First Day at School

Tuesday was the first Day that I was able to go to one of the schools. The school that I was able to go to was the one in San Marcos. School down here is free like it is in the U.S., however, like in the U.S. their are always expenses included. To go to school down here you have to be able to pay for a uniform and school supplies. Many families are not able to afford this, and in turn their kids are not able to go to school. Mission Lazarus saw this problem and has created schools for those kids who could not afford public school. At the Mission Lazarus schools the kids are given two meals, an education, and some love and care.
I arrived at school at 7 am, before most of the kids arrived. In the mornings the teachers meet and have a morning devotional. While I cannot understand what they are singing or saying, I can see the passion in which the praise the lord. School does not start until a little after eight, so I sat and played with the kids until it was time. The second you sit down on the floor next to one of the kids you immediately have 20 kids crawling all over you. Most of them just want to be hugged, or to sit in your lap. At eight the kids line up outside according to their age group, and sing kids worship songs. After this they are led into the kitchen and they are served breakfast. At the schools the kids are given glasses of milk that is from the Cattle on the Mission Lazarus ranch. After breakfast they are led off to their respective class rooms, I was with the kindergarten class. In class they were going over their alphabet, and on Tuesday, how to write the letter "D". After this they drew, and then played games. After playing everyone washed their hands and went off to lunch. This week in Honduras the public schools are out, and so the Mission Lazarus schools are only having half days. So after lunch the kids went outside and played on the playground until their parents came to pick them up. This was probably the best part of the day. On the playground the kids all want you to play with them, at one point all of the swings were full, which is about 15, and all of the kids were shouting "David, Push me" in Spanish. I ended up pushing kids on the swings for about an hour.
So far this has been one of the most rewarding days for me. I am looking forward to next Tuesday when I will be going back to the school.
David