Class Misison Trip to Santos Pamba School

Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for your prayers last Friday when I took my class on the mission trip to the Santos Pamba School! God heard them. We had a wonderful time. My students had been praying all week that it would be sunny and not rain. It didn’t rain until we were in the bus on our way home! I had been praying that this first visit to Santos Pamba would be an eye-opening experience for my students and that they would walk away changed. Prayers were answered!
We had 15 adults go with us, including my new Principal and his wife, as well as my Director’s wife, and many parents. Pablo also went with us. When we arrived I assigned each student with an “amiguito” from Santos Pamba to be buddies for the day. We then sang songs (Pablo played the guitar). My class presented the Christmas story play and we talked about how Jesus is the best Christmas gift ever. Afterwards we did a Christmas art project with them and then went to play games outside. We brought balls and big parachutes to play with. We then had lunch all together. The day went by quickly and soon it was time to leave. My students gave their amiguitos little Christmas candy bags and hugged them goodbye. Many of my girls cried because they didn’t want to leave their amiguitas. When we returned to school I had them journal and write about what they observed that day and learned from our trip. These were some of their precious comments:

“I observed that my buddies’ shoes were ripped and many of the kids were not wearing socks. Thank you God that I always have socks.”

“I was nervous to meet the kids because they are poor and I knew that my heart would be sad for them, but God helped me not be nervous and comforted my heart. I love my new friends and hope we can keep visiting them.”

“We need to love poor people like the kids at Santos Pamba because God loves them just as much as He loves us.”

“The gift that my buddy gave me (a paper angel) is the best Christmas gift ever because I know he made it with his heart. He doesn’t have very much, but he spent time making me a special gift.”

These are just some of their comments. My purpose of the trip was accomplished, Praise God! My students feel in love with the kids at Santos Pamba, and most importantly, they learned to love those who are unlike them. They are eagerly awaiting the next trip we will have to Santos Pamba.

Thank you for your prayers and constant support! Above are some pictures from our mission trip.