Just one of those moments...

Today I taught one of the boys how to tie a tie. I'm still smiling on the inside.

I continue to learn more of their stories. Tonight, one of the kids asked me to tell him about my childhood. "Well, I liked to read and play...but I didn't try hard in school and argued with my parents all the time. I was a bad kid...but it's a little better now." Then he asked me if I wanted to know about his childhood, and began telling me about when he became a Christian (about two years after coming to the orphanage)...and about how thieves shot his pregnant mother and most of his brothers when he was six. That was all. I didn't want to ask any of my many, many questions and instead sat there holding him as he lay across my lap.

Earlier that day I had to punish him for kicking another kid. I was afraid he'd hate me for the day or something. Instead, when we got back to the house he saw my multitude of bug bites and forced me to sit there as he applied Hydrogen Peroxide to all of them (I have no clue if that helps). Then we got in an argument over whether I was going to marry this one girl who helps out there. Again, when language failed me tickling did not. Then I sat on his bed for an hour with his head on my lap just talking about life with all the kids. It was really cool hearing how they had all become Christians after coming to the orphanage. Though these kids have shown me so much about brokenness they have also shown me about love. If my family had been shot and I'd spent the last six years of my life watching hundreds of people come and go with their promises...I don't know what I'd be like. I don't know if I'd have the compassion and love to sit for twenty minutes and gently dab medicine on yet another transient gringo's legs. I don't know if I'd care enough to tell my story one more time. But there we were, and there was God.

Tomorrow is family day. All the houses will dress differently (the high school boys are going in dresses) and compete for various prizes. This is a pretty big day for most of the kids, so be praying for everything to go well.

Thanks!!

-Mateo

P.S. Pray for my relationship with Sara. She skipped me one too many times in Phase 10, causing me to lose, and I'm beginning to question her Christian morals. Massive tension, might tear the team apart.