Day 6

Hola!

It's Tuesday and this is the day the mission holds a morning devotion service with the women and children from the community. After devotions, the Feeding Program begins. The Feeding Program is 3 days per week (I believe).

The devotion service was so full, I had to stand because all of the seats were taken (so I thought). During the service a little boy stands up and lifts a stool over the heads of the other kids to pass to me. My face lit up at his random act of kindness. I smiled, and he smiled back...I think I made a new friend.

While I was listening to the message, I noticed one of the little girls (I guess she's about 3. It's hard to tell because the kids aren't as well nourished as kids in the states so, they tend to be smaller.) staring at me. So, I smiled and gave her a little wave. The next thing I knew, she came over to me and hugged my legs and sat with me the rest of the service. She talked to me in Spanish and I could only say, "Si," (yes) and nod my head and smile. It worked for her so I guess that's all that matters. I believe her name is Jenifer (that's the way it's spelled here), but to me she's "Bright Eyes." Her eyes are wide like quarters almost, and hazelish (my blog, my word) in color. Her hair is golden brown and is usually in ponytails. She has a very European look, which is odd here.

Anyway, after the message I took a few photos of the food drive. Then I heard a baby crying, it was Bright Eyes. Something didn't go her way, and her older sister was trying to keep her calm. I couldn't handle watching the tears fall from those big eyes so, I stretched out my arms and she reached for me; leaving her sister gladly. Gilma's eyes met mine from across the room, and we both looked amazed. Well, my friend list is growing...as it usually does with the little ones.

The mission will have a new participant soon. I found out from Alicia (one of the women in the program who I will talk more about later) that Omara (pronounced Omyra) is at the hospital almost ready for labor. Omara is another one of the program participants (She's married to one of Alicia's sons). She has 2 kids I believe. She had 3, but one of her sons died sleeping right next to her (I don't recall his age, but he was young). It's believed that his system was infected perhaps from drinking dirty water or something of the sort. Later in the evening we found out that Omara still had not had the baby yet.

So, Alicia is a woman who lives in the 1st house on the hill. I'll try to upload the pictures of Alicia tomorrow. Kelly and Lisa (the 2 missionaries that were here for the weekend) have been ministering to Alicia for a while now. Alicia hurt her leg and was unable to walk or stand much for that matter. She gets joy out of making tortillas and was unable to do that for quite some time due to her injury. This changed her disposition drastically, because that's one of things that she really enjoys. Actually, her husband was the cause of her injury. He pushed her over a barrell and she fell and broke her leg. He fights her when he's drunk, and she's had several serious injuries over the years. Anyway, we made a special visit to her home so that Lisa and Kelly could deliver a leg brace to her, some clothes for her and her younger kids, and give her some words of encouragment. She seems like a nice lady in a bad spousal situation. I heard her husband outside my window tonight sounding like he had way, way too much to drink again. I got a little worried that he would go into one of his rages. I said a prayer for the safety of her and her kids which was all I could do. I could hear her son trying to coax him into calming down. I didn't hear any fighting so, I believe Alicia is safe. I will continue to pray for her and her family. Please pray for her safety whenever she comes to your mind as well.

On a lighter note, I was sitting in the kitchen earlier today eating some homemade cookies Erika made (Erika is one of Myra's former mentees). I offered a cookie to Graciela (in the picture at the top of the blog). Graciela speaks Spanish only so, we communicate a little here and there but not much. She took the cookie and said very clearly, "Thank you." I screamed in surprise, and we both laughed. She's been listening to me talk just as hard as I've been listening to her both trying to pick up a few new words of a foreign language.

Although I'm typing Tuesday's message, it's Wednesday, and I'm not feeling up to par. Something I ate is not being very kind to me at the moment. So, I think I'll call it a night.