1. Hey everyone! Here is just a glimpse into what has been going on the last couple of weeks here in Venezuela. Hope you enjoy! Laundry day! Washing clothes by hand outside under the sun is one of the best ways to get a nice tan

2. On Friday, April 7 I headed out with a group of Master Guides from Colgransa (Colegio Gran Sabana) to a camporee being held about 2 ½ hours from Maurak. This is what our campsite looked like by Sunday afternoon. Friday and Sunday we spent removing all the grass and weeds from the campsite and putting up our kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping facilities. There were 29 other clubs in attendance from all over Venezuela and from Brazil.

3. On the opening night of the camporee some of the boys from Colgransa had firecrackers that they lit throughout the program during times when applause was in order. It definitely made the applause ‘thunderous’.

4. Wednesday was our day to perform our Himno Especial and our march exhibition. The song that we sang was called “Con Tu Presencia” and the words and music were written by members of the club specifically for this competition. Every club created their own song and presented it up front sometime during the camporee. They asked me to play my flute with them, which was really fun Since our group was doing a marching exhibition as well, all of the girls got their hair done in the same way. They insisted on doing mine as well, since I was participating in the song. I thought that was cool. The group accepted me as part of their club and let me participate with them in as many things as possible.

5. And here is Colgransa’s grand entrance at the beginning of their march exhibition. No, I did not do it with them. They wouldn’t have wanted me to. The marching commands are completely different besides the fact that they are in Spanish. It was really neat to watch the different groups creating formations while trying to stay in time with each other. Our group did pretty well, but some of the other groups did a lot better.

6. This is just one of the formations that Colgransa did during their march. Each march had to be at least 1 minute long. After they were done with their planned march, one of the judges would bark some commands to see how well they obey orders, stay together, and turn in the correct direction at the right time. Our team perfectly executed all the commands from the official, which was very good!

7. Wow! Is that really me? I guess it is I’m scaring myself! Thursday of last week I started a project at the building site that gets me very very very very dirty I have to sand the rust off of doors, windows, and the window and door frames. At the end of the first day doing this I was extremely dirty and only needed to do a little touch up to completely erase the ‘whitewash’ I was born with. The red eyes were not planned, but right now I don’t have a program to reduce that. Besides, it adds to the ‘scary’ effect

8. See, not so scary after all! I’ve just been playing cowboys and Indians ;) And of course I had to at least turn my skin the right colour

9. This last Sabbath afternoon for vespers, the Guias Mayores (Master Guides) that went on the Campout did the program. In this picture we are singing the theme song. Some of us had learned the song in sign language, including me, which was really fun. I was a bit nervous because I have a hard time remembering the next line in the song because it is in Spanish and is not one that I knew before, but it went very well. The name is “En Tus Manos Haremos Proezas” which basically means “In Your Hands we have the Victory”

10. We also sang the Himno Especial “Con Tu Presencia” (With Your Presence) for the Sabbath evening program. They really liked having me play my flute with them, which was awesome for me They were quite intrigued by it as well. Some of the girls tried blowing into it, which was quite funny. They couldn’t pucker their lips without laughing.

11. Smile Jesus Loves You! This is the attitude I hope to keep always Life can be frustrating, but if you turn the frustrations into learning opportunities, with God’s help, you can keep a smile always! God bless!