Today, the "engage" team started at the community of El Dorado with the baseball team. This community was rebuilt by the Swiss Red Cross after it was destroyed by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. It was a community event as everyone came out to watch. Part of the team worked with the smaller children coloring and playing soccer. We visited an elementary school that was adjacent to the ball field. We also prepared a large amount of chicken stew to feed approximately 250 people there.
After lunch we went to the village of San Francisco. On the way there, we again distributed clothes to people lining the streets. Kids again flocked the bus as we drove up. We colored, had a lot of fun with water balloons and sang. We had the opportunity to share a testimony and presented the Gospel story. Afterwards, we passed out rice and protein packs. Hunger is a big problem and it was evident when I was trying to get a 5 year old girl that was sitting in my lap to smile. When my limited Spanish was getting me nowhere, I asked a translator why she wasn’t smiling. She stated that she wasn’t smiling was because she was hungry. Fortunately we had an extra pack of cookies that eventually produced a smile.
It was a blessing to meet some immediate physical needs and show the love of Christ through the Gospel
