Panama 2010 - Day 2

Today our group had the chance to play with and get to know the children here. Our first location was a little daycare where we got to play, draw, act and eat lunch. Most of the kids her were 10 or under.One group prepared and acted out the story of Jesus calming the storm. Later on we actually got to expierience a Panamanian storm. As we were at our second location, an orphanage, a thunder and lightening storm hit. The storm was so cool to see and hear and the rain was refreshing compared to the humidity. Although the noise of the rain on the roof and the thunder made it difficult to talk to the group as a whole so we broke up and played various games like duck-duck-goose, and red light, green light. There was even a group teaching how to make friendship bracelets (however, most of them ended up being taught how to make more intricate ones by the kids). The kids at the orphanage ranged from 1-18 years old. Some of the kids in the orphanage had parents but due to various circumstances were unable to live with them. As a group we got to pray for them that they would be able to return home with their parents or be adopted into a good family when the time was right and once they had a chance to learn more about Jesus. One really cool thing was when one of the kids at the orphanage prayed for two fellow kids who were sick. It was great to hear him talking to God, even if there was a language barrier keeping us from understanding. One of my highlights was hanging out with one little girl named Alexandra.We weren't able to communicate with her too well but like with the other kids we ran around and gave her piggy back rides. However the funnest part was teaching her our names along with other english words like "Howdy Ashley," "High-Five," "Pinky Swear" and various others. I am so excited to be able to go back to both locations and hangout with the kids more!

-Ashley "Peach" Stakset