An Answered Prayer *Week 17 and 18*

        Another two week blog post since everything has been really busy recently. The days are too short for everything I want to do. I want to watch my movies with the kids and hang out with the volunteem, and that all has to be fit around our different work schedules. It’s a tough situation which leaves me with not a lot of time to blog so, sorry for this instance and sorry in advance for any others. On Monday of week 17, I made my plan to go to town to buy the small girls house a new TV since my flash drive of movies didn’t work with their old one. The reason I wanted to buy them the TV is because my flash drives are a gift to each house, and if they can’t use my gift, what’s the point? So, I found a reasonable TV for 400 dollars and took it immediately! When I got back to the orphanage I called Christian to help me put up the TV. Christian came, but we didn’t have the proper materials to mount it to the wall yet, so we saved the project for Tuesday. I didn’t have a great day on Tuesday because of unrelated drama back home, so I made 100% sure with Christian that we’d be able to put the new TV up that Tuesday night. Naturally I really wanted to watch the first movie on the new TV with the girls, and so that's exactly what I did, despite there being a team dinner that night at 6:00. After the movie ended I decided I might as well make my way up to the team house for the team dinner. I got there at 7:00 and everyone was leaving, but before Leah left, she found me and told me that now was the time to talk to the 11 year old girl. It was a very spontaneous conversation, so definitely kinda awkward. But we found out this was in fact her first time down here and the only thing else we really found out was that her name is Alyssa. We made sure to inform Alyssa that we were both in her shoes once upon a time(though I’ve never been a part of a team) and we asked her if she was liking it here. Alyssa said she was loving it here and that pretty much wrapped up the conversation. After that, Leah and the Sing Sisters left for the church to practice for their performance on Wednesday. And when I finished eating, John and I went down to the church to watch them, and to be ‘serenaded’(joke for Bethany). 

On Wednesday, after the Sing Sisters sang, instead of having a regular service we walked down to the river where 20+ kids gave their lives to Christ and were baptized. It was such a beautiful and encouraging moment, especially for these kids. I am extremely happy for and proud of all of the kids that made the decision to devote themselves to the Lord, and I will continue to pray for them as they continue their walk with Christ. One of the boys that was baptized that night was Elsa’s son, Josue. Elsa is in charge of the small girls house so I’ve grown pretty close to her since I got here. So, I decided I’d take a couple photos of Josue being baptized from my angle so that Elsa would have a variety of pictures to cherish. However, after the baptism, I went looking for Elsa just to be told she was at home sick, which didn’t make sense to me because I know she isn’t the type of mom to miss something like this. So I went up to her house and showed her the photos and she almost started crying because her son never told her he was going to be baptized. She was very thankful for the photos, her son is the one in orange.

        After visiting Elsa, I went up to the church with the volunteem to take some pictures. However, Tori and her cunning persuasive abilities turned our photo shoot into dance lessons somehow. Tori had brought up the idea of a dance night previously and with two days left in her trip, everyone came to the consensus that this would be the night. So, Tori took the reins and we started learning the Merengue(a very popular Central American dance that originated from the Dominican Republic) Tori taught all of us how to do it, then she went dancing with Olivia. John danced with Leah and I danced with Anna. However, about half way through, John and I ended up being paired together and after several dips and a lot of laughter, Tori changed up the mood and taught us the Waltz. I have to add that this was my first time properly dancing and it was such a priceless moment. When we started Waltzing, we all went back to our original partners and Tori taught us so quickly and efficiently and the rest of the night was such a blast!!

On Thursday morning, Raleigh called me and asked me if I could go with the team to the Comayagua airport to help with unloading suitcases, and then reloading suitcases for the new team that was coming on the same day. Of course I said yes and so I made my way up to the team house where the bus was waiting. After the team was done saying goodbye to the kids and staff, we started our three hour journey to the airport. About halfway through, we stopped at the regular rest stop, and since coming back with the volunteem, I now know that there is a Bigos at that rest stop. So I got myself a burger because there were no burritos. Once we got to the airport though, Christian, Maestro(from the mechanic shop, not the wood shop), and I found a seat. Maestro offered me food but I assured him the Bigos I just had was enough. As we were waiting for the new team I went and found Alyssa and gave her some encouraging words plus one of the greatest high fives my hand has ever dealt. Then I walked downstairs where the new team was waiting and I reunited with Lindsay and Kasey who I met back in April while my mom was here. After all 77 people on the new team had boarded the two buses, we were off to Emmanuel. On the way back to the orphanage we stopped at the rest stop again and I got Bigos again because this time they had burritos back on the menu. After we all re-boarded it was smooth sailing from there.

Upon arriving back at the orphanage, I eventually found myself sitting in the chosa with all of the volunteem except for Tori. It was Tori’s last day so I thought she might be sitting somewhere on her own, deep in her thoughts, so I suggested walking around Emmanuel to try to find Tori. Anna thought it was a good idea, so the two of us went and looked for Tori, but while we were looking, we saw Raleigh and Maycol riding around in Raleigh’s gator with a flashlight looking for a kid who had escaped. We found out that the kid was one of the Grandecitos and that the orphanage staff had been looking all over the grounds for a couple hours already trying to find him. After seeing Raleigh, we found Tori at the medium girls house and made our way back up to our chosa(still without Tori because Tori was busy). After saying a prayer for the missing kid and having a discussion about the disrest these kids have in their hearts and lives, we parted ways. The girls went inside their house and John and I made our way back to our house as well. Once we got to our house, I grabbed a flashlight and I went out looking for the Grandecito by myself. I walked around Emmanuel for about two hours and to what I thought was no avail. I even went to the Grandecitos house to ask the other boys if anyone was with him when he ran away. None of them said they saw him so I left the house and walked down the dirt trail behind the orphanage. The whole time I was looking, I was praying that what I was doing would help the kid find his way back home. However, after my two hours of searching, I couldn’t find him, so I made the decision that I’d spend the next day in town looking for the boy, and I went back to my house.

The next morning I said my goodbyes to Tori and sent her off, then immediately after, I made my way into town to look for the missing boy. I spent all morning in town and then stopped at Bigos for lunch at about noon. After I ate, I continued my search and funnily enough ran into Nino, who I mentioned I saw back on Mother’s day. Nino was at a gas station getting gas for a friend when he saw me and shouted my name. He asked me what I was doing so far away from the orphanage and I gave him the scoop. He offered to take me around on his motorcycle and I accepted. After looking for a while, he had to go finish something back at his job and he decided to take me with him for some reason. While there, Nino asked me for a photo of the kid that was missing, so I called Felipe(the man in charge of the Grandecitos house). When Felipe picked up I asked him to send me a photo of the boy who went missing to which he responded “no… we already found him. He said he saw you go to the Grandecitos house last night and he was surprised you didn't see him hiding in the bushes because you walked right past him. The Tia told me he came home within five minutes of you leaving the Grandecitos house.” Though that meant I spent all day in town for nothing(Bigos was a plus though) I was so relieved that he found his way back home and that all of the prayers for his well being were answered. So after finding that out, I made my way back to the orphanage to spread the good news to the rest of the volunteem, who still had no idea.

On Saturday, everyone was feeling refreshed due to the previous events and so the volunteem made plans to eat at Bigos for dinner and go grocery shopping. So we all got ready and went to town around 4:00pm. First, we went to Bigos and placed our order since it would take them a while to make our food. Then we went to take a picture of the mountains hovering over the street, but while on our way there… we bumped into Nino, again. To be fair, this time was set up because he told me to text him when I went into town next, except we didn’t plan to meet where we ended up meeting. Since Leah has been coming since she was like 11 or something I guess, she knew Nino too, and was very excited to see him. After taking our picture, we went to the grocery store and then made our way back to Bigos. The staff at Bigos was extremely generous and nice to us(as they usually are) and that never fails to make a good experience. After leaving Bigos we went to get sunscreen for one of John's bff’s, and then we made our way to Matilda’s for chocolate covered bananas, which were delicious as always. Then, we made our way back to Emmanuel. While walking, I realized I had no idea where my lanyard/keys were. So I had to turn around. We were already really close to the orphanage at that point, but curfew was at 6 and it was 5:58. So I told the rest of the group to keep walking and I called Danielle and explained the situation and she was fine with it because she knew I knew what I was doing. I started by retracing all the places that I don’t remember having my key. So I started at Matilda's, but it had closed within the 5 minutes that we weren’t there, so then I went to Bigos and didn’t find my key, then I made my way to the sunscreen place which was also closed. It wasn’t until after all the stress and searching that I decided to check my pockets… they were in my pocket.

On Sunday I took Lorena and Erika to church with me. Sometime around before and after my trip to Cancun, both Erika and Lorena started calling me their dad, and hearing them call ‘dad’ from across their yard every time they see me is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever felt in my life. Erika and Lorena are sisters too and I now refer to them as my daughters. After church, I took the girls to the tienda and bought them some snacks and had a beautiful family brunch😁! The brunch went all the way until lunch which meant I had to take my girls to the comedor. After lunch, Leah and I went to the tienda with Maycol and Olvin. Leah met Maycol many years back and considers him a son of hers even though he’s my age and Leah is only 22. So, since I consider Maycol as my brother, technically Leah is my mom, which means she even has two granddaughters… technically. After eating with Olvin and Maycol, I had planned to go on a run with one of my special needs boys and Ms. Anna the Trackstar. The boy's name is Richar and he loves to run, which is why he is the only boy in the house with a personalized supervisor. The only other thing I know Richar to love is anything with wheels. So the first half of the run went mildly iffy because he didn’t like not having something with wheels in his hands. But the second half of the run went splendidly well because the tractor full of team members taking a tour of the orphanage pulled in front of us and we chased it all the way back to the special needs boys house. After the run I took a long rest in my house all the way until dinner, which I didn’t go to because the girls of the volunteem were holding a dinner for all of us as a group. John didn’t show up that night, but the sky was so beautiful we all took some pictures and then I suggested going up on top of the water towers for an even better view. While on top the water tower, the Sing Sisters(minus Tori🥲) sang a handful of songs and we finished by giving thanks to the Lord through prayer. It was such a beautiful and priceless moment that I will cherish for quite a while.

After such a beautiful end to week 17, I was stoked for what laid ahead in week 18. On Monday, Raleigh asked me to take the team of 77 back to Comayagua, and of course I obliged, however that pretty much filled up my whole Monday. And then on Tuesday, I was swamped with some kind of hell made cold, so I took the day off to water it down and rest. Then on Wednesday, I went to town to get some supplies for a cookout that I wanted to throw on the cement grill behind the female volunteer house that definitely hasn’t been used in over a decade. While in town, I stopped at Bigos, of course. As it turned out, I didn’t have enough space in my backpack to carry all of the supplies for the cookout, and the volunteem decided that Thursday would be the day to have the cookout, so I had to go back to town the day of to get the rest of the supplies. Naturally, while I was in town, I stopped at Bigos again for my burritos, then got the rest of my supplies and made my way back to the orphanage. Once I got back, I asked Leah to let me into the girls house so that I could store some of the food I had bought in one of their two fridges. It was then that I got to have a really meaningful conversation with Leah and when we wrapped up, I went back to my house and waited for the girls to be ready to start the cookout. John and I made our way up to the girls house at 5:00pm and I started a charcoal fire while John left for a Bible study with his medium boys. When John got back, around 6:00, we threw the burgers on our pan and watched the patties cook while the girls were talking in the chosa. Eventually the girls took half of the burger meat inside to cook some burgers by themselves, which left John and I alone for a while, but we just put on some music and had a nice chat while the burgers were searing. Eventually our dinner was ready and we were able to sit down and have a fantastic evening with a fantastic meal.

On Friday, just as I was leaving work at the wood shop, it started pouring, out of nowhere. It was like someone just snapped their fingers and bang, rain. But it wasn’t just rain, we were all in a huge thunderstorm. I have never, ever, heard a thunder storm this loud. It sounded like the lightning had struck 10 feet away from me. So I decided I’d take shelter in the small girls house since it was close by, and because I wanted to make sure the girls were all good and calm. Since I get off work right at dinner time, all the houses still had to walk all the way to the comedor. So, after about five minutes of me being there, we all had to run in the pouring rain to the comedor, and all the way back to our houses after. After dinner, my job is to be with the special needs boys, and their house is the second farthest house from the comedor. So Christian had all the special needs boys waiting under the roof of the comedor until he gave me the green light to lead the boys out into the rain. When I left, about half of the boys followed me and started walking/running on their own all the way back to their house. But for the other half I had to politely grab their hands and walk them out, then they walked on their own from there. But the last boy I had to get out of the comedor, Franklin, motioned for me to bend down. So I bent down, and this 23 year old guy jumped onto my back and I carried him out of the comedor. It was such a fun moment though because he was smiling really big but he didn’t want to be carried for too long, so he hopped down off my back and started running back to his house. Then after I finished my day at the special needs boys house, I made my way back to my house(still in the pouring rain), which is on the complete other side of the orphanage.

On Saturday I had a pretty typical day. But at night, I planned to watch some more movies that I downloaded with the Grandecitos again. This time around I downloaded my favorite movie, ‘Ready Player One’ and the boys really enjoyed it which made me so happy that I was able to share that experience with them. But before the movie started, the team cut all of the Grandecitos’ hair. I did get my hair cut back in week 16 by Tori, again. However, I really needed someone to touch up on it because it was still getting in my eyes. So I asked one of the ladies cutting hair, and she told me she would for sure cut my hair. While I was waiting, one of the boys asked Felipe if he could get a lightning bolt on the side of his head, but Felipe said no because otherwise he would be the one in trouble for allowing it. So I told the lady she could put a lightning bolt in my hair to make up for the kid not being able to. The haircut turned out pretty good actually, but the lightning bolt was kind of round😂, but it still looked good. After the movie I made my way up to the girls house to play ‘Catchphrase’ which is a super fun team game that Leah brought. We played two games of it, first I was paired with Leah, then we switched teams and I played with John. I was the only one at the table that went undefeated😎😤.

On Sunday we got a bit of a treat from one of the team members. When the team came, they brought an old friend of mine who grew up here and is now a traveling missionary named Alexander. But, I later found out that they also brought a man named JJ Weeks, who is very well known in the Christian community for his song ’Let Them See You’. At church on Sunday, JJ sang a song in both English and Spanish with another member of the group, which was just such a special occurrence. That day, I had taken Kimberli and Hannah to church with me, and then to the tienda after. I bought them some snacks but then they showed no interest in staying at the store so we walked back to their house where I picked up Rosario and took her to the tienda to be able to sit with her older sister Valeria, who was already there eating with Anna. We sat there all the way until lunch and then said goodbye to the girls. At night I went back to the Grandecitos house to watch what will be my last movie with them, ‘Real Steel’ which is definitely my second favorite movie now. I am having such a great time down here, being able to watch movies with almost all of the houses has been such an incredible series of experiences but I love and hate the thought of finishing up all the movies I had downloaded because after I watch my last movie, it’ll be the end of a very meaningful era to me. To be continued…