Getting to the orphanage was a little trickier than we originally had thought. Luckily Brother Swiss looked up the directions for us. We got up bright and early and got on the local bus. It took a very long time to get to the orphanage. When we finally got off the bus stop, we were all the way up into the small mountains of Lithuania and there were no buildings in sight! We were so confused. God must have been watching over us though. A middle aged man and a cute babushka got off the same stop we did. I went over and asked where the orphanage was. The man, John, spoke English. He told us that the orphanage was all the way back down the mountain and he would take us there. We proceeded down the mountain chatting with John all the way down. He was the biggest sweetheart. He was so impressed that we were willing to go help at the orphanages. We were so impressed he would walk 5 American girls all the way down a mountain to an orphanage. When we finally got down and to the orphanage, John asked the workers if they were expecting us. It turned out that there were about 7 orphanages on that street and it could be any one of them that were expecting us. John stayed with us the whole entire time we were trying to find the right orphanage. We never would have found it without him bless his heart.
We beat the missionaries to the orphanage so the workers showed us where we would be painting. When I first saw the wall we were going to paint I was so confused. It was so small and perfectly painted.I thought we were repainting the walls one solid color but boy was I wrong! When Sister Swiss showed up, she told me we actually got to paint children's murals on the wall. I was a little nervous because my artistic abilities are non- existent, but Sister Swill reassured me we would be fine. Before she was a missionary she was a middle school art teacher. Boy is she talented. She would sketch the pictures, and we would come back and paint them. My personal project of the day was a cute fuzzy little bumble bee. I had a blast painting him. We got so super lucky with the opportunity to help out at the orphanage by painting the walls. I had an absolute blast. I hope my little bumblebee makes many kids day just a little brighter for many years to come.
My bumble bee. He is pretty cute right?
One of my favorite paintings.
Mr. Caterpillar.
Mr. Monkey. He should be done sometime next week. I am proud to claim him.
I am also excited to report that we got special permission from the orphanage to come watch the little babies once a week. I can't wait to go and help by giving those little babies some love and stimulation. I am just so happy that all of these opportunities came our way. It really makes my schedule very crazy between teaching, volunteering and 6 credits of college, but I am making it work and am loving every second of it!
XO Mikele