Okay, now I can talk about this past weekend. :)

Let’s see. The lady cancelled when I was at my 2nd Wal-Mart, so it ended up being me with 14 yr. old Jessica and 15 yr. old Jared S. I knew they would get along because Jared is one of my 2 15 yr. old brothers, and I got to know Jessica a lot the weekend before and throughout the past week. Anyhow, it’s just me and the two of them.



Amelia, Adrian, Jared, Joselin, & Jessica
We get there on Friday night, and it’s time to say hi to the kids! We go into the boys’ hall and said hi to all of them. They were beyond excited and were all hanging out and playing games. We then go over to the girls’ hall and say hi to all of them. I got to break up a fight between two of the younger 10 yr. old girls. Oh what joy! Attempting to take Rosa Adrianna over to Manuel’s house was the only time that she didn’t want to hold my hand or for me to carry her. After hanging out with the boys for a little bit more, Edgar went and got Adrian. We talked to him and Edgar for a little while when Abraham roller bladed up and asked me if I wanted to skate. After the 15th time he asked, I ended up putting on Adrian’s roller blades and skating and racing around on the basketball court with him. It was the first time I have roller bladed in probably 10 years! I have to say, it went surprisingly well. Then, we played basketball and had a great time. It was so awesome to see Jared and Adrian start to form a friendship. I joked to Jessica, “I knew that they would get along because I have the same relationship with both of them. They hang on me the exact same way. The only way I know which one it is is by which country I am in.” It was so funny too because Adrian started leaning on me the second that he came outside and when he started standing on his own again, it wasn’t even 30 seconds before Jared came over and started doing it. Oh, it just made me laugh inside!

Saturday morning, I went over to Manuel to talk about when we can put up the pictures and hand out the bibles. He was so excited. We pretty much started right after that. We brought over all of the framed pictures and the envelopes over to the main building. The front room ended out being locked, so we were stuck outside with all the kids coming up and wanting to see them. I decided to start to hand out their individual envelopes to try to distract them, but it only half-way helped. Once Gaby came over and saw the pictures, she wanted to have some put up in the office. After discussing it with her, she then decided she wanted all of the pictures in the office. Manuel has wanted a gallery of the kids’ pictures, and so we were turning the office into one. Jared put up every single frame, and he did an amazing job. He even was creative and did a great job of deciding where they should go. It maybe took us an hour to complete the whole thing.

Jared

We wanted tacos for lunch, so we got permission to take Adrian, Francisco Ramon (13 yr. old), Juan Ramon, and Diana with us. It was great; those kids are so much fun! The best part is that no other kids saw! They each got to get a treat from SuperVal too, and they totally shared when we got back. We ended out not doing the birthday project because there was another group there that had 3 piñatas and cakes and they gave every kid a Christmas present (it was like an Angel tree group).

So, here we are, sitting around and I’m playing with a couple of the little kids at a table when someone comes up from behind me and puts their hands over my eyes. I had no idea if it was a boy or girl or how tall or short they were. I just knew it was a kid. I reached behind me and went to pinch their waist or something so I could maybe hear their laugh. Lo and behold, the kid went off running, and then I looked. It was Francisco Ramon, a 13 year old boy, and then he does the pinching motion and then points to his butt. That’s right, I totally pinched a 13 yr. old’s butt. I couldn’t believe it. I apologized later that night, and I could tell that he was embarrassed and didn’t want to talk about it again. At least he knew I didn’t mean too… That’s a very good thing!

Francisco Ramon
Later that night, I helped one of the little boys learn how to play their version of Go Fish and I was trying to translate an English book to Arnulfo. I talked to a bunch of the older girls that tend to be the hardest to crack into their lives, and I really started to bond with them. While I was talking to them, Jesus was locked in his boys hall, and he had one of the kids come get me. He wanted me to take a picture of him pitching, batting, and catching the ball the following morning in his game. He also asked me to come down on his birthday, January 31st. I told him I’d ask my work, but that’s so hard. He’s so cute though. I hope that maybe somehow I can make it work. Elyot asked me to come on the 15th of Jan. because that’s when his sponsor is coming down (who I have met before). I felt like telling them that I can’t make 3 trips in one month… but I just told them I’ll see. I made no promises. After all of the little kids went to bed, we went to different stores to try to find fire crackers. We got sparklers and tons of other fireworks, and it was awesome. This was another thing I haven’t done for a good 10+ years. We then went to have dinner at 10:00 and took Esveidy (the 13 yr. old pregnant girl) and Adrian (again).

Before we went to dinner, I talked to Manuel again about the bibles and he said to pass them out in-between the boys’ baseball game and church. The baseball game was supposed to start at 9 and then church would start at 11. The game was also supposed to be on CdE grounds so there wouldn’t be an issue. Well, it’s 9:15 and the kids are getting on their bus. I asked if we could go on the bus, and they said yes, and so on we went. We went to a completely different part of Imuris, picked up the other team and some of the players on different spots on the road, and off we went. Jesus pitched the first 3 innings and he did awesome. Mario pitched the next 6 and he was really good too. They ended out winning 26-6. Wahoo! Yet, because they don’t have the 10 run rule like they do in little league here, the game lasted 3 hours because they did so well. By the time we got back to CdE, church was over. So, Manuel said to hand out the bibles at lunch time.

Jesus - Does he look almost 13?

Mario
I have to say, Manuel really does have a lot of wisdom with how to work with these kids. While they were eating, he told them to go into the commodore after they were done if they wanted a bible. I have never in my life ever thought that I would see kids wanting bibles so bad! They were all trying to get theirs before the kid next to them. They were so excited and thankful to get them. We must have handed out about 60 bibles to the kids. They still have a box that is almost full, so it’s awesome. Manuel also is keeping some bibles in their library so that the little kids can get them on Sundays before church but don’t ruin them the rest of the time. The kids I got for the little kids were a hit too. Some of the 10 year olds wanted those too.

Oh, so then it’s time to say goodbye. While I was saying by to the kids, I gave Arnulfo a hug goodbye. While I was hugging him, he was saying, “My pants! My pants!” I tried to fix it by pulling them up. But, what do you think I did instead? Yep, I gave him a wedgie and pulled up his underwear. After Arnulfo started to tell me what I was doing, I had Jared fix it. Yep, I’m great huh! I pinch a 13 year old boy’s butt and I give a 6 year old a wedgie! What a weekend!


Arnulfo
Last but not least… I got a text last night that told me about how the baby has been born! Yep, that’s right, the baby is already here, and he and Esveidy are doing great. He was born yesterday at 1 or 2 in the afternoon, and she’s already back at CdE.

I’m going to be making another trip this month on Saturday with Jessica, so if anyone wants to come, please let me know. I would really like for someone else to help with the driving, because it’s harder on day trips. If anyone is interested, just let me know.