Remar Orphanage--CCBC

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, we spent a second day at the Remar Orphanage in La Libertad.  This time we brought the inflatable and lunch!  

The CCBC kids also lead a praise and preaching service for the older kids. The Salvadorans presented a drama and one of the CCBC leaders gave the gospel.  It was amazing to see them all worship together.

Lunch was the next challenge . . . we cooked 500 hotdogs!  The littlest kids were the first to eat.  Guillermo is leading them in the prayer.

Juntos Together--Remar Orphanage

For the second time in two weeks we went to see the kids at the Remar Orphanage.  This time it took two buses, two vans and a SUV to get everyone (more than 125 of us) and everything up the hill.

Lucy, the house mom, was so excited to see what we bought with the money Christ Chapel Bible Church left with us.  She just kept saying thank you over and over as we unloaded everything.

We didn't get there until 11:30, so we got started on lunch as soon as we arrived.  

Everyone else played a variety of games with the kids, including their version of "wet paint" Twister.  

There were so many of us we had to eat in shifts.

 After lunch we divided into teams and held a rally, with six different stations, including Bible verse (in English and Spanish), games and team cheers.

Even though everyone was worn out by the end of the time, it was an awesome day and everyone loved it.

Youth Trip

The mission trip with the high school students from Christ Chapel Bible Church started on Monday, July 14.  We spent the entire day working with Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva in Nueva Conception.  Since there are almost 90 people (youth and chaperones) it takes awhile to move everyone around in three different buses.  

We formed 20 different groups and shared at three different schools.  

At noon, we all returned to the church for lunch and then in the afternoon all 130 of us went to the central park and played various soccer matches and basketball games with neighborhood kids.  We were supposed to have a concert, but there was a huge downpour so it was impossible to bring out the sound equipment.

On Tuesday we went to a school in San Salvador and half the team shared in the classrooms and the other half painted!  What a day!  There were more than 200 professions of faith in the classrooms.  

In the afternoon our three-day VBS started in a community center in Apopa.  There were about 70 kids on Tuesday.  The day included songs, drama, game time, Bible story time and craft time.  

McKinney Kind of Christmas

We went to  my sister's house for lunch on Christmas day and what a lunch it was:  various dips/appetizers, ham, cheesy potatoes, mixed veggie casserole, cherry fruit salad and hot rolls. All of this plus a couple of trays of cookies and a pecan pie for later.

Gift exchange time is always fun with the bulk of the packages going to Dad, the girls (our nieces) and Jon.  Dad's treats tend to be of the edible variety and most are very sweet.  He unwrapped three different kinds of chocolate covered cherries.  Note that I say "unwrapped," not opened because there's never an expectation that he will share the bounty.  

The best part of the day is the after dinner/gift game time.  As usual, Dad, Stephen, Bruce and Jon went straight to the round table for their traditional game of Hearts.  We know better than to bother them during this time.  The rest of us play the less competitive group board games.  This year it was In a Pickle, followed by MadGab.  

It was a great Christmas!