This weekend was definitely an interesting one. To be honest, I'm still trying to process everything that happened. I definitely learned a lot about myself, and about these kids.

Kids will be kids...

Right before we were getting ready to leave, Nia looked into her purse and saw that there was $69 that was missing. Shanyce said she saw the girl with scars on her face crawl through the kitchen window earlier in the day while she was eating s sandwich. She then, pointed to Rosa Elizabeth and said it was her. I asked her if she took Nia's money, and after she denied it, I asked if she knew who did. All of the other kids around heard me question her and came over to us, and they all named one boy, Heriberto. I immediately went to Manuel to tell him about what had happened. He called the psychologist and had him come over and they and Gaby talked to the boys right then. Nia and I were forced to stay there for 3 extra hours because Manuel was talking to the boys. After he was in there, the kids named off 6 other boys that were involved (Edwin, Macario, Angel, Cristian, Jesus Guadalupe, and Cruz. After an hour of waiting, I decided I should check my purse as well and not be ignorant from the fact that they could do the same to me. What do you know? They did. I only had $10 in cash though. Yet, we didn't even have $3.50 of cash on us to pay the toll on the way home, so we were forced to wait around. After 3 hours, I told Manuel we had to go, and he told me to bring the other lady in there first. When we both went in that room together, I couldn't handle it. Josue, a 15 year-old boy that has only been there for two weeks and was not mentioned by any of the kids, came over to us and said "It was me, I took the money." Following him was 10 year-old Heriberto, and then he said, "My apologies." He also was crying. Manuel said that the rest of the boys in there were in there because they helped spend the money. Nia was given back around $65, but they ended up spending about $15. I looked over to the other boys: Edwin, Angel, Cristian, Macario. Cristian was crying. The tears did not stop flowing. We told Manuel that we know that these boys have good hearts and that they just made a bad choice but that it's okay. He reminded us that they are from the streets and that it takes time to get them back on the right path. Manuel then looked at me and said, "This is your home." "This is your home." I thanked him and then I started saying my goodbyes. I put my hands on Josue's cheeks first and then kissed his cheek and hugged him and said goodbye. I then did the same to Heriberto, then Macario, and Cristian, and Angel, and finally Edwin. I said, I love you all. I then hugged Manuel and Gaby and saw that the tears were still streaming down Cristian's face. I went back over to him and wiped away his tears and said, "It's okay. I love you. See you next month." Yes, these boys made a bad decision and they should be punished, but they also need to know they were forgiven.

(Side note: This is how they learned to survive on the streets. They all think that all American's are rich, so they think we don't really need it because we have plenty more. I honestly don't think that it was out of malicious intent towards either one of us. I can't blame them for that. I also can't blame the other kids for spending money that they see in front of them when they don't get that much...They will learn, they just haven't yet. To me, it's just like teaching a kid not to spill when they pour.)

All in all, these kids are amazing. At least 30 kids came up to me while they were in that meeting and said, "I'm sorry Ana". I just kept saying, "it's okay, it's okay". It spread like wildfire, and these kids were remorseful, both the ones that weren't directly involved and the ones that were.
While Manuel was talking to these boys, we were still cleaning up the apartment we stayed in. These kids don't care that we're cleaning, they want to be in there and still spend time with us. They like to help, even though they have chores all the time. They help in whatever way they are able to help. They helped a lot. Let's see. Cristina mopped the entire apartment and re-mopped it after some of the Americans walked through it. They helped us clean. They helped us load the car. They helped me take air out of the air matress. A bunch of the kids helped me get the dents out of my hood (after we all sat on it for a super long time). I didn't ask them for their help. In fact, I told Cristina that I got it and that I could do it, but she insisted over and over again, until I let her...and this was all in less than an hour and a half.

And then there's Rosa Elizabeth.

This 10 year old little girl saw a cloth on the ground, and brought it over to the hose and washed it off. She then came over to me (as I was sitting on the hood of my car), and proceeded to wash my legs off. She then took off my flip flops and washed my feet. Seeing how much dust and dirt was on me, she went back to the hose and washed it off again. She came back to me and rinsed off both of my arms and hands, and then washed off my face. When she first started doing it, I told her not to, but she just kept doing it, and smiled. This is the same girl that I accused of taking Nia's money just an hour earlier. Then she serves me like this? It was the weirdest thing that anyone has ever done to me, but she did it with a smile on her face the entire time. I'm not one to let people do stuff for me like that, but wow... That was crazily beautiful to witness and experience.

I go there to serve them. Yet, they serve me. I don't ask for it, I don't like them to do it. It makes me feel bad and uncomfortable.

Last night, Ben was talking about Mary and Martha and it reminded me of Cristina and Rosa Elizabeth. They joyfulness. It reminded me of the first verse that called me to work with orphans in Romania over 5 years ago. James 1:24 "Pure and undefiled religion is this: to visit orphans and widows in their time of need." The pure and undefiled part is not the mere act of visiting them, serving them, or even loving them.... it is everything that we can learn from them. This is why we are called to visit them, because it's only them that can truly teach us.

We're not just called to have just the faith of a child...There are so much more that we can learn from them.



Cristina


Rosa Elizabeth


Josue


Heriberto


Edwin


Angel


Cristian


Macario