Memorable Moments (pt. 2)

If you haven't yet, check out Memorable Moments (pt.1).

Sept. 12

I don't think I can have my time with Jesus with Carlos's family anymore. Before, I just sat outside with Carlos and had my time with Jesus, but because of the rain, I do it inside his house. With just Carlos, it's fine because he sits and just listens, even if he doesn't understand. In his house with his family, his sisters are bothering me every minute, and his baby brother keeps hitting my guitar. It's really annoying. It's kind of hard to enter into God's presence when you're being bothered constantly.

I had Carlos and Kevin talk to Rose on the phone. It was hilarious. I then had Kevin talk to Johnathan. They talked in Spanish. It was really cool to hear them talk to each other. Well, I only heard Kevin, but it was cool hearing Kevin respond to Johnathan.

I practiced with the worship band today. Luis, one of the singers, asked me yesterday if I wanted to play my guitar with them. I agreed, and now I'm playing in the service on Sunday. Oh man.

After looking back on today, I realized that Claudia is the troublemaker out of her, older Carlos, Gabi, and Tuco. Today, while I was playing with Kevin, Leo and Gabi came over. We were throwing rocks into this tire at the bottom of the hill. Gabi helped me by getting rocks for me. HELPED me. That's a first. Also, note that Claudia was not there. When Claudia showed up, Gabi started acting like Claudia, like pushing me and being rude to me. I noticed now that all of the other kids in that family only act mean when Claudia is there. When she's not, they're fine. They're like a new person. Well, almost new. It makes me upset that not only does Claudia act that way, but she causes her siblings to do the same. Mucho prayer is needed for her.

Sept. 13

I now have a set of chores that I have to do, and one of the things is that I have to clean the area in front of the church. I got the kids to help me, and while cleaning, Carlos found my bracelet! I fixed it, and now it'll hopefully stay on forever.

After we finished cleaning, the kids wanted to play, but I was hot and a little tired, so I just wanted to sit. The girls (Claudia, Gabi, Karla, and Estefani) were hitting me, pulling my hair, and pulling my necklaces because I wasn't playing. I just wanted to sit and rest for the moment, but they were being really annoying and rude. Mind you, these girls are old enough to know when someone has had enough, but even though I told them to stop, they still continued. I had to walk into the church and have five minutes to just pray and ask God for peace because the devil was trying to take my peace and joy away, and I wasn't about to just let him do that. I went back outside after five minutes, and I explained to Carlos and older Carlos why I had to go inside. Later on, (I think) Carlos told Claudia and Gabi about why I had to go inside, but he told it to them quietly, like it was a secret or something. Then Gabi came up to me and asked me if the devil was in my heart or something. I wasn't sure what Carlos told the girls, so I had Brother Jesse ask him what he said. Jesse said that Carlos explained it correctly, but I guess Gabi didn't understand. I need to be careful about what and how I explain things to the kids.

Sept. 14

This is the third day in a row that I've woken up with calf cramps. Not fun.

Today, I was playing with Tuco, Carlos, and Jesús. I was throwing Tuco and Carlos in the air. I got this stupid idea to throw Tuco to Jesús. Jesús is big enough to catch Tuco, and I asked Jesús three times if he could catch Tuco, and he said yes. I tossed Tuco to Jesús. Instead of catching Tuco, Jesús moved out of the way. I still have no idea why Jesús moved. Tuco hit his head and his back on the ground, and he was crying really hard. I ran over and picked him up immediately. Some girl I don't even know came over and took Tuco. Part of me felt like I shouldn't give Tuco to this random girl, but I did anyway. I'm pretty sure Tuco knew her, so I just let her take him. She took him to his house, but I have no idea what she said about him to anybody. The rest of the night, I didn't feel like doing anything. All I could think about was how stupid I was for even thinking of doing something like that. After dinner at Carlos's house, I made a peanut butter sandwich for Tuco. He had been asking me all day for one, and after what happened, I felt that I should make him one. Once Tuco's dad wasn't outside anymore, I told older Carlos, his brother, to give him the sandwich for me. His dad isn't a nice person, so I made sure that I steered clear of him. I then went back to Carlos's house, and his mom asked me to get my guitar and play Abre Mis Ojos. I really didn't feel like doing anything, but I said I'd do it anyway. I went to the church to get my guitar, but I couldn't bring myself to walk into the church. I sat in front of the church, put my head in my hands, and just prayed. I prayed that Tuco was ok. I prayed for God to forgive me. I prayed that I wouldn't have any problems with Tuco's dad. I prayed that God would give me peace. As I sat there, Claudia walked by with her two baby sisters and Tuco. Tuco said hola to me, but I felt too ashamed to look up at him. I just said hola and looked away. A minute later, Tuco came and sat near me, but I still didn't say anything. He then crawled over to me and tapped my arm. I looked over at him. He just stared at me. I then reached out to him, letting him know that I wanted to hug him. He came over to me, and I just held him in my arms and said, "Lo ciento, Tuco. No mas. No mas." Tears started rolling down my face as I sat there and held him. He looked up at me and saw that I was crying. After a couple minutes, he went back with Claudia.
I don't ever want to do that again. No mas tirando niños. At the least, throwing to other people. Possibly never again.

Sept. 15

Today, for one of the games for the kids' program today, I thought it would be a good idea to play Kick the Can. I couldn't remember exactly how to play, but I put together the best rules that made sense. It took me forever to explain the rules, even with a translator, but we finally started playing. After three games, which ended up only being like ten seconds each, I realized that we were playing it wrong. I was supposed to call out their names when I saw them, not tag them. No wonder it was extremely difficult for me to win. Oh well. Next time, I'll make sure to explain it correctly.

It's really, really hot today. I think I somehow got sunburn indoors. Also, the church is filled with moscas. No bueno para gringos. No bueno para todo.

Long story short: eating only Doritos and only drinking orange Kool-Aid (a lot of each) within 7 hours + running around with the kids + HEAT = horrible stomach ache. Throwing up is not fun, especially 10 times. I've now decided that throwing up is worse than calf cramps.

Sept. 16

Another long story short: stomach ache is gone, but had a massive headache. Today is Mexican Independence Day, and due to the previous night, I missed out on all the awesome mexican food. I got prayed for after church, and after drinking some apple juice, I felt better. I then decided that I needed to give praise and glory to God, no matter how I felt. After having a time of worship, I felt a lot better. I also noticed afterward that the worship band was watching me. Not only was I jumping and going all over the place, but I was crying, too. I really hope they understood. They then asked me to play another song in English, so I did. The drummer, Carlito, played on a conga drum while I played my guitar. It was pretty awesome. We ended up doing a whole worship session, like eight songs. For some of the songs, I couldn't remember the words to part of it, so Luis, one of the singers, would sing in Spanish the parts I couldn't remember. At the end, Luis asked me to play one of my songs. The other day when I was helping translate Luis's song, I mentioned that I wrote a couple songs, too. I guess he remembered and wanted to hear one. They all liked it, and now Luis is translating it into Spanish for me. The rest of the day, I took it easy. Called some people, chilled with the kids, didn't run. Good day full of Jesus.

Oh, also, I got Carlos to say, "Yo, what up?" to my cousin, Robert. If you see my cousin Robert, tell him I said, "Yo, what up?"

Sept. 17

Finally got up at like 10:30. Ridiculous. I've never slept this late.

Carlos and Jesús wanted to know how to make bracelets, so I showed them how. Man, was it frustrating. Not only is it hard to explain to a kid how to make bracelets, but to explain it in Spanish, especially when I don't know a lot of Spanish. It was a little upsetting, too, when I would double-check their work, and they would think that they did something wrong, so they would get frustrated and upset. I didn't know how to tell them that I was just making sure they didn't mess up and was just helping, so that made me frustrated. At the end, three bracelets were completed. I ended up finishing them all, but Carlos did almost a whole one. I had to watch him every ten seconds, but still, he did a pretty good job for a seven year-old.

Luis finished translating my song into Spanish. Yeah boi.

Sept. 18

I met a new friend. Well, not really new, but I've never really talked to him or did anything with him. David, Leo's brother, actually talked to me and played with me today. I mean, he mostly just hugged my leg while I pulled him around, but still.

I'm now teaching Carlito and Luis English. Hopefully they don't get bored after one day like Blanca did.