Church began promptly at 9:15 with Vespers. Mother Inez, the head abbess, was there to bless all the children. The kids lined up and each one kissed her hand and received a hug from her. (I was very impressed that Mother Inez got on her knees to hug the three and four year olds.)
The readers began reciting their prayers and the others, with specific jobs, got down to business. The service proceeded as normal with the kids reading and singing. 
Around 10:00am, the Divine Liturgy began. Father David conducted the service in mostly English with the children responding in Spanish. Even though most of the kids do not know English fluently, they responded correctly and followed the service as if it was done in Spanish. The service is almost exactly the same as our Divine Liturgy with the Epistle Reading, Gospel Reading, Small Entrance, Great Entrance, Creed, Lords Prayer and Communion. There were a few extra hymns and petitions, but the mission team followed in the books and tried to respond in Spanish along with the children. Around communion time, we were hustled out of church to get the babies from the nursery and bring them to communion. When we got to the nursery, the babies were already dressed in their Sunday best, bundled up and ready to go to church. We hurried back and all the babies received communion. This was a real treat for us all. The babies loved being outside the nursery and seeing the church.
After service, we all went to the Comedor for lunch. Both kids and adults were very hungry. Since weekends are more casual, we lingered over lunch and coffee. The team swapped stories about which baby they had for communion and the warm wine you could drink after taking communion. In the Russian tradition, once you take communion, the communion wine should be washed down so that all stays with you. There is a cup of warm red wine available from which you can drink. I, along with the others, had not seen this before, but we were happy to follow along with the tradition.
After lunch, the mission team had free time. Most of the kids were watching movies in the administration building. We passed out candy to them while they watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and High School Musical 2 (HSM2). Most of the kids knew the HSM2 songs by heart. Also, they had a popcorn machine for an endless supply during the movie.
I found some of the kindergarten girls whom I had jumped rope with the day before. Ruth, Andrea and Francesca were outside on the playground since the rain had paused for a few hours. Since I could not communicate much with them, I began skipping around the playground and they immediately joined in. We played follow the leader for a while and they wore me out. It was a fun time and I also got some exercise.
Around 5:30, we ate dinner and returned to our room. The rest of the evening was spent talking, laughing and playing games of UNO. Oh and another small item, the toilets were not working which did pose an issue at bedtime, but we all kept our sense of humor.
