Thunder's Rumblings: A Great Saturday

I feel so behind on blogging. We are going to Beijing today and I wanted to be able to post about last weekend before I get even further behind.
Last Saturday we had the opportunity to participate in a service project coordinated by our branch president. There is a school up in the mountains about 2 hours from where we live that he wanted to raise money for and donate some things to them. So, we all pitched in and then last Saturday we got to go to the school to deliver the new items and play with the students and treat them to an American barbecue. It was such a wonderful experience, probably my favorite thing we have done since we've been here. It was good for us to see the school and how little the normal people here have. And it was nice to feel like we were making a difference.
The classrooms at the school are very old. The desks are old, the floors and walls are cement, and there was no lighting or fans. We were able to donate new desks and chairs, lights for all the classrooms, and ceiling fans for all the classrooms. We also gave lots of sports equipment, new basketball standards, computer, printer, TV, DVD player, and many other school supplies.
After presenting everything to the school, the men went right to work installing the lights and ceiling fans. The others started cooking and preparing the food and playing with the students. The students were so great! They were very friendly and so happy. It was fun to get to see them using all the new equipment--basketballs, jump ropes, badminton, etc. There was a group of girls that went crazy over Haley. They played with her and followed her around all day long. It was great.
After lunch, Jason and I were in charge of leading the kids in some games. We taught them dodge ball and buddy tag. They seriously played the same game forever, enjoying every second of it. They were laughing and having the time of their lives. It was so much fun.
Melanie had the great idea of making some pinatas for the students, so that was the Grand Finale of the day. I got to help her make them during the week, so that was fun. The students (like all kids) loved doing the pinatas. I'm sure it was the first time for them to do something like that.
After cleaning up and saying goodbye, the students all lined up along side the road to wave to us as our buses pulled away. What a special day! It was so great to be able to give the school some much needed supplies, but I hope we gave them more than that. I hope they will always remember the day that we came to their school. I hope they will have a great memory of the fun times that we shared eating and playing together. I know I will never forget it.