Today I have a lot more peace about the possible changes. The one thing I do know is that right now God is telling me to be still. So that is what I will do. My prayer didn't reveal anything new. But the sense of peace I have today made the lack of sleep worthwhile.
I was able to smile without Eunice pestering me. I was able to be around people who don't like me without feeling uncomfortable. I felt like I could handle what life is throwing at me and God is just asking me to be patient.
Today someone asked if I am open to making friends, implying that she believes I am not. I said yes I am open, but it is hard because people always tell me not to trust anyone. However, I do have 2 friends. Ana and Fany.
The person immediately started telling me not to trust anyone. I said see? You are telling me that I am not open to friendships but when I tell you I have friends you are telling me I shouldn't trust them. All I can say is that for almost 3 years Fany has proven to be a trustworthy friend and in the one year I have been friends with Ana, I have found no reason not to trust her. So until one of them gives me a reason not to, I will continue to count them as my friends. I do have other people here whom I know I can turn to, like Karla and Jose, or Lucy. Or my former landlords. Or my current landlords. But Fany and Ana are my day to day friends whether others approve or not.
The swim coach has been calling. I am horrible about keeping my phone with me. At the church I never carry it with me because I will lose it, or it will be stolen. Half the time I accidentally leave my phone at home. So, needless to say, contacting me by phone is not easy. I am sure he needs help with his Saturday morning lessons. I need to talk to the church leadership and get permission if I want to do that again. But it would be a great opportunity I think.
I went to the gym after being quite gluttonous with food over the past 2 weeks. The man who used to be my trainer looked at me and said, "Your metabolism is changing." He handed me weights and told me to do five laps of lunges, then gave me a hard upper body workout. All for free! I guess it pays to walk into the gym with a fat belly.
The visit from the second team is going well. We are all together in one group every day. A lady who is a teacher prepared lessons about the life of Moses. It makes me proud when the kids are able to tell what comes next in the story before we even say it. The kids at Buen Provecho are well educated about the story of Moses. She is tying in themes every day like "You can always trust in God" and "He cares for you."
A cool thing happened today. The team had to leave after the first group of kids because they had to serve somewhere else. But all of the kids except six were released from school early. So the team got to teach and do the craft with almost every kid, which was nice and unexpected. The poor man who was washing dishes today said he thought he was doing something wrong because he couldn't keep up with all of the dishes. But that was because we had over 70 kids in the morning group alone.
One man on the team is a lawyer. I like him. He is a really nice guy. But you can tell that he is also a tough lawyer. Today he said that he was making a conscious effort to relax and let other people take the lead on this trip. I think he is enjoying himself even more since he is sitting back and able to be relaxed.
He also mentioned that when they announced the members of this team he said, "Wow. There are a lot of strong personalities on this team." It is interesting to hear other people think about how their team is going to work together. I spent so long praying from the team from my home church, K2, to be tightly united. He said things are going really smoothly on his team, even with all of the strong personalities.
He also said he was surprised when Kelin tried to take his Rolex off his wrist yesterday. I was not surprised, but was disappointed when he told me that. We talked to Kelin and her sister before the groups came about not asking for things.
With a previous group Kelin asked some special friends for a bike. In the end her special friends decided it was best not to buy the bike. But I was shocked Kelin asked for it. It put us all in a tough position. This time she didn't wait for a translator. She kept saying something he didn't understand. And finally she reached down and tried to unhook his watch from his wrist.
Kelin and her sister both have a sense of entitlement that we are trying to address. We talked to them each specifically because her sister wanted the first team to bring her a tablet. Apparently the talks haven't sunken in yet. Why Kelin would want a men's Rolex is confusing to me. But it does go along with the general attitude of 'take as much as you can get' that I see so often here.
Today I did see progress when one of the Moms helped the kids with crafts. Yesterday the same mother got mad at me because as I was handing out the crafts she asked for one for herself. Meanwhile she was holding her 2 or 3 year old niece on her lap. I told her that we need to help the kids do the crafts first. She was not happy with that answer. She did the craft for her niece, even though other kids the same age were able to do the craft themselves with a little help. Today, however, she did not even sit down. She walked around to each table and helped the kids. After we finished today's craft I hugged her and told her thank you. Progress!
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| This is Maryori (pronounced Margorie) She is one of the new girls in my class |
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| Another new girl |
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| Teacher Mary with Milagro |
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| Micah with Tania snuggled up |
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| The kids and the team |
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| The team with Belinda and me |
