Christopher and Anne Bean have two passions in life: 1) their Christian faith and, 2) cruising to destinations to meet and serve people in need. Their goal is to assist other people that might be interested in combining volunteer work and vacations together and have started with “Voluncations”, an effort to combine cruises with mission work.
Antonia, Gustavo and Enrique proudly display one of their completed nativity sets.
Anne and Christopher arrived in Cozumel via the Carnaval Glory on Tuesday and we immediately headed to the home of Jose and his 8 siblings and cousins. Once there, we grouped the children together to talk about the Christmas story and told them we were going to create nativity sets that they would be able to keep. After an hour of sanding, staining, screwing, nailing and decorating (with all the work done by the children) we had completed three nativity sets that they were able to place in their homes. The children were very proud of their work and it was fun working with them as they built the sets.
We even managed to find a little time to play “street soccer” with the children before we left so they could clean up and prepare for school. (These children attend school in the afternoons). Of course, the kids had all the “right moves” and quickly displayed their superior ability to place the soccer ball in the goal. Oh well, it was time for us to go find some lunch.
Anne and Christopher with pastors Mariela and Salomon
Anne is very involved in children’s ministry and offered to bring a teaching kit to be used with the children at Vida Abundante. We met at the church’s new location and talked with the Pastors Mariela and Salomon about their goals to minister to the people in this local neighborhood. Salomon shared with us that there is a very high level of domestic violence and alcoholism in this neighborhood and they have a lot of experience in helping families deals with these issues. Anne presented teaching materials entitled “La Historia de la Estrella” (The Story of the Star) which teaches children about the birth of Christ and the role the star played in guiding the wise men to the birthplace. Anne had prepared enough supplies to present this story to 120 children. The pastors quickly agreed they would utilize this project with a youth gathering that is taking place this coming weekend and perhaps during the family festival being planned for the following weekend.
