 The new playground Enlarge the picture |
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by Jesús López, junior warden at Iglesia El Buen Pastor
3 May 2008
Excerpt of an article published in The North Carolina Disciple, July 2008, page D-5.
I remember a group of people of different ages and places working together in a an environment full of joy— there were kids helping youth, and youth helping adults, and adults helping kids. All were excited to be building a playground and it was not just an image on a brochure, this happened before my eyes and it is difficult to describe the feelings and emotions we each felt. We were working for around 12 hours, it is hard to say if it was work or fun but I want to think that it was work because when we finished we were dirty and tired but very happy. We worked, children and adults, moving from one place to another with a smile drawn on our faces, joking with one another. We worked together, if someone finished one task he/she joined another person to help with another thing.
It is interesting to see how the energy that we at the start of the day transformed into joy with the passing hours. And this joy at the end of our work transformed into enormous happiness. The next day was the continuation of what I would call a blessing. The spirit of love and joy that surrounded us filled the entire sanctuary in such a way that during the service, singing and listening to God, I recalled Pentecost. It did not matter the language one spoke, suddenly we all communicated in the same way.
At the end of the service we celebrated the blessing of our playground, all of us surrounding it and the celebrating did not wait a moment. As the celebrating began so did the smiles and the joy—some were playing on the playground, others singing—happy people on all sides. Happiness was the mark of the space we occupied. The sweets and the piñatas were the drop of water that caused the already full cup to overflow. And suddenly for an instant, I did not see adults but all were children again, as happy as we all could possibly be. We spent the afternoon this way until the moment arrived when we had to say goodbye to the people of Emmanuel. But we said goodbye with so much joy with all that happened because we knew that we were unified and we will have more parties together.
I want to thank the people who gave us our playground. I can assure you that it will continue to create millions of smiles. I would like to equally thank all the people, big and small, who helped build. I hope that they enjoyed it as much as I did and I hope that we can share the blessing of being together again.