the paquettes

Monday morning we drove 10 minutes to the Makarios school where they were starting their last week of summer school.  The theme for the week was “food and your 5 senses”.  Each week in the summer, they have one age group who comes, and this week it was entering 3rd grade.  They get 15 minutes each in a different classroom where they they learn math, Bible, reading, etc.  I wanted my girls to experience “school” so we went around to each classroom throughout the morning.  In each classroom, they go over the theme verse which was John 6:35.  It was neat for my girls to participate in reciting the verse with the other kids.  Some children asked how my girls knew the verse without reading the words, and the teacher explained to them they memorized it.  The kids were amazed, and then we told them it took 3 weeks and LOTS of practice!  🙂

Learning about taste and how important your tongue is!

listening to the Bible story in Spanish

PE!  Limbo was on the agenda today!  You like how Rilyn is holding the stick lower than the other person?  🙂

lining up to limbo!

My girls definitely had moments of feeling bored during school because it was all in Spanish, but I think it was really good for them to experience. Math class was fun because they could finally understand and do the same worksheets! They loved listening to story time because they could see the pictures and the book was about “smell” and a farting dog! My girls laughed right alongside the other kids!
After school we went to a local restaurant which served us fried chicken, beans, and rice. It was yummy!

Rilyn and Ellie

After lunch, all 35 of us went back to the school to do some maintenance work. Thursday was their big “end of summer school” carnival, so we wanted the school to look in tip top shape. There is construction going on at the school because they are building a cafeteria so James’ main job was to help with that in the afternoon!

James hard at work!

Another job was to clean the plastic chairs that the kids sit on!

Ella hard at work!

At one point during the afternoon, I found myself using the back of a spoon, scraping old stickers off of $2 plastic chairs with turpentine.  It was very time consuming because each chair had like 50 stickers on it.  I found myself thinking, I came all the way to the DR to do this?!  I would rather give them $20 so they can buy 10 new chairs!  But then I became thankful that God chose me to do this humbling task.
Matthew 25:34-40

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,  you did it to me.’

And I ask myself “Why did I come here?”  To feel important?  Because going on a mission trip is the “right thing”?  Or to serve, in response to the Gospel having received grace upon grace?

To serve by scraping stickers off of a cheap chair with a spoon.

God had me go on this trip with 50 other people to feel humbled by serving in the least ways.  Every time a big or “important” task needed to be done, it was done quickly by other people who didn’t have kids to watch over, or who were stronger, more able.  I was just one of the photographers on the trip, (and had to carry a 10 lb. camera over my shoulder everywhere) and I had kids to watch over.

Satan has a way of getting to you.

After we finished our tasks at the school, we got to walk around the village surrounding the school, Tamarindo.One third of the kids at the school live in this village.

*to read about day 3, click here. To read about day 5, click here*