First day

First full day here almost over. We seemed to have managed jet lag by just skipping Monday night - we left Monday morning, sat in planes a very long time, arrived, slept, and woke up Wednesday. I guess we'll get that day back when we return home.
We met with the kids at the Center today. Many of them remembered Zach; a few claimed they knew Pastor David since they saw his photos on the posters for the crusade. The school is amazing - lots of kids, all dressed up, sitting jam-packed next to each other, learning pretty intensely. Play time was just as amazing - the kids are ready to play anything you can show. At one point I knelt down to be at their eye level to tak to them, and I immediately had a large audience of kids, all also kneeling down, wondering what game started with kneeling down but completely ready to give it a try. I held one high in the air, and then had a dozen or more hanging on my hands and asking me to do them next.
We also joined the Wed evening service. Zach, David, and I all spoke. It is quite different speaking with a translator - timing, tone of voice, etc. are all very different. It's still preaching the Bible, and sharing with brothers and sisters, so it was great.
We were walking through the city center (kind of like downtown), and a boy (maybe 15 or so) came up to Pastor Tom to beg. Tom wouldn't give him money, but asked him about his life, learned he lived on the street, and told him to come with us, that Tom would give him somewhere to stay and teach him to fish (fishers of men as Jesus told his disciples). The boy refused, but there are many at the center who came to Christ, and a much better life, that way.
I also was amazed at a similar effect at the kids lunch at the Center. 170 kids, orderly lined up, waiting to be served rice and beans for lunch, and getting served one at a time. Every one of them would be trying to live on the streets, or living with someone just a little older also trying to live on the streets. At the Center, though, they have school, adults who care for them, and a chance to learn about God. Even with that, though, I looked at all those kids, and realized that not a single one of them had a mom or dad that was just theirs, that they could run to when they were scared, or pray with at night. Even with the care at the Center, they are still alone. I had a hard time imaging that, but the gap between what they have, and what they would have been doomed to, was still a bright and glowing testimony to the good that Pastor Tom has started in Jesus's name here.
Apologies if this is a little rambling, I probably wrote too soon about escaping jetlag! Gerald.