It’s our 6th step report already! This Friday is the halfway point of our time here and it’s absolutely flying by!

It’s been another jam-packed week for us. Wednesday 1st June was the ‘Día del Niño’ or ‘Day of the Child’, which is celebrated here in a similar way to Mother’s and Father’s Day. We went to a celebration at the local school on Wednesday and there was music, dancing, games & food and the children were having a great time! On Sunday, there was another celebration in between church services with performances and games. It’s so nice to see how they celebrate national days here!

We’ve continued our English teaching at school and have noticed that lots of the younger children really struggle to understand Spanish words, let alone trying to teach them English. The pandemic affected 2 crucial years in their educational development so please pray for these young people as they try to catch up on missed time in school. We’re really hoping that encouraging them to learn in a variety of ways will help to keep them engaged and excited about school.

At the weekend, we helped with the kids club in Gran Colombia again, and this week’s focus was giving out clothes to the children. It’s a poor area and what the church is doing there is really special, and we could see how much everyone appreciated the help. We’re praying that through these actions, the people in Gran Colombia will see the blessings that God is providing and be eager to seek and follow him.

On Saturday evening, we rehearsed with the worship band at church, getting ready for the Sunday service. We sang 3 songs – 1 in English and 2 in Spanish! We sang ‘Reckless love’, ‘Abre mis ojos’ (or open the eyes of my heart in English) and ‘Cambiaré mis tristezas’ and it was lots of fun! It is hard work singing in a different language though! We’re really grateful for the connections we’re able to make with the worship band by singing with them. On Sunday afternoon we played a big game of football with them which was so much fun, and we’re looking forward to spending more time together.

We had our first go at cooking arepas on our own at Orphaids on Friday. Lily and Kate excelled in the kitchen and cooked up a feast – it’s good to see that we’re learning from our cooking lessons with Nelly!

We would appreciate continued prayer for our health as we’ve been a bit under the weather this week. Also pray for our sleep to improve, as this is still a problem that we’re dealing with most nights and isn’t helping when we’re not feeling our best. We did spend a long weekend at Orphaids, leaving the camp on Wednesday evening so that we could have more time to rest. We came back to the camp on Monday feeling well-rested and ready to work so that was a big answer to prayer. We are feeling so supported in prayer and are amazed at the number of people praying for us, so thank you!

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18