Paula here. But in San Pablo, I sometimes feel like my name is foto. That’s one of my jobs here – to take photos and print them, along with help from others in our group. It’s incredible what a camera and a photo printer can do in a group of people. The desire for photos is incredible, and it’s easy to see why. After all, how many photos do I have hanging on walls, fridges, desks, or up on the endless list of social media, or simply on my computer and phone.

On Monday, I took a photo of a mom with her two children. Then I took a photo of the baby alone. It was very adorable and I remembered it well. So on Tuesday, when I was asked for a photo of only the baby, in an attempt to ration the amount of picture paper, I insisted that they already had that photo. They agreed, but explained they wanted another to give to the boy’s grandmother. I was more than happy to oblige. Today (Wednesday), the mom asked me for a photo of me holding the baby. I’m fairly certain that I was about 2% of the reason, and the other 98% was the mom wanting another photo of her baby boy. But, I was 100% sure that I really wanted to hold the cutie.

We have taken and printed about 300 photos. I have several stories like this. Some are incredibly heart warming-a man wanting a photo with his wife, a dad wanting a photo with his daughter, a grandmother wanted a photo with her two granddaughters. Some are funny, like that grandmother wanting to retake the photo with her granddaughters because the sun in the first photo made her hair look white. Others stories I don’t have. And I wish I did. I wish I could get to know these people, because the stories I have heard are incredible.

But there is much more than photos…

VBS is fantastic. They pack somewhere around 60 kids into the mostly empty church, which is about the size of an average classroom. I only stopped by for a short while, so I’ll leave all the details for someone else. But, the report I heard was that it’s “like VBS on a fire hose.”

Tuesday they learned about Jonah. Today, Esther. And tomorrow Paul, who was sent to proclaim the gospel.

Today the medical helpers from the nearby communities came to the clinic and received the bags Immanuel Lutheran prepared.

And in case anyone was concern, Sven the suitcase has arrived!