Halo,
Today began with a quick breakfast of Jerseley’s homemade pumpkin soup (absolutely out of this world!), toast, bagels, cereal, fruit, and an assortment of meats and cheese. Then we were off to Emmy Berthold elementary school once again to continue our painting project. The painting project for today entailed creating a band of wildflowers and scripture verses around the entire upper elementary playground (this was the wall we had prepped last Friday. This is a very talented group of students and they did an absolutely amazing job! When students came out for recess they were so surprised to see the colorful assortment of flowers bordering their playground. What a gift from God to be able to paint scripture verses on a playground at a public school!!
Working in the sun all morning took it out of us and we went back to the Youth Centre to change clothes and then headed out for lunch downtown in Wilhelmstad at Otrabanda. We feasted on local cuisine at a place where many local family restaurants are housed under one roof called Plasa Bieu. Our lunch was at Eva’s Amor y Sabor. Meals chosen included oxtail, whole red snapper, chicken, shrimp, and goat. Judging from all the empty containers, it appeared as if everyone enjoyed their food. Ready for the second portion of our day, Lucas took us on a walking tour of an area of downtown called Calla Calla. This is an area where local artists have painted murals, created sculptures, and displayed their talents for the benefit of everyone who takes the time to walk around and appreciate their efforts. The murals were massive and gorgeous! Many of the sculptures were very unique and created from found objects.
The afternoon heat started to get to all of us so we walked to a small beach within the city the locals go to called Marichi Beach. It is a very small beach within a protected swimming area bordered by a breakwater. After sitting for a bit and enjoying the ocean breeze in conjunction with a beautiful view, we let the kids wander around town for an hour while we grabbed an iced latte. Now they have had a taste of the city and they have also been able to get an idea of some of the souvenirs they would like to pick up when we go to town for the afternoon on Wednesday.
On the way back to the Youth Centre we saw a local vendor selling awa di lamunchi in the middle of the road. He is a gentleman Lucas knows and we have purchased drinks from him in years past. Lucas bought all of his remaining supply of awa di lamunchi and this made him so happy. He said he could go home early and thanked us profusely. Once back at the Youth Centre, there was a bit of down time and everyone got cleaned up and relaxed a bit before dinner. Dinner tonight was white rice, cubed pumpkin, squash, and potatoes, and oxtail stew. It was a hearty meal and something new for most of the group. Dessert was homemade flan which even our non-flan eaters tried and had to admit it was good regardless of the texture :).
Dinner was followed by our devotions led by Luke C. He shared a devotion based upon Psalm 30:6 and Job 14:1. Both passages tied together the fact of life being a vapor and nothing is promised. Luke reminded the team how blessed we are to be here and since the majority of the team is made up of seniors, they all need to focus on being in the here and now because many of them will not be spending time like this together ever again even if they do stay in touch. We were also all marveling at how all of our projects have been things requiring the specific talents of this team. Lucas and I communicated about where we would serve but did not discuss the details of what we would be doing. So, to get here and see all the things we are doing, it is so evident God’s hand knit this group together to achieve His purposes here on Curaçao. The evening was rounded out with an hour of the movie we started previously. Everyone is so tired out that we paused the movie once again so we could head to bed.
Rejoicing in His perfect plan,
Lisa
Today began with a quick breakfast of Jerseley’s homemade pumpkin soup (absolutely out of this world!), toast, bagels, cereal, fruit, and an assortment of meats and cheese. Then we were off to Emmy Berthold elementary school once again to continue our painting project. The painting project for today entailed creating a band of wildflowers and scripture verses around the entire upper elementary playground (this was the wall we had prepped last Friday. This is a very talented group of students and they did an absolutely amazing job! When students came out for recess they were so surprised to see the colorful assortment of flowers bordering their playground. What a gift from God to be able to paint scripture verses on a playground at a public school!!
Working in the sun all morning took it out of us and we went back to the Youth Centre to change clothes and then headed out for lunch downtown in Wilhelmstad at Otrabanda. We feasted on local cuisine at a place where many local family restaurants are housed under one roof called Plasa Bieu. Our lunch was at Eva’s Amor y Sabor. Meals chosen included oxtail, whole red snapper, chicken, shrimp, and goat. Judging from all the empty containers, it appeared as if everyone enjoyed their food. Ready for the second portion of our day, Lucas took us on a walking tour of an area of downtown called Calla Calla. This is an area where local artists have painted murals, created sculptures, and displayed their talents for the benefit of everyone who takes the time to walk around and appreciate their efforts. The murals were massive and gorgeous! Many of the sculptures were very unique and created from found objects.
The afternoon heat started to get to all of us so we walked to a small beach within the city the locals go to called Marichi Beach. It is a very small beach within a protected swimming area bordered by a breakwater. After sitting for a bit and enjoying the ocean breeze in conjunction with a beautiful view, we let the kids wander around town for an hour while we grabbed an iced latte. Now they have had a taste of the city and they have also been able to get an idea of some of the souvenirs they would like to pick up when we go to town for the afternoon on Wednesday.
On the way back to the Youth Centre we saw a local vendor selling awa di lamunchi in the middle of the road. He is a gentleman Lucas knows and we have purchased drinks from him in years past. Lucas bought all of his remaining supply of awa di lamunchi and this made him so happy. He said he could go home early and thanked us profusely. Once back at the Youth Centre, there was a bit of down time and everyone got cleaned up and relaxed a bit before dinner. Dinner tonight was white rice, cubed pumpkin, squash, and potatoes, and oxtail stew. It was a hearty meal and something new for most of the group. Dessert was homemade flan which even our non-flan eaters tried and had to admit it was good regardless of the texture :).
Dinner was followed by our devotions led by Luke C. He shared a devotion based upon Psalm 30:6 and Job 14:1. Both passages tied together the fact of life being a vapor and nothing is promised. Luke reminded the team how blessed we are to be here and since the majority of the team is made up of seniors, they all need to focus on being in the here and now because many of them will not be spending time like this together ever again even if they do stay in touch. We were also all marveling at how all of our projects have been things requiring the specific talents of this team. Lucas and I communicated about where we would serve but did not discuss the details of what we would be doing. So, to get here and see all the things we are doing, it is so evident God’s hand knit this group together to achieve His purposes here on Curaçao. The evening was rounded out with an hour of the movie we started previously. Everyone is so tired out that we paused the movie once again so we could head to bed.
Rejoicing in His perfect plan,
Lisa
Love the teamwork Team Curaçao!!
We have such an amazing group!