Love Light and Melody is an organization that has partnered with us for a number of years to impact the lives of all of the young people and the families from the dump community that was called La Chureca.  This month they came down for an event called “Dia de Luz”, Day of Light in English.  The origins of this event go way back to the our days in the dump when Brad Corrigan (founder of Love, Light & Melody) wanted to use art and music to shine the Light and Love of the Lord on the families in La Chureca.  It was a wonderful weekend filled with concerts, dance class, murals being painted, and lots of fun!

Max Frost led the art activities during the week and he had this to share…

Stefany is a scholarship student through @lovelightandmelody, which means she can attend school, something these kids don’t take lightly and comes with great responsibility. Last week @kimdiggs and I taught Art classes for kids ranging in age from 3-13 at a trash dump resettlement community called Villa Guadalupe, Nicaragua. Stefany was my favorite student. She stayed after class tirelessly working on her drawings with great creativity and attention to detail. Her smile cautious, yet genuine. A year ago my friend Austin and I were asked to paint this same heart image for the first time by parents in  Villa Guadalupe who had recently lost their daughter unexpectedly. This trip the image took on a much different and equally amazing story for me. It’s no longer just a gift from me to their community, but now it also represents a local giving back to her community in which she lives through her favorite form of communication, painting. I’m not so sure going to places like Villa Guadalupe “to help” is always the most helpful thing we can do. Although I do think coming along side people, smiling together, recycling water bottles together at the dump (their main source of income), high fiving, dancing together, flying kites together and laughing together actually does have the potential to change the world. Or at least us. I wonder if smiling together, and laughing together is one of the most “helpful” things we can do? One smile has the power to change the entire atmosphere of a room and warm the hearts of complete strangers in a moment without even having to speak the same language. Some smiles carry hope with them while others excitement and others joy. Then there’s the kind that carry the best flavor of gentle honor and pride. That’s the one Stefany wore this evening. After wrapping everything up by phone light, her mom came up to us with tears in her eyes letting us how much this opportunity had meant to her daughter. She was also smiling. Not the thanks for doing something for me kind of smile, which is great too, but this one was much deeper and more meaningful. It was that of a proud mother. Which I’m convinced is one of the best smiles out there. — MAX FROST 

We also wanted to say thank you for the special attention paid to our staff at Club Espernaza as well.  A day at the beach and a night at a nice restaurant was a special treat!  Here is a picture of the whole crew below…