The BEST Christmas Pageant EVER!

Melissa organized the Christmas pageant this year, and it was so amazing!  She did an awesome job with the costumes, props, music…everything!  The kids were just awesome.  The night started with 5 of the older girls doing a ribbon dance, and that made me want to lie down on the floor and bawl my eyes out.  Knowing what these girls have been through and the journey they’ve been on to gain self-worth and confidence…..and to watch them be able to perform in front of a crowd of people… wow.  The power of our Father is amazing.

The pageant is the story of the birth of Christ told from the animals’ point of view.   Some of the older girls were not so thrilled to be dressed like animals, but they ended up coming around. They all did such an awesome job…not one line forgotten!

Jonathan was a little sheep. It was H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S. Instead of crawling with the other sheep during their song….he kept flopping down on his belly and kind of swimming around on the floor. The shepherd…and even another sheep (Maribel) had to keep poking and pushing him. After that song, they were just sitting around onstage during another part.  He decided it was fun to pull off tufts of cotton from his costume….totally distracting from the acting going on.  The other kids were trying to pick it up and stick it back on him. classic.

The big night took place in a community center here in Shell, so it was a huge deal for the kids to perform in that setting.  There were several maestros and their families, tias, people from our church, missionary familes, and other random people from the community.  It is our prayer that hearts were opened to Christ and that the message of His birth was remembered above all.

Sorry these pictures are out of order. They’re a combination of mine and Dwight’s, and I can’t figure out how to change their order.  I’ll try to post some short videos, but I hope this works for now!

   

		Christmas Pageant VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Maestros & The School

  Progress on the school is very exciting these days!  When you start to see the walls go up it really feels like it will happen sooner than later. Here are some great pics Dwight took last week….

 

Flavio a.k.a. Puma

Hernan a.k.a. Caiman

Luis a.k.a. Burro

Jaime a.k.a. Profesor 

Jaime and his wife just welcomed a baby girl this week!  She needed an emergency C-section, and the free/cheap hospital in Puyo did not have any surgeons that day. Crazy, we know.  They had 2 options….to ride in an ambulance over 2.5 hours to another city or come to HCJB Hospital Vozandes here in Shell.  It’s considerably more expensive than the public hospitals in Puyo, but it wasn’t even a safe option to wait another 2.5 hours in an ambulance!  So….they ended up at Vozandes where her C-Section cost $800.00.  They were definitely not prepared for this part, because they thought it would be a natural birth until just this past week when she began to experience complications.  They have had to borrow money from family members to pay their bills, and it has cleared out their savings as well.  Please keep their family in your prayers, and also praise God for their healthy baby girl! 

Fredy & Jonathan

Dwight enjoys working on the site whenever no one else is around, so he took advantage of that today to finish a welding project.  Jonathan went with him, and it was like a dream for him….mounds and mounds of dirt at his disposal.  Dwight brought home some great pics, so I could share in the fun they had.

Dwight said he heard Jonathan yelling, “Atty, apos! Apos!” (pronounced aw-pose); translation- “Daddy, shoes! Shoes!”  This is what Dwight found…..

 

Total fascination.  I don’t even want to know why he has dirt caked all around his mouth.

LOVE his little feet and hands….this was my gift for the day.  He has grown and changed so much since April!  He’s getting a little chubby lately, and we love every bit of it. 

Pastor Appreciation Day

Sunday before last was Pastor Appreciation Day, and the church family we’re a part of had prepared a few special things to honor Pastor Angel and his family. 

We have been taking the 8 oldest girls to church for a while now, and they’re finally getting over their painful shyness.  They were all a part of a skit this morning, and I couldn’t believe that they were so excited about it. I later found out that it was a silent skit, so then I knew why they were so eager. They are usually terrified to speak in front of a crowd!   The skit represented the temptations and burdens of this world and the freedom that we can find from them through Christ.

This skit was about the pastor of the church, and how so many people in the body continue to put more responsibilities on the pastor than he can handle.  Each group from the church was represented by someone who would come talk to the pastor….youth group, women’s ministry, men’s ministry, worship, etc… Each person would explain to the pastor how they were just too tired and could not handle their ministry work any more, and they proceeded to hang the burden of their work around the pastor’s neck.  After the pastor was completely loaded down, he got down on his knees and broke down before the Lord. As he was crying and praying, Jesus (played by an American doctor, Matt Kappen) came behind him and took the burdens from his shoulders one by one.  Afterward, the people representing all of the ministries came back before the Lord and confessed, kneeling down before Him. Jesus replaced each of their ministries and provided the strength they needed to continue in their work.   It was really moving, and I think it spoke to a lot of people in the church.  Please pray that hearts would be touched for service to HIM.

Hernan (one of the maestros and a good friend) represented Missions.