Cave lessons

At the caves last week I had the kind of lesson that reminds me why Im here. I brought a box of colouring pencils, paper and reading books and stumbled my way down the steps to find 8 kids sitting patiently on the dance podium. I showed them the goodies and they gasped and clapped their hands in excitement. One kid clasped his hands together and whispered "Thank you Lord Jesus!" We sat down and talked about our families, then wrote about it and drew pictures. The kids all worked away as I walked around and checked their work.
3 of the kids were very little and didnt have any english, so I gave them an alphabet jigsaw to do. When I went to check on them there was an 8 year old boy sitting with them pointing to the letters and getting the kids to call them out. By the end of the lesson he had them singing the alphabet song! As the older kids finished their work I gave them books to read and without me having to ask they went to the younger kids and read to them. More and more kids appeared and just settled into the lesson and I sat in the middle and watched them teach eachother and work away, sharing their pencils and tearing paper in half to share it. The sun was streaming down through the leaves and the crickets were chirping in the background as 22 street kids bent over their books and read together. It was a perfect moment.