One of the big “hits” of the afternoon for the kids was the piñata. A couple of our missionaries came up with some unique engineering and decorating skills and it was rather impressive. Nearly ¾ of the kids had a swing before the piñata succumbed and spread its goodies for the kids to gather. This was followed up with a raucous water balloon fight. We tried to calm the kids down with a few chalk games and coloring and face painting…which turned into them painting the missionaries’ faces! Needless to say, many a missionary needed a shower before we headed off to Mass! We had another good turnout for Mass; you can see that more townspeople come the more we interact with them.
Our evening was supposed to end with a pizza party for all the missionaries. Our friend Miguel (the one who had the head injury our first day who is doing quite well now, thanks be to God) is also the owner of the local pizza joint and was spending the afternoon preparing pizzas for our dinner. In the end, he gave us one for free which really came in handy when half of the kids in town showed up to share it with us!
After our dinner, we went to have a Eucharistic Hour in the chapel. John summed it up well when he said: “I’ve never been that close to Jesus in my life.” After having some time of quiet prayer, reflection and music, Fr. Justin did a procession around the chapel and stopped in front of each person present for a few moments of time face-to-face with Jesus in the Eucharist. It was quite moving to participate.
This being our last night in Nuevo Durango, we spent some time on the roof hanging out and some also have been playing soccer with the kids. We are going to miss this place!
