With the money donated we bought trucks, soccer balls, jewelry boxes, Barbies, baby blankets and dolls.
This was enough for the first party and we have 2 more planned. It is so exciting to see these kids get their gift. For many this is the only gift they will receive this year. Thank you!
Loaded and ready to take to the church down the street.
This is Isai, he is the pastor at the church we have partnered with and does and amazing job!
Most of these kids never have their picture taken so they are not used to smiling for the camera. So... when you see them with their gifts and there is no smile, it isn't because they don't love them, they just don't know you are supposed to do that.
And then others are just happier, naturally.
This was during the church service. This little one just crawled around all over the church and every now and then her mom would look back to see where she was and then she would continue listening to the service! It is childcare at it's best! Love it!
This was a choir who came to sing for us. They did great. Of course the kids only had one thing on their mind. Presents.
As soon as the singing was over, we ate and then we had Jesus' birthday cake. Greg did a short teaching on that being the reason for the season and the reason for the gifts as well. We told them about how some people in the US decided they wanted to bless them with gifts this Christmas and they were very thankful to you all!
One cake said "Jesus" the other said, "Savior." The kids said, "Yum!"
Even Estella made it to this event. It was her first time going to something like this and she was happy!
Annie was enjoying herself!
These are some of the cards we received and gave out with the gifts.
Jerod being himself.
Here is one of those faces, not used to the camera. Followed by a lot more!
A quick note. Some of you may be wondering why some kids got soccer balls and trucks and Barbies and others just got these colored balls. Well.... we had to make a tough decision. This always happens, every year. We try and bless the kids here, but we can't bless them all. So we bless those who are in the churches or whose parents are trying to learn God's Word and give their kids a better life. (which can be tough here) However, when all of the village kids see or hear about toys being given out, they all come a runnin'. Of course we didn't have enough toys to give out to the entire village. So we gave these balls to the kids who came just for toys. Or some of the smaller kids also wanted them, but these were the kids from the village that wondered in. They were happy to get these balls and we were happy to be able to give them something. They also got a meal and cake and heard the Word of God. We hope they will come back for more than just toys.
This is Nacho. He is in his 30's but is still part of the youth group. Here the "youth" group consists of anyone who is single. So... he got a gift too! He came up when we called the youth up to 18 years old!
When the night was through we had given out more than 100 pieces of cake and 90 presents! It was an awesome night made possible by many of you! Thank you all for giving, praying, and encouraging us in this journey we are on. We pray you all have a very Merry Christmas!
Love, The Wood Family
