Part 1....

I hate starting with this again… but I do apologize for not writing for quite a while. 

~An overview of my camp this summer…

I was in 4 different villages running 2 camps per village, one for 3-6 year olds, and the other for 7-10 year olds.  Camp ran for 2 months and overall we averaged about 150 with all four villages combined.  Overall I’d say it was a huge success.  The kids were thrilled to be able to sing songs in English for and with the participants.  Kids are still asking when the next camp day is.  I also had several parents tell me how happy they were with the program.  I had one mother tell me her 2 daughters make her sing some of our songs every night before they go to bed.  Another mother said to me, “My daughter loved your camp and so did I because before camp she walked around shy and timid, but after going to your camp every week she was bouncing around the house happy and singing all you songs!” And then she thanked me with a hug.  Even though I already know of things I will be changing for our next year, we had a fabulous summer! :)

My mom was here for 2 weeks in August.  We had a fabulous time.  Her first week, we worked with Ben and his family on a roof for Maria.  She is one of the many Maria’s in Pueblo Nuevo.  She is the sister of Oneydo who has helped out and worked with the mission for a number of years.  The VMM had built her a block house in 2005 but that was before we included a zinc roof.  Here is a couple of photos of us working on the roof.

After a very sad day of saying good bye to Ben, his family, and Anna, my mother and I spent a few days visiting with different families.  Everyone was VERY excited my mom was coming to visit, and everyone wanted to meet her.  We ate dulce with a couple of different families.

One family I have become very close to this summer is a family in El Canal, Sandra and Obie, and their three children, Diana (11), Odil (9), and Israel (7).  As a gift for the family, my mom and I took Sandra and her kids shopping for new school uniforms.  We all had a fabulous afternoon which ended with my buying everyone ice cream and eating it in the town square.  It was a great afternoon.

In the middle of the second week, my mom and I spent 2 days and nights relaxing by the pool and enjoying walks along the beach.  The resort is going under so there weren’t many people around.  But we had some nice relaxing time.

After my mom’s 2 week visit I was sad to see her leave but anxious to get everything set for school to start.