Playin

Well, it looks like I'm going to be involved in La Casa Josefina(the orphanage associated with MTW) on a regular basis. Who knew that part of my new job description would include playing with kids a couple of days a week?

Right now, I'm just hanging out with the kids and helping out as needed. For now,I'm trying to get to know the kids a bit, understand the routine, and kind of figure out where I can specifically help as a nurse. Some of the kids have special needs, so it's always good to keep an extra eye on these kiddos.

La Casa Josefina is a good bit outside of town for me(and I already live a good half hour outside of the center of town). So......as you can imagine, there are plenty of wide open spaces surrounding La Casa Josefina. It's about a 45 min walk for me to get there. The mountains and countryside are beautiful, so I've really enjoyed walking there, but I haven't been caught in the rain yet, so we'll see what I have to say in the next couple of months.

It seems like just about every time I go, I end up with a pile of kids on my lap or just a bunch of kids huggin on me. They just eat up all the attention and playing they can get. The staff at the home do an awesome job, but there are 13 kids and it's just impossible to give them all the attention they would have if they had a mom and a dad. One of the things that just breaks my heart is when they call me “mama”. It just makes me sad. So, I'm glad to be able to spend some time with these precious children. It's been great for my Spanish too. Lots of the time, I can't really understand them. They talk so fast, funny, and mumbled, so its good practice. I'm pretty sure they don't really care about my grammar, so there's no pressure.....

If you're interested in reading a bit about these adorable kids(there's some cute pictures as well...), here's the link to the website for La Casa Josephina. All of the kids are lots of fun, but Jose definitely has a special place in my heart. He and I are becoming good friends.

http://www.josephinehouse.org/

Chocolatada

Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in an outreach to one of the communities affected by the flooding last year. Due to a river overflowing in the community flooding many people lost everything. One man lost five family members during the flood. Many destroyed houses are still standing as they were almost a year ago now. This was the first time I've been to towns deeply affected by last year's floods. It was an incredible sight.

Christmas came a bit early in Taray. A group of missionaries who have been ministering to this town since last year's flood came to give a big party, a Chocolatada(a big Christmas tradition here). About 150 people came, which was about double what we expected would come... Hot chocolate and a special bread were served, there were clowns for the kids, a craft for the kids, gifts for the children, special packages of food for the elderly and much more. It was a great event for all. There was a time of singing (Christmas songs of course) and the gospel was presented. The craft we did with the kids was a paper candle with “Jesus, Light of the world” on it. As it was linked to the message given, our hope is that the kids might remember this very important message as they bring these little candles into their homes.

Although this town has been through so much in the past year, it was great to see them enjoy this time of fun and celebration. Here are a couple of pictures from the event.