Update on this weekend.

I had been very anxious during the previous two weeks about this trip. To me, the unknown can be one of the scariest things. I actually had a nightmare about telling Manuel about my move. In the dream, he didn't really care and he didn't have time to talk to me.

Well, once I got down there, I realized two things: 1) His daughter was in town who is away at college and 2) The nana called the police because she thought somebody tried to steal her propane tank. Hmm... could these be some distractions and things that would defer our needed conversation? I think so.

Yet, before he got up, I told my brother Adrian. He was the first one that I told. I love him to death, and I knew that he could keep it a secret until I talked to Manuel. He was really excited. (I actually did have a dream that he would be excited too.)

Then, I told Manuel that I needed to talk to him, but that I could wait until he had time. While he was dealing with the police, I told the cooking Nana. I love her - she's the cutest little thing ever! Oh, and she even hikes the fence to go home. :) Anywho, I explained to her how my bosses said yes, and that I am going to move there on January 4th (Yep, I picked the date). Her response was - "How beautiful" and then she gave me a hug and a kiss. Have I mentioned how much I love her? She's amazing.

Finally, Manuel was done with the police, so I could talk to him. Keith wanted to see his expression, so Manuel was walking in the middle of us. I explained how I have always had the desire to be there as much as possible and that I have been praying to make it more full time. I explained to him how God told me that I needed to wait until He said it was time, and that a few weeks ago, God told me exactly that. I explained to him how I asked my bosses if I could work from home and that they approved it. I then told him that I would like to find a house in Imuris or Teranate so that I can work from there during the day and then be at CdE at nights on the weekends. Once he realized I didn't want to live on the orphanage property, he was excited. He said that it was very wise to not live on the property so that I could have some down time and so the kids wouldn't distract me during my work. He also said, "This is very good. I wish there were more people like you out there." Yay! He's for it. He "approved" me moving down there... He also volunteered to help me find a house. We continued to talk, and he said, "This is actually God. I have been looking for an English teacher, and I have wanted someone from the States. Can you be our English teacher?". My immediate response was "yeah, I can do that". I can start work earlier in the day and make this my "lunch break" so that it will not interfere with my job. It's funny because just the day before, I was thinking about how much I missed being in the classroom and I almost started crying on the playground missing it so much. I also included being a "substitute english or computer class teacher" on my list of things in my head that I could help them out with. Oh, how God answers our prayers and heart's cries in ways we don't even expect.

Finally, I had to tell Jesus. I was the most nervous to tell him, and that's only because I really didn't expect him to have a good reaction. He was actually the only one I didn't have a dream about his response. See, with me moving down there, he is going to have more accountability than he's ever had before - so it might not be a completely happy thing for him. But, as he was sitting underneath the monkey bars on the little wood plank, I sat down next to him and told him I had to talk to him. I told him that I was going to live there in January. His immediate response was "why?". I'm sure there's lots of reasons why he asked that but I just responded with explaining to him about how I will still have my job, I'll have a house in the city, and that I will be his new English teacher. He seemed to be pretty good with it and then he finally understood. I wouldn't say that he was completely stoked about it, but he definitely wasn't upset about it either. This weekend was the happiest I have ever seen him. He was in such a good mood all day on Saturday and Sunday, and we goofed off so much. He is such a beautiful kid, and I love how his little nose scrunches up everytime he laughs.

Some other highlights and fun things on this trip:

We got to do 2 worship songs for them during church. We did "Big House" and "Get Down" by Audio Adrenaline. I briefly explained them in the beginning, but I don't even know if they could hear me over the music, then Raul explained them the songs afterwards.

Someone on the trip, who shall remain nameless, kept pointing out the f word that was in one of the Spanish-English dictionaries, and then I finally ripped it out of the book and shred it into pieces. One good thing came from this though - I now recognize it and know it, so I will be able to respond appropriately when the kids say it. I also learned a new verb - chinar - which means to pester and annoy. It's one letter away from the other word, so I can just tell someone "me chinas" when they speak to me like that... I had some practice with that too.

We watched Bridge to Terabithia with them. I brought that down along with Transformers, and they watched it on Saturday night. I love watching movies outside with all of them. They seemed to like it, and I love that movie because it has quite a few good lessons in it.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Oh, I have 4 people trying to find a house for me right now. I am going to try to get a decent sized one so people can stay with me.