American Feast!

Sunday morning began with Divine Litugry again. It was a beautiful service, and Stephen, the OCMC birthday boy got to serve in the alter with a few other varones from the hogar. Father John's homily as always was insightful and in spanish.

After church and lunch of the typical beans rice and tortillas, OCMC team had a photo scavenger hunt. The night before, I had helped them translate the clues. We tried to be witty and make them rhyme, but you can imagine how difficult that is in another language. The object of the hunt was to find things/places that highlight the hogar--the church bells, the pool, icons, etc. and after, the OCMC team will print the pictures. They will then give them to the hogar to put in the store for others to purchase. Deacon Mark even brought his photo printer to work on this project. The kids were broken up into the same teams from tren de chocolate. After they all got their jerseys on, and Father sounded his whistle, the hunt began. It was great fun! The kids, even the older ones, all told me they really enjoyed it.

After that, half of the team went into the comedor to begin preparing the American feast...more to come later. While that was going on, myself and a few other missionaries ran watermelon relay races in the pool! They thought we were crazy when we gave them watermelons instead of balls. It was funny seeing the older ones dominate the relays. But, it was all in good fun.

After the children showered and got ready for dinner, they all neatly lined up anticipating yet another suprise meal from the team. The missionaries had prepared grilled cheese, Cincinnati chili, potato chips, and apple crisp all in bulk. The idea was to try to show the children a little culture from the US and Canada. It was a huge success. Father John describes the preparing process as something from Madden--people jumping over others, yet exactly coordinated so there was not a single accident. Thank God! The meal was a total success, as the other half consisted of us serving and cleaning up. Madre Ines and Madre Ivonne joined in the meal as well. The kids were coming up for fourths of apple crisp! As dinner was ending, a third dance party (once again with the 4 approved songs) commenced. Several of us washed dishes, swept, etc. with the help of some of the children from the hogar. Even though we told them this was part of the treat, some couldn't help but still fulfill their duties. As if we hadn't eaten enough sweets and grease, the team celebrated Stephen's birthday with a giant chocolate cake during the team meeting. Before that cake was distributed, a little nutella and chocolate was placed in a bowl with a lit candle in the middle. We sang "feliz cumpleanos" and had highs and lows over enormous pieces of guatemalan style cake. What another full yet fabulous day!