This past weekend, children from the Villa participated in a Bible games marathon with children from the adjacent institution, Ciudad de los Niños (City of the Children). The more than seventy participants divided into four teams, each named after a Gospel author, and prepared for the two-hour event by marking themselves with paint. Each team was given a Bible and set of six clues that related to Scripture passages. These clues led teams to one of six places in the Villa or Ciudad de los Niños, where a challenge awaited. Once the challenge was completed, teams were given a puzzle piece that would enable them to assemble a picture and win the marathon. For those who have seen the Amazing Race, the Bible games marathon had the same feel of an exhausting sprint from one location to the next (none of which was close to the following one).
I had the privilege of leading Team Saint Luke, marked by green crosses on our foreheads, and the first clue took us to the Villa grotto and the statue of the Virgin Mary. There, Douglas, the Villa pastoral teacher, gave instructions to listen closely to the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He then drew a hangman and spaces for two important words from the parable. “If you can guess these words, you will earn your puzzle piece,” he said, “If not, you must return again after you have gathered every other piece.” After a head, body, two legs, and an arm left us with one guess and the following letters for the first word, PE_ _ I_O, one of our team members from Ciudad del Niño, deciphered the remaining letters to spell PERDIDO, “lost.” The children quickly caught on and guessed the second word, HALLADO, “found.” Shortly, we were off with our first puzzle piece to find the location of the next challenge.
The second Bible verse led us to Ciudad de los Niños and a water well, which was a solid uphill sprint that left us completely out of breath. When everyone arrived (no challenges were begun without all team members present), Edwin read us the Parable of the Mustard Seed. He then told us that we would need two team members to perform but a small act--shedding a tear--to earn our next piece. The children began taking turns wailing and sniffling sorrowfully, but no one was able to weep. Growing impatient and wary of following behind in the race, one boy said to his friend, “Hit me in the face.” Luckily, someone noticed another team member’s eyes watering up and then a single tear fall down his cheek. Lucero quickly followed suit, and the second piece was won.
The third verse took us back to the Villa and a nun waiting outside the chapel. She read the Parable of the Talents. The children were asked who in the story best used what the master had given him. Everyone agreed that it was not the one who had buried his talent. The challenge, then, was to display a talent for all to see. One of the children from Ciudad de los Niños did not hesitate in recommending his friend to impersonate Michael Jackson’s moonwalk. All applauded his effort, which then led into a spontaneous robot dance. “Very good,” said the nun, “But each of you must display a talent.” With time a factor, we decided to sing a popular mass song, “I will praise God.” We then gathered our third puzzle piece and followed our next clue to the basketball court in Ciudad de los Niños, about as far away as possible but luckily downhill.
We arrived (some team members collapsing on the court) to find a large sign with the words, “Buen Samaritano,” Good Samaritan. The children were asked to retell this parable, which all knew by heart, and then given the challenge of helping one another by carrying a team member across the court. It would have been a fairly easy task had it not been for the fact that each “Good Samaritan” had to crawl the length of the cement court with a team member on his or her back. Most made it to midcourt before the weight of their burden compelled them to revert to easier methods (like walking). However, everyone made it across, and we labored back up the hill in search of the fifth puzzle piece.
Fortunately, but perhaps not so correctly, a team member traded Intel with another group to learn that the next clue would lead us to the chicken coop in Ciudad de los Niños. We entered the enclosure and made our way to the challenge through chicken and sheep droppings. The beginning of the challenge was delayed by a chicken that escaped through the open gate. It did not get far, however, as a swarm of children forced the disoriented animal back inside, where it promptly ran into a sheep and hurried away. When the excitement settled down, we listened to the Parable of the Lost Sheep (obviously a fitting place) and were given a maze to complete. The children crowded around the page and took turns scanning their fingers along different routes. Lizeth was the first to find the path and quickly traced it with a pencil. With the fifth puzzle piece in hand, the children felt the imminence of victory.
The last Bible verse took us back to the Villa, where Rosi, the Good Shepherd teacher, read the Parable of the Sower. The challenge was to act out the parable, and Lizeth again took charge as the Sower. She assigned roles to other members as birds, rocks, thorns, seeds, and plants. As Rosi reread the parable, the children acted in their respective roles to collect the final puzzle piece.
We then raced back to Ciudad de los Niños and the patio where the marathon had begun. As we entered the spiritual reflection room, disappointment hit: we had arrived in second place. Although defeated, Team Saint Luke still arranged the six puzzle pieces to find the response to the ultimate question, “Where can God’s love be found?” The answer...
The Bible.
The other two teams arrived several minutes later, and we celebrated the completion of the marathon by dancing to reggaeton music and grasping for handfuls of candy launched by Father Mateo. The teams shared stories about finding clues and winning challenges. Children from the Villa and Ciudad de los Niños who had not known each other before the day’s events danced side by side or traded candy while talking about the marathon. Few seemed to care that their team had not won, but then again, that was not the essential part of the adventure. The jokes and smiles that circled the patio revealed what had been achieved during the tiring two-hour pursuit: fellowship.
