Cupcakes & Goodbyes

Our day is coming to a close at First City Baptist Church, and while we are so happy to be here, there is a sad tone surrounding us all since this was our last day doing Holiday Club, which means we won't see the children anymore.

Our theme this morning for Holiday club was 'God is our Father', and our Bible verse was "For I am God's most treasured posession," from Exodous 19:5. The story we learned about was Jonah and the whale, which was fun because the children were quite familiar with the details, and were very excited to chime in and help Paula tell everyone about it. The children really enjoyed craft because they got to decorate picture frames with stickers! They also made pictures and wrote letters for Dani, some of which were too precious for words. In music class with 'Auntie' Liz we danced to "Jesus is my Super Hero". It was so much fun to just let loose.

With today being the last day of Holiday Club, after lunch the team surprised the kids with cupcakes and ice cream. They were so adorable with frosting smooshed all over there faces! Some of them were quite sad  knowing that we would be leaving and not returning tomorrow. We were all a bit somber as we took our last pictures and embraced the kids one last time; it was a struggle to leave because they wouldn't stop hugging us, and we didn't want to let them go either. But the abrupt 'goodbye' is just how it has to be.

This afternoon we finished our renovations at the church. Adam and Jeremy finished varnishing the bathroom doors while the ladies that have been sorting the fabrics at Thembelethu did an amzing job getting everything in working order. And the rest of the ladies finished painting and cleaning the inside of the church.
 

Tonight we're enjoying dinner and fellowship with some of the members of the church. We've been blessed to enjoy throughout the week. Thank you so much to the congregation of First City Baptist for welcoming us so warmly. Their hospitality and generosity has been such a comfort to us, and we can now say that First City is a home away from home!

Ulale kakuhle uThixo akusikelele (Goodnight & God Bless -in Xhosa)

-Dani, Hillary & Stephanie