First day of Work!

To start the day, my group decorated the room where the Vacation Bible School is going to be for the next three days. We took the themes of the sun, sky, and clouds and translated them into colorful streamers of yellow, blue, and white. The streamers were strung around the room along with posters and smiling suns that we picked out. After the finishing touches, we went upstairs to eat lunch in the kitchen along with other people in the community. Later, our group trekked upstairs to organize two separate room that consisted of tons of toys in one room, and goods for the house in another. It was extremely humid with only two fans running compared to the Bible School room that was completely air conditioned. The group from the morning had already completely cleared out the boxes so we could see most of the floor. The next step was to try and organize as much as possible between dolls, trucks, puzzles, and stuffed animals. We organized as much as possible and then returned home to take showers and prepare for dinner. - Lindsay

My day was very similar to Lindsay's. I spent half the day decorating the Vacation Bible School in the colors yellow, blue and white. After decorating when the whole group went to eat lunch with the people in the community I found it hard to strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to me. I found myself wanting to say something to the small family but I couldn't think of anything. It was interesting to see the different people in the lunch area and the amount of people that were there. It really made me realize just how blessed I am to have the things I have and to be able to do the things that I love to do. - Jenna

The staff at Community Missions is amazing.  So many smiles, such positive energy amid the pretty deep need all around.  All they offer is free to all, so impressive.  Working alongside them is actually quite easy - so far!  Looking forward to the week ahead as we try to stay flexible and share our time wherever needed.  They seem excited about us bringing VBS as they've never had it before - we hope it is as successful as ever - giving the children and their parents a lift this week.  How does this staff keep those smiles day after day and week after week?  Life is tough for so many here.  Elisabeth