"That was the best day ever!" "The best day of my life!" "It doesn't get any better than this!" These were some of the comments from the team today.  We arrived at church at 8:30 am with great anticipation. Several of our team members were going to meet our sponsor children for the first time, others were excited to reconnect with their children after a year or so.  Words can not properly express what goes on in these precious moments. For Rebekah and I, we have been imagining this opportunity ever since we received our Compassion package with Angel Luis's information.  We saw a family arrive on a motorcycle - parents and 5 children.  This was our family, we recognized them from our pictures.  The Mom saw us immediately, she pointed to us from across the courtyard.  There he was, Angel Luis!  Wow!!  What a precious family.  4 boys and a girl.  Angel was a little shy at first, but he greeted us and we all headed inside the church.  We were warmly greeted by everyone and they went to great lengths to include us in their worship service.  They even provided a translator for the sermon.  It was a delightful time praising the Lord with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  After church, our team and our sponsor children (with many siblings and parents) headed to Makarios house.  They had two swimming pools set up for the kids and brought in a delicious lunch for everyone.  We all had a blast, running, playing, swimming, eating, laughing and spending time together.  We knew we had connected as a group when they started dragging people (some fully clothed) into the pools!  Before we knew it, there was not a dry person in sight!  What fun it was to splash and laugh all together.  Angel Luis, his four siblings and his Mom had a delightful afternoon and we finished our time together by sharing and praying.  We are looking forward to our home visit on Tues when we will have the privilege of spending some more time together and seeing their home.  
There is no doubt that all of our hearts have been completely captivated by these children.  They are simply amazing.  Each of them is full of potential, they have incredible gifts and personalities.  Please pray for the children here. Many of them come from very poor situations.  Pray for God`s provision for their families, that they will complete school and more than anything else, they would always know that God loves them and is there for them.  What a gift it is to be here, to show these kids love in some very simple ways.  We were definitely the ones who were the most blessed today.  Every person on the team was impacted by our time today.  Each person had the opportunity to spend time with specific children.  Wow! What a gift.  Thank you to all of you for your love, prayers and support. Blessings to you all! Vanessa and Rebekah Dawson