Today was community outreach day. Our goal was to invite children from the community around the center to our vacation at the center later in the afternoon. We headed out with Pastor Daniel and some of the kids from TRS and visited with people and children on the street. Then we went to a small school. The children all came outside and lined up and sang us their school song and national anthem. After that, some of the TRS kids sang and shared some of their favorite bible verses. That school was one of the hottest places I’ve experienced so far this year. There was not a cloud in the sky and the sweat was flowing freely! Finally we visited one more school, St. Marten’s. This school was incredibly nice by Sierra Leone standards.
Faith International School…You can see their school building in the background.
Two of these girls wanted to be nurses and another wanted to be a doctor…
After lots of walking we headed back to the center for lunch and to prepare for VBS. After eating a quick lunch I was simply exhausted and decided to lay down for a few minutes and I zonked! I woke up an hour later to see 90 kids already lined up outside the center ready for vacation bible school. This was at 1:30 and we had told the kids to come at 3:30, hoping that by Africa time they would be there by 4:00. It was awesome to see so many kids so excited to come learn about Jesus that they showed up two hours early! We sang worship with the kids, had a bible story and then the kids got to play some games in groups. My group played a game where we had to keep the beach ball from hitting the ground. We didn’t quite take in to consideration that there was razor wire very close by so we went through three beach balls rather quickly and it was back to the drawing board for a new game! Vacation bible school was major chaos, but well worth it. In all, including the TRS kids, there were 268 kids!
Lined up 2 hours early…
Plan B…Simon Says and Head, shoulders, knees and toes!
The kids lined up and ready to go home…
It was another awesome, but exhausting day. By the time vacation bible school was over it was only 5:00! We did whole group devotions outside for the first time since we’ve been here. When that was over a few of us that had skirts made for church went to pick them up at the tailor. Then John took us to see where he lives in Freetown. His home was small, but very nice. When we got back to the center we ate dinner and then spend time playing and visiting with the kids. Kandeh had a blast blowing bubbles!
Whole group devotion…
It is hard to believe we only have three more days in Sierra Leone. There are so many things that God is doing in this city.
{The Launes}
How fun that the kids were so excited about Bible School!
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