We went preaching in a poor Hispanic trailer park in Moultrie, which is about 1 hour away. These people have been without jobs for weeks, so we took donated clothes, rice & beans packaged for cooking, and we cooked and served many hot dogs, sodas, and snack cakes. The boys gave their first drama yesterday, and the crowd really enjoyed hearing their message. Stennes is wearing "chains" of slavery to sin, and each boy presented the Roman Road to Salvation, helping him to lose his "chains". This was a very good Spanish practice for them.
Caleb and Josiah spent quite a bit of time readying the supplies Saturday morning. It takes a bit of coordination to do the shopping, bagging up, planning, buying the Bibles, printing our family-written tracts, and many other details.
Mean Ol' Mama had the delightful job of babysitting these two little beauties while their mothers searched through the clothing.
They began to come out even before we had finished unloading the clothing and other supplies.
This little guy was so happy with his toys. His bag is almost as large as he is.
The people lingered while we sang and cooked the hot dogs. Nothing fancy, but we try to show God's love as best as we can.
The group of men towards the back of the photo (by Mean Ol' Mama) showed up in the white truck while we were barely beginning. They stayed and stood for the entire time. Afterwards, the man in the denim shirt came up to shake hands and say,
"Gracias por decirnos esta buena informacion." [Thank you for telling us this good information.] He and his friends were very happy to receive free Bibles and tracts.
The little girls were excited to have the paper "chains". The Girl made them as her contribution to the drama.
The larger man in the forefront (striped shirt, gray pants) is from Cuba. He talked with us for a long time afterwards and told how there is much violence and desperation in that trailer park. Why?
"No hay trabajo y no hay Dios." [There is no work and no God.] Sad but true...
This little guy slept peacefully while his mother looked through the clothing. She was probably the most desperate of the women there.
ChubChub made a new friend and played happily while the others loaded up to return home.
The Girl and Branch were responsible for picking up the trash left behind (as well as the trash that was there when we arrived). We try to leave life and hope...a better place than what we found the first time...Optimum Family Time.
Finally!! Our piano received a long overdue tuning by our friend Ron. He's blind, which makes it even more fascinating to watch him do his job.
"Un minuto mas...casi, casi..." [Almost done...]. ChubChub's haircuts are always a challenge for us all. We scrounged around and found a piece of candy for bribery. Hey, when you're desperate...
The boys are working on 3-month bird journals in preparation for another competition. It's always fun to watch them get excited about spotting a certain species or color. Their little sketches and information are quite beautiful in their simplicity.
ChubChub has been very sleepy these past few days; we think he's in a growth spurt. Mean Ol' Mama has allowed the children to sleep in this past week, and it has been lovely. Time for Mama alone in the morning...
Can you believe this next photo? Bainbridge was under a hard freeze warning, and Branch found this sheet of ice when he went out to break up the ice in the chicken waterer. Brrrrr.
Mean Ol' Mama's on a baking kick again, trying new recipes. This bread was a major hit, although it was a bit too soft to slice well. Gotta tinker with that recipe a bit.
LEGOs for hamsters?? This is Anders' invention to support the water bottle. Engineering at its finest. The little rascals are growing quickly and are cute, cute, cute.
You know you love your little brother when... Stennes adores ChubChub and gladly crawled around the yard to give "Buffalo Bill Junior" his daily ride.
More bread? Yep, Mean Ol' Mama tweaked the recipe on the VERY SAME DAY as the previous photo and baked 7 more loaves. Why? Because we ate the first 6. Within a few hours. Not. A. Crumb. Left. At least it's good for them. How will we feed these kids when they're teenagers? [...sigh...]
