Clown Training

Our class consisted of three clowns, which was our original request 3-5 clowns. While we had the opportunity for more clowns, my grandmother and I wanted to have fewer clowns to enable us to ensure a better quality of training in the short amount of time that we had. Our clowns consisted of Lydia, Felix, and Jorge. Jorge was an individual that Grandma was really hoping would appear for the training. Six years ago, he saw Loli and Pop (Grandma Kay and Grandpa T) clown and it inspired him to put together his own costume and clown at the colonials for La Vina church. When Grandpa T passed away last year, Grandma Kay began to pray about giving Pop’s designer clown costume to Jorge to help Jorge continue his ministry. So, we were really excited to see him arrive for the training.

We dove into painting their faces immediately and the end result surprised us. All three of our clowns looked amazing. Once their faces were complete, Dave translated our surprise that the make-up, wigs, and costumes we brought would be theirs to keep. Each clown’s faces shown with sheer delight with the announcement.

About that time, Grandma brought out Pop’s costume. There were tears in both their eyes as she gave it to Jorge and explained that Grandpa T would have wanted to give it to Jorge to help further his ministry. Jorge could not say a word through Grandma’s explanation. Later that evening, Jorge gave Grandma a big hug and said that he was incredibly honored to receive Pop’s costume.

We then helped the girls put together their costumes and select their wigs. The girls “oooed” and “ahhed” over the costumes and from outside you could hear their giggles of excitement. They all loved being clowns so much that none of them took off their make-up when it came time to leave after the balloon training.