Oh Happy Day!

Today started out as such a big bummer. One of my LEAST favorite things is getting rained on and being soggy the rest of the day, and when this day started off pouring...I was not too excited to say the least. But, I put on my dress, slapped on some bug spray, and marched out into the rain with the rest of my class into the bush to a school about a half hour away from our camp site.

There we got to meet some very special kids. We sang songs, played games, and just hung out with these kids. We taught them about American football and how to chant O-H-I-O! They had fun trying to out scream each other. It was really funny to watch. I also taught them an English song, with fun motions, called "Oh Happy Day!" They asked to do that song again before we left and it felt really neat that they enjoyed something that I taught them.

 

These little girls in particular stole my heart! They were so precious and shy! They kept hiding behind the doors and smiling at us when we asked them questions. A fun fact about most of these kids is that they don't speak Spanish! I've been so used to going to schools and using my rusty Spanish, that it was hard to break that habit here, but if I spoke in Spanish, they truly didn't know what I was saying. These kids spoke a language called Mopan. This is a Maya language spoken mostly by the people here in Belize and some in Guatemala. Its a very interesting sounding language with lots of "ch" sounds and words that almost sound like clicks. 

 

This little beauty is named Mia and she was always smiling. She was the smallest little girl in her class and her smile made me smile! Mia and Leah! We rhymed! She thought that was too funny! Meeting all of these little kids has really been a highlight of the trip for me. They truly show love even when they have never met you before, they just hug you so tight and never seem to want to let go. I was late getting back to our bus because one of the little girls just had to give me one more hug! These kids have been teaching me so much about the love of God, and I hope you readers can learn something from them as well!