Monday, July 4

Happy Independence Day! Woo! Today we had the first day of HC – for the girls. We headed out at our normal time, although I’m not sure why. We headed straight for the town hall to set up for HC and then went back to Tresford and Fabiola’s house, where we sorted through all the remaining junk we had. This included decorations from WOV and TOV, toiletries, toys, and clothes. When we leave, all of these supplies stay with Fabiola so she can continue to give them away. We finished all this around 11, and we weren’t eating until 12, so I took some time to catch up on a little reading. At 12 we went to the restaurant and enjoyed some baked ziti, which was wonderful! Julie has been such a great cook while we have been here. After lunch, we went to the town hall to do last minute prayers and introductions to the helpers Fabiola recruited. When we opened the doors, there were already a lot of girls outside. Joyce let in girls 10 at a time. Each girl got a ticket, a peanut butter and jam sandwich, and a piece of candy. Beauty was the first girl in, which I loved! We seated the girls based on their height, with the shortest in the front and the tallest in the back. When the program started, Joyce first said a prayer over all the girls. Then we sang a song, and all of the puppeteers – including myself – went behind the makeshift curtain/cover thing we had made. Pearl was “Angie,” and I was “Paul.” We talked about what it meant to be undignified for God, and then we sang the song. Caleb, Trey, Joshua, and Yeshua helped with the smaller puppets that came up and sang and danced after the song started. After the puppet show, things proceeded normally. We had the drama, sang more songs, made the bracelets, and Fabiola asked how many of the kids wanted to accept Jesus into their heart. The amount of girls that raised their hands was overwhelming. We had 382 girls in attendance and at least 2/3, if not more, raised their hands. After this, we did the prize drawing. I was amazed at how loud the girls were over the Barbie dolls! They absolutely loved them! While only a few girls got prizes, all the girls were good sports. When the prize drawing was over, the girls got a wordless book to remind them about the colors of the bracelet, a certificate saying they memorized John 3:16, and a package of cookies. We tidied up and headed home, but we were a little bit later than normal because the HC didn’t end until 5, and we normally leave at 4. It was definitely worth it though! We got back exhausted and smelly, but had a wonderful time.