Drama Day!

When we arrived in Santa Rita Thursday afternoon, kids, teens, and adults were eager to help us get all the props and necessities carried down to the elementary school where we would hold the drama on the basketball court.

From the time that Amy arrived we had 5 days to assign parts, rehearse, paint all the backdrops, gather props, and make/alter the costumes. I would like to add that you can get a lot done when you subtract sleeping from your schedule!

This is Rosalino as Pilate!

There were 6 costumes to be made from scratch and many more to be accessorized. Amy and I threw these together during the boys' nap times. I must say that the secret is jersey fabric=no serging or hemming!

Everyone was so proud once we got them in their costumes... a little nervous, but proud for their friends to come and watch! The soldiers were our favorites but we really liked Eulalio as the pharisee with his awesome beard!

It is dry season, but has been storming lately. We prayed that it wouldn't rain. We felt about 3 drops and God kept the rest back. It was very windy. About midway through our very large tomb literally took flight! We had to pause everything for a minute to wait and see where it would land. A couple of years ago in our gringo minds we would have thought that was a horrible interruption, now we just laugh with the Guatemalans!

During practice on Wednesday, Silas and I went door to door inviting people in the village. Silas was barefoot with shorts and a short sleeve shirt which is unheard of here! Babies are supposed to be wrapped up and melting. A mother at nearly every house told me that my baby was cold. I figured people would come just to bundle up the poor freezing gringo babies! The afternoon of the drama we were setting things up for hours and then once it got dark it seemed as though we turned around and suddenly there was over 200 people just standing there waiting for it to start!

Scene one was set in modern day. Mateo was suppose to knock over his mother's vase of flowers, but the thing just wouldn't fall off the table. Finally he picked it up and threw it on the concrete. Everyone got a good laugh!

Our carpenter made everything larger than the plans that Jimmy had drawn up for him. I'm pretty sure that he thinks we're giants! The lecterns were a foot too tall, so no one really knows who our 4 narrators were! Our cross was too big too. It weighed about 100 lbs... way to big for our preteen soldiers! So Pilate and one of the pharisees had to lift the cross with Jesus on it... Jimmy said that was figurative!

Jimmy rigged real apples with some fishing line for Eve to pull off and eat... another crowd pleaser!

Jonah got to be baby Jesus!

Here is Jesus performing miracles!

There is a large group of Kekchi families in this community. We have noticed that whenever a Kekchi person figures something out they sort of laugh out loud. For the entire performance you could hear sheer delight. All the laughter and ooh's and awe's was rewarding for the actors!

Everyone was crowding in to see Jesus being nailed to the cross. By that time there was an audience on all sides, the stage sort of ended up being in the middle. There were even people sitting on top of the basketball goals looking down onto the performance!

While Jesus was on the cross, Jimmy played a song about Christ's love. Everyone got silent for the first time. It was a beautiful moment!

Christ rising again and exiting the tomb was a big scene too, but I didn't get a photo because the boys were getting loud and I had to take them to the micro.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for this Easter outreach! All 200+ people that came saw and heard a clear plan of Salvation! We are so excited to follow up and experience the impact of this drama. Please pray as we hold our Bible studies next week and that more people will come to find out more about what they saw that night!

We are so thankful for Amy coming down and writing and directing this drama! This was the most unglamorous mission trip ever. She worked so hard the entire time.