Okay, so to give you all a break from the heavy stuff, here’s what has been going on the last couple days. Yesterday I went to La Carpio for the day, and it was one of the best days I’ve had there. My professors visited me here while we were teaching English, and it was so good to talk to them for a half hour about what was going on. They are so wonderful, and I truly enjoyed getting to connect with them again.
I also had time alone with 2 of the kids after class. They stuck around, and I actually got a chance to talk to them. I was asking them about their families and their dreams. They are both 8 years old, and I remember how fun it is to ask kids of this age questions. They have no shame, and they will answer anything. For example, I asked the little boy how many siblings he had. Usually, this would be an easy question, right? Well, that’s not necessarily true here. He said that he has 2 siblings living with him in Costa Rica, but he has “un monton” living in Nicaragua (which means a ton). He listed off 5 names, and then he said he didn’t remember the names of his other siblings. This is just one example of what the life is like for these kids. In fact, this is not just a reality of people who live in La Carpio. It is very common in all the areas that are struggling economically. For example, my mom here has 26 brothers and sisters. No, that’s not a typo. Her dad is the father of 27 children in total. Welcome to the world of machismo where the man is perfectly free to have his affairs.
In the afternoon, I tutored a girl individually on her English. I love tutoring 1-on-1 because I feel like I can actually help them. I can actually explain something and work through the problesm with them. I can get a feel for whether or not they are understanding what I’m saying, and I am able to give them the individual attention that they need. I love love love doing this one-on-one with people. Good thing my profession will be working with people individually :)
Last night I was blessed to have a really good conversation with my mom. She was tired, and honestly she didn’t have a ton of energy which made the conversation more calm and at my level. She spent a lot of time talking to me about her past and her upbringing. She has an incredible story, and it is amazing how God has changed her life. Clearly things were less than perfect with her dad, but she also had issues with her mom. Because her family was so poor, her mom was a prostitute because this was the only way she could get money to buy bread for the family. It was really humbling to hear my mom’s story, about how she met her husband, and about her faith. I had heard a lot of these thigns before, but she put them all together and told her story in a sequential fashion. As she was talking, it was very clear that God is alive in her life.
Today I had a free day again, and I go in to work tomorrow with the Saturday programs. Today was wonderful to get to stay at home again and spend time seeking God. I was home alone in the morning, and this afternoon I made empanadas with my mom. Tonight we had a party for the families who have hosted missionaries in this area. We had pizza, played Spanish mixer games, sang songs, and had cake. It was good to spend time with other people there, and I got to spend time talking to the Director of Christ for the City’s wife. She is super sweet, and it was good to talk to her about this ministry a little bit more.
I haven’t said much about my neighborhood in awhile, so I think now would be a good time to update. Let me just say that I’m definitely not in small-town Iowa. This afternoon at 4:30pm I heard a gunshot from nearby. At first, I honestly didn’t think anything of it because my instinct was like: “Oh someone’s hunting.” Then my mind caught up to my reactions and informed me that I was retarded: there is no hunting here. I’m in the middle of a poor city.
This morning at breakfast my mom asked me if I was up at 3:00am that morning. I was like “of course not. What in the world would I be doing up at that time?” She said that she was up because the neighbors were yelling so loud. She explained to me that the guy right across the street does drugs and sells them, and the wife was yelling at him last night. He is 19 and married, and they have a 2 year old daughter. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon story in this area.
The stories I have heard from my family and the people in La Carpio are unbelievable. The things I have heard honestly feel like they are a story instead of someone’s personal testimony. The things I hear are the things that you see on TV but you assume they are just a form of entertainment. Although I have only gotten a taste of what life is like for the people living in La Carpio and Pavas, I’m humbled and grateful for the opportunity to enter into a small piece of their reality.
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