Camping in Guanajuato part 1
This is what I'm learning from being home;
Learning to be thankful no matter what situation he puts me in
Learning to have peace in my heart
trust him no matter what happens
July 17th-July is 24th
This past week Rebe, Beka and I went to camp with Sobre el puente. Sobre el Puente is a MTW ministry in Acapulco that works with the children living on the street. The main goal is sharing of the Gospel to these kids, and getting them out of current living situations. Trying to provide them with better lives.
Staff: Josue, Jaime, Lucy, Monse, and Marilu.
Kids: Santos, Tony, Valentin, Carlos, Felippe, Luiz, Sapito, Luiz Angel, Angel Payaso, Estrella, Jesus, Brisa, and probably more whom I am forgetting at the moment.
The day started at 6 am. I got up and was completely packed and ready to go. Had some trouble fitting three interns and two large suitcases into a small taxi cab but we made it work. Although we didn't know exactly how to get there and the cab driver over charged us by about 30 pesos, we arrived there by 6:45 and not a moment later. We were told seven am would be the hour of departure, however were not to suprised to find all the kids still fast alseep on the floor with absolutely nothing packed when we arrived. Everyone laying on the floor covered with comforters heads resting on soft pillows. Slowly they began rolling over, there bodies shifting lazily. Some of them grunted and continued sleeping, not ready to surrender their dreaming, while others were sat up sluggishly, rubbing their eyes. One scranny little boy with waved short black hair, and a scar above his right eyebrow runs over to me,
"Simone!" he squeels yet his voice is raspy and tired. He smiles sweetly wraps his arms around me.
"Felippe!" I say as a hug him back tightly. He runs off excitedly to the living room to wake his other friends. I make my way to the kitchen, running into other children scattered about the hallway sleeping soundlessly. One by one I tap each child lightly on the forehead or gently shake their shoulders until I see a pair of groggy brown eyes staring back at me. Some of them smile sheepishly, others glare at me and roll over. The staff are starting to arrive now, and forcing the kids to get up and start packing. With all the kids awake its a very different atmosphere. Everyone is scuttling about talking, laughing, eating breakfast, drinking coffee, and getting some last minute chores done. Food is being put into bags and boxes for the trip, clothes, pillows and mischellanious items are being wrapped and thrown about. Kids are wrestling and flooing around, then being scolded to hurry up.
Finally everyone is ready to load up into the vans. Two vans will carry us all to our destination. Beka and I groan when were learn that the car ride is 12 hours long. It is 10 am, three hours after out scheduled departure time. At this rate we wont arrive until 10 pm. Finally we are on the road. We are going to the government funded juvinille living center to pick up Santos and Tony. I haven't seen either one in a year and I am so excited to see them. I can feel my heart racing and we pull up to the place where they currently reside. I see them out on the sidewalk talking with Lucy. My heart is pounding so hard it takes every ounce of will power I have to stop myself from flinging the door open and running out to Santos to embrace him. Santos was one of the first and youngest street children I had ever met. He was only 11 when I met him and I just fell in love with his adorable attitude and a cute face that went with it. My heart hurt to know that this loving and playful litte boy, has already suffered so much as such a young age, and at the time didn't have much of a bright future ahead of him if some drastic changes weren't to occur. Thinking about him going back on the streets and doing drugs every day after leaving sobre el puente, It made me sick to my stomach. At first when I found out that Santos had been put in this home for troubled kids I was very distraught about not getting to see him everyday at sobre el puente. But I quickly realized the selfishness of my desires and God showed me it was better for him this way. First and foremost it got Santos off the streets, and away from drugs. Secondly at this home he has been on his way to a decent education (even if its limitted it was better than nothing). So in truth God really had been taking care of him and watching out for him which is what I had asked for. And seeing him now for the first time my emotions were getting the best of me. I was barely containing myself bouncing up and down in my seat. I had been praying for and thinking about Santos specifically for a year now and my heart swelled with sadness and joy at the seeing him again. Sadness at the thought of having to say goodbye in one short week, and joy at being blessed with a full week to spend time with him again. It seemed like forever but I did get to see Santos and Tony again. it was not quite the reunion I'd hope for, because Santos wasn't as excited to see me as I was to see him. I was secretly disappointed but refused to let it kill my mood and deter me from spending time with Santos this week. We drove and drove and finally stopped at a grocery store to buy meat cheese and bread to make tortas. We had ham and cheese with chile Ahhmazingg. I was quite pleased. Then it was back on the road again for another few hours. I felt as though we stopped every half an hour for a bathroom break. Then finally we were less than an hour away. After what seemed like days. it was around 11 pm. Suddenlly we heard a loud wrenching noise outside the car and felt the car bump several times. we had hit something but we didnt know what. The car wouldnt continue forward. We had to pull off to the shoulder of the road. We got out and tried to see under the car to see what we had hit but it was too dark outside. we kept trying to push the car but it made horrible screeching noises. Finally we tried moving the van backwards and found a spare tire that had been lying in the middle of the road. WIth everyone working together we got the tire out from under the car and we were able to move forward. 45 minutes later we were pulling into the camp walls. We all exhausted and not in the highest of spirits however that all changed as we pulled into the main entrence of the rubbly path. In the beams of car lights we could see many excited americans waiting for us in the drive way. We stumbled out of the vans all smelly and groggy to find many just as tired yet smiling faces staring back at us. They greeted everyone with hugs and helped us carry out bags to our living quarters. They had sandwhiches prepared for everyone and chips with spicy guacamole. It was truly a pleasent arrival but that did not compensate for lack of sleep. We didnt stay up too late with introductions and a quick brief of the rules, before heading off to bed.
Learning to be thankful no matter what situation he puts me in
Learning to have peace in my heart
trust him no matter what happens
July 17th-July is 24th
This past week Rebe, Beka and I went to camp with Sobre el puente. Sobre el Puente is a MTW ministry in Acapulco that works with the children living on the street. The main goal is sharing of the Gospel to these kids, and getting them out of current living situations. Trying to provide them with better lives.
Staff: Josue, Jaime, Lucy, Monse, and Marilu.
Kids: Santos, Tony, Valentin, Carlos, Felippe, Luiz, Sapito, Luiz Angel, Angel Payaso, Estrella, Jesus, Brisa, and probably more whom I am forgetting at the moment.
The day started at 6 am. I got up and was completely packed and ready to go. Had some trouble fitting three interns and two large suitcases into a small taxi cab but we made it work. Although we didn't know exactly how to get there and the cab driver over charged us by about 30 pesos, we arrived there by 6:45 and not a moment later. We were told seven am would be the hour of departure, however were not to suprised to find all the kids still fast alseep on the floor with absolutely nothing packed when we arrived. Everyone laying on the floor covered with comforters heads resting on soft pillows. Slowly they began rolling over, there bodies shifting lazily. Some of them grunted and continued sleeping, not ready to surrender their dreaming, while others were sat up sluggishly, rubbing their eyes. One scranny little boy with waved short black hair, and a scar above his right eyebrow runs over to me,
"Simone!" he squeels yet his voice is raspy and tired. He smiles sweetly wraps his arms around me.
"Felippe!" I say as a hug him back tightly. He runs off excitedly to the living room to wake his other friends. I make my way to the kitchen, running into other children scattered about the hallway sleeping soundlessly. One by one I tap each child lightly on the forehead or gently shake their shoulders until I see a pair of groggy brown eyes staring back at me. Some of them smile sheepishly, others glare at me and roll over. The staff are starting to arrive now, and forcing the kids to get up and start packing. With all the kids awake its a very different atmosphere. Everyone is scuttling about talking, laughing, eating breakfast, drinking coffee, and getting some last minute chores done. Food is being put into bags and boxes for the trip, clothes, pillows and mischellanious items are being wrapped and thrown about. Kids are wrestling and flooing around, then being scolded to hurry up.
Finally everyone is ready to load up into the vans. Two vans will carry us all to our destination. Beka and I groan when were learn that the car ride is 12 hours long. It is 10 am, three hours after out scheduled departure time. At this rate we wont arrive until 10 pm. Finally we are on the road. We are going to the government funded juvinille living center to pick up Santos and Tony. I haven't seen either one in a year and I am so excited to see them. I can feel my heart racing and we pull up to the place where they currently reside. I see them out on the sidewalk talking with Lucy. My heart is pounding so hard it takes every ounce of will power I have to stop myself from flinging the door open and running out to Santos to embrace him. Santos was one of the first and youngest street children I had ever met. He was only 11 when I met him and I just fell in love with his adorable attitude and a cute face that went with it. My heart hurt to know that this loving and playful litte boy, has already suffered so much as such a young age, and at the time didn't have much of a bright future ahead of him if some drastic changes weren't to occur. Thinking about him going back on the streets and doing drugs every day after leaving sobre el puente, It made me sick to my stomach. At first when I found out that Santos had been put in this home for troubled kids I was very distraught about not getting to see him everyday at sobre el puente. But I quickly realized the selfishness of my desires and God showed me it was better for him this way. First and foremost it got Santos off the streets, and away from drugs. Secondly at this home he has been on his way to a decent education (even if its limitted it was better than nothing). So in truth God really had been taking care of him and watching out for him which is what I had asked for. And seeing him now for the first time my emotions were getting the best of me. I was barely containing myself bouncing up and down in my seat. I had been praying for and thinking about Santos specifically for a year now and my heart swelled with sadness and joy at the seeing him again. Sadness at the thought of having to say goodbye in one short week, and joy at being blessed with a full week to spend time with him again. It seemed like forever but I did get to see Santos and Tony again. it was not quite the reunion I'd hope for, because Santos wasn't as excited to see me as I was to see him. I was secretly disappointed but refused to let it kill my mood and deter me from spending time with Santos this week. We drove and drove and finally stopped at a grocery store to buy meat cheese and bread to make tortas. We had ham and cheese with chile Ahhmazingg. I was quite pleased. Then it was back on the road again for another few hours. I felt as though we stopped every half an hour for a bathroom break. Then finally we were less than an hour away. After what seemed like days. it was around 11 pm. Suddenlly we heard a loud wrenching noise outside the car and felt the car bump several times. we had hit something but we didnt know what. The car wouldnt continue forward. We had to pull off to the shoulder of the road. We got out and tried to see under the car to see what we had hit but it was too dark outside. we kept trying to push the car but it made horrible screeching noises. Finally we tried moving the van backwards and found a spare tire that had been lying in the middle of the road. WIth everyone working together we got the tire out from under the car and we were able to move forward. 45 minutes later we were pulling into the camp walls. We all exhausted and not in the highest of spirits however that all changed as we pulled into the main entrence of the rubbly path. In the beams of car lights we could see many excited americans waiting for us in the drive way. We stumbled out of the vans all smelly and groggy to find many just as tired yet smiling faces staring back at us. They greeted everyone with hugs and helped us carry out bags to our living quarters. They had sandwhiches prepared for everyone and chips with spicy guacamole. It was truly a pleasent arrival but that did not compensate for lack of sleep. We didnt stay up too late with introductions and a quick brief of the rules, before heading off to bed.
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