We wanted to give you a brief update about our day yesterday. We had lunch with all of the children at the orphanage and then we took them out for a party. These children never get to do anything special. So, we took them to “Planet Park”. “Planet Park” is an indoor park that has inflatables, video games, trampolines, climbing wall, indoor soccer field, etc. We simply let the children spend three hours playing. They were also treated to snacks which included some pastels, popcorn and their favorite — cotton candy. We wish that you could have seen the smiles on their faces! They had so much fun and they were experiencing something they had never done before.
We returned back to the orphanage last night and that is when the tears began for some of the team members as well as the children. They had the team line up in a line and then each one of the children hugged our necks and said “obrigado” (thank you). We did okay until some of them started crying themselves. While none of us are fluent in portuguese, we all know some words and were able to communicate that we loved each one of them.
It was hard for us to say goodbye and several members of the team are already talking about returning next year to help with the ministry that we have had in Maringa for the last decade. We have lived this week by our team verse James 1:27 and plan to continue working on taking care of the widows and orphans in their distress when we return home. For now our work is done this year in Maringa and as we once heard an old Kentucky woman say, “it is now time to come home.”
Looking forward to seeing you and sharing our experience with you when we return,
Michael & Marcilla
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