Lazy Sunday Afternoon

As promised, my four little village boys show up at Sonrise School bright and early on Sunday morning after their three hour walk down Virunga Mountain. They left their village at 6:00 in the morning to meet me at 9:00 after church at Sonrise. I was feeling a little pressure to show them a good time since they had journeyed so far. So I piled them in my car, went to the market to get some food and then brought them back to my house for the day. I could see their eyes widening as we pulled up to the gate, as I’m sure they have never been in a house this size. And their eyes really opened when we walked in the house and caught a glimpse of the television. I asked if they had ever watched a TV before, and two of the boys had not. So we turned on the television so they could experience a movie, but these usually active boys quickly got bored, especially since they couldn’t really follow what was being said. They head outside and find a skateboard, which they had never seen before, and were easily amused by pushing each other up and down the small sidewalk/drainage system around my house. Can't you see the pure bliss on their faces?
John Gaspar, Remember, John Rambert, and Elie....all cousins!

One of the boys’ older brothers showed up from his boarding school two hours away (I guess word had traveled that they were coming to a “muzungu’s” house), which was nice because he spoke good English and I had an interpreter for the rest of the afternoon. These hungry boys devoured the food I put before them, and I watched their eyes light up as I gave them each a Fanta. We spent the afternoon doing a Bible/English lesson, learning songs, and playing soccer. The boys spent most of the day at my house, and I dropped them off at the bottom of the mountain so they could make it back to the village before dark.

"Teacher" Anna.....teaching a bible lesson on the computer and teaching "Jesus Loves Me". Here is a video of the kids singing....please excuse the leader of the song and the poor videography! I gave them the words to the song and made them promise they would teach it to the other children in their village.

This was another one of those simple but incredibly rich days, where I am blessed far beyond my capacity for holding blessings. As I watched the smiles on their faces and the sparkles in their eyes, I came to appreciate the simplicity of life a little more.

A group shot with my visitors