A starry eyed boy said "Praise God"

I went to Compassion International this weekend to work with Esther. All the kids arrive in their Compassion uniforms... most tattered and torn but worn with pride....

I took with me a bag of donations, a mixture of pencils, paper, crayons, learning flash cards... and of course - a shiny new soccer ball. When walking outside with it I passed a little boy - wide eyed and opened mouth who softly said "praise God" as his eyes watched the ball in passing... I smiled and told him to come on...

I went out and threw it to one of the goalies who was previously fixated on the small red ball they used for their soccer ball... but now... the children erupted in a sea of cheers and took off running down the hill to the real football field. When it was time for classes to begin, running up the hill, holding the ball as a treasured prize they returned it to me. Surprised... I stood there and watched the smiling kids run in the building. I walked around, thought a bit, and an hour later at break time a hoard of kids were around me... I wasn't quite sure for what but I enjoyed walking surrounded by them. Suddenly - I had a moment of clarity - the futobl... I said - do you want to play with the futbol (which was simply sitting in a plastic chair unattended about 10 yards away) "Yes, yes" they screamed... I said go get it and they cheered as they took off running to grab it and race back down the to the field again.
Kids playing with a red ball around the size of a soft ball... this was their soccer ball...

Kids with new soccer ball

A group of kids at Compassion International

Girls at Compassion International

Esther invited me to a friend's wedding. I thought it was a wedding such as we know it. We left at 4 for an event that said it was to start at 2...interesting.... We arrived at 4:30 and the event had yet to begin. I soon discovered this was not the wedding - but the reception. The ceremony was quite different from ours... like when they cut the cake - the woman gets on her knees and feeds her husband... um no.... I told Esther that'd not fly in the states - she said a woman kneels to greet her husband every day - hmmm... The cake was a dry fruit cake with 1/4 inch thick frosting that was about twice the sweetness of ours but hard, as if it was a month old.
So Ruth cannot hold a camera straight up and down and I look SO much bigger than I am in this dress... it's funny how uncomfortable I was in it... not only because it's extremely cumbersome and hard to walk in and it made locals stare at me even more... but just looking down and feeling bad about the way I looked... oh well...

Esther and me