Saturday, February 21, 2009

Saturday morning was bright and beautiful and we had some time to reorganize and prepare for the day’s activities, which included stuffing two piñatas for children’s activities in the afternoon. A quick bus ride took us to the Rincon Chiquito community in La Guacima where the Mansion of Light Baptist Church is located. A warm greeting awaited us by the women of the church, and we got to know each other over a dish of Costa Rican chop suey.

The lunch fortified us for an afternoon of programs which we lead for the children. Sue Fitzgerald, Eileen Smith and Pam Davies taught the children how to play “Jesus Loves Me” with chords and melody on color-coded hand bells. These were bought as a gift by a church in Pennsylvania. Marilyn Gustafson taught the children to color, cut and glue Sandwich Bag Parrot Puppets. Another group of children learned Origami with Mary Hamblett and Dottie McCrossen. They made a cat, dog and butterfly. Sarah Hicks and Peggy Burke worked with the youngest group of children drawing pictures, using stickers and playing with puzzles. All the children rotated between activities so they all got a chance to do each one. We all agreed the children were quite precious and well-behaved.

A wild and crazy time ensued when the piñatas were hung in the tree and the children all took turns swinging a stick at them and trying to break them open. The mad scramble for treats and toys was typical of children around the world. The children headed home and we had a much needed break.

The Mansion of Light Baptist Church has begun the Center for Transformation Mariposa (The Butterfly Transformation Center). This center is using “Break the Chains” funding to reach out to children and youth in the community to prevent future activities of prostitution and drugs. The women of the church prepared a candle making activity for us. Roasted coffee beans, shells from the U.S., shells and rocks from Costa Rica, artificial and fresh flowers and leaves were all assembled for us to use in the candles.

We were paired-up with a “prayer partner” to make our candles together. The candles were the same type brought to the National Women’s Conference at Green Lake in 2008. Despite the communication difficulties between English and Spanish, we managed to really connect with each other. Our candles were used to decorate the dinner table and we talked about how the light of Christ shines through each of us into the dark places of the world. The light from these women shines brightly!


Before dinner, Pastor Xinia introduced the women who are leading the Butterfly Transformation Center. Nancy is the Director of the center and Priscilla is the director of the Arts and Music program.
Nancy and Priscilla used a PowerPoint presentation to explain the Transformation Center’s goals and objectives. The ladies had prepared a delicious meal for us of fish with gravy, mashed potatoes, tossed salad, followed by layered jello for desert. The board members of the Transformation Center presented us with hand-made candle holders and led us in devotions around the theme of sharing our light in the dark places. It was another spiritual-filled day for us.

— Susan Maiocchi and Eileen Smith