Day 7 - Friday, July 11th 

Today was a great day.  We had a really late night last night with the talent show.  This show was a great experience for all.  It gives the children the opportunity to get up in front of a group in a safe environment where they will receive acceptance and love.  The children did a great job!  A few got stage fright when they got up in front.  After a few attempts, Rachael (one of the local camp counselors) would ask if they wanted the whole group to sing with them.  This allowed them to still stand up in front of the group and feel like they accomplished something.  We (all the leaders and counselors), were also given the opportunity to get up and perform, so as you can imagine, there were a lot of laughs.  We have some on video, so come to our presentation when we get home to see for yourselves.

It was another sunny day so we went to the pool and played outside a lot.   Rachael taught the lesson to the children, and she did a great job teaching the salvation story using the lost boys from Peter Pan and tying that into the story of the prodigal son and how we are all lost, but we can all be adopted through faith in Jesus Christ.

We helped Ian get some things ready for the next group coming in next week.  Setting up tents and cleaning an area that had gotten wet and dirty from the storms we had while we were here.

I had an interesting experience at lunch.  We were served watermelon and I asked for the salt (la sal).  I started putting it on my watermelon and everyone at my table started freaking out yelling "what are you doing"?  One of the counselors said she thought I was just being silly pretending to put it on my melon.  What I found interesting about this is that they salt everything here.  They pour olive oil on their bread and then salt it.  So many of them decided to try it and all hated it.  They all very clearly, in Spanish, let me know I was crazy and weird.  Mike has been telling me this for 14 years, but not for putting salt on my watermelon.  LOL

This was our last night at camp and we had a great dinner.  Hot dogs, fries, salad, and Ice Cream cake!  They know how to eat hotdogs the right way here.  With ketchup, no mustard.  We ended the night where all the children were given certificates where the counselors from their rooms gave them new names.   It was a really, really late night as they have a tradition here at the camp of painting the faces and other body parts of people who have fallen asleep.  As I was going to sleep at 2:00, I could still hear them roaming the halls laughing.

Tomorrow will be a sad day as we prepare to leave here.  It has been a blessing being here.

Your sister in Christ,

Carol (Team Member)