Take a stick - say, part of an old broom handle, or a length
of dry bamboo - and collect some plastic bottle caps from here and there off
the ground, and you've got the components for a perfectly good game. Stick caps is what I called it. One little boy liked to toss them up himself
and hit them so he could play even when there were no friends around, but
mostly the kids were taking turns pitching and hitting. I discovered firsthand that this game could
become quite addictive. The kids I
played with were great sports about taking turns, and after I had pitched a
couple dozen times I was invariably handed the stick to give my best effort at
hitting. My cap hitting abilities were
about on par with my bat and ball hitting, so it was no more humiliating than
playing whiffle ball in my backyard with the grandchildren. Some of those kids could hit a cap so hard
that it split right in two when it made contact with the stick!
Me pitching bottle caps
Me attempting to hit bottle caps
Whenever there was a lull in the construction work it
provided an opportunity to mix it up with the local kids who were always
around. Some of our team members seem to
have a special gift for building relationships with the children, and I envied
them just a little, but my connecting point was to play games with them or take their photos. Every kid seems to know the word photo, and
they love to be photographed and then look at the images on our digital
cameras, so we could spend a lot of time together doing photo shoots. Occasionally I would even allow one of the
children to use my camera to take a picture of me with another child, which was
a special privilege that they seemed to love. Regi brought a couple frisbees and a ball or
two, providing some variety from stick caps, and those toys will undoubtedly be
used until there is nothing left of them.
In my week in Pedregal, the only toys I saw that we hadn't brought with us
were one tricycle, one doll and a couple of plastic guns. Other
than that the kids played with junk. A
latex glove kept two little girls busy in a dirt pile, filling it up, shaking
it around, dumping it out, trying different methods of filling it or
manipulating the filled glove. A boy was
the envy of his friends as he played with a snake that he had caught.
Brad showing the kids the photo he just took of them
Children at medical clinic were given balloons (Notice dog.)
Boy with snake
Pete playing ball with kids
Kristi getting a new hairstyle
Me playing frisbee
Mark giving piggy back ride
Kristi is happiest when she is surrounded by kids
Brad & Roscoe have tagalongs
Regi & Kristi always have kids around them
Debbie is a child magnet
Brad thumb wrestles with some tough guys
Debbie giving away crocheted crosses
Lin braiding some pretty hair
Regi and one of his many friends
Lin & Maria
The stickers and small playthings that were given to the
children throughout the week were excitedly received, but nothing beat the love
of the bracelets. Too bad there were
only a hundred to give away, as they were desired by boys and girls, teenagers
and adults. They went like hotcakes and
the kids who didn't get one were begging for them the rest of the week. These bracelets were special because of the
ingenious symbols imprinted on them which provide a guide for telling the story
of Jesus. The down arrow means that
Jesus came from heaven to earth. The
cross means that He died for us. The two
curved lines like a double rainbow symbolize the empty tomb, followed by an up
arrow and then another down arrow, meaning that Jesus went back up to heaven
but one day He will come again. It is
such a simple way to tell the story of Jesus that even a child could repeat it
after hearing it once, pointing to each symbol and explaining its meaning.
Julia showing off her bracelet
Our prayer is that the children and teenagers
who own and wear these bracelets now will
think about the gift of salvation that has been offered, and that they will
respond in their hearts by choosing to follow Jesus. If they think the love we lavished on them
was something, it doesn't compare to the love of Jesus that is theirs just by
saying yes to Him.
