had puppets to give away.

[Click here for more stories and photos as  we worship at a Mayan church in the jungle and visit a new orphanage under construction]