We woke up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to go! We all got in the bus, made a quick pit stop to get supplies, and arrived at St. Margarets. We dropped off chapter books that we collected prior to the trip. We recieved a tour from Susan the Principal of the school.
Here she is with Dave explaining to us how the classes are able to utilize the computer lab and the library. Then we drove to Christ the Redeemer to pick up our supplies for JASY. We toured around the area and sorted our stored supplies for the rest of the week.
Then we made our way to Riverton. This is the place where many of our campers live. It was such a special experience to see where they all live. Emma Fantuzzo expressed how amazing it was to see the circumstances that the children live in and the smiles on their faces. We all know that if we were to be living in those conditions we wouldn't be as happy as these kids. It is special to see how the faith of these children is so strong that their way of life doesn't seem to bother them. They are happy! They are loving! They are like any kid! It was so amazing to see how Emma and all the other new volunteers reacted and were humbled by the Riverton experience.
After our tour of Riverton we met up with the kids and had lunch! It was so great to break bread... or rather chicken... with this beautiful faces!
We took the kids to the nearby zoo to end our special day! We played games outside the zoo like relay races, soccer, and simon says! The zoo was so great! Many of the kids had never been to the zoo! We asked them which of the animals were their favorite, they answered crocodile, monkeys, and the snakes!
When we got back we had a great American celebration and finished the night with devotions. Tonight in devotionals, we read the quote, “Each relationship between two persons is absolutely unique. That is why you cannot love two people the same. It is simply not possible. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you. And the more you know another, the richer the colors of that relationship” and today throughout the day we had so many tangible examples of this.
We saw it with each other, as we continue to get to know one another, even when we are tired from traveling, the day, and the heat.
We saw it as we were introducted or reunited to the Jamacian volunteers.
We saw it when we held hands with the kids and toured their community.
Each interaction was different and unique and drew something out of us, but all of them left us feeling thankful. Thankful to be here and thankful for the lives that we are privileged to live and thankful for the chance to cross paths with the lives of the kids here. Today was beautiful and as the week progresses and the more we begin to know one another, the colors of the relationships will only get richer.