This week we finally got to go to both Institutes. While I still have three more ministry opportunities in the week, I almost wonder if it's best to compartmentalize the experiences for the blog's sake. Almost wonder, slash, am going to compartmentalize for the time being. It's been counted, weighed and divided.
Boys Institute:
As you may have read earlier, I have started praying for the boys at the institute by name every day in preparation for the relationships to be built over the next two years, Lord willing. This week, I've already seen some small fruits from those oraciones (yours included!).
The first is with Nahuel. He had not come la semana pesada, but I found him in the computer room where he was playing with the screensaver. I invited him to come paint with us and that was when we introduced ourselves. Over time, we found ourselves laughing a lot together, especially when I had added too much water to the paint and it was taking much longer to dry than normal.
Unfortunately though, a lot of the kids were rough-housing more than normal. Two started throwing punches and eran muy ruidosos--something I've seen before with other kids I've worked with, but I have yet to really know how to respond. Please pray for my discernment with situations such as these!
As a result, Nahuel ended up getting hit too, and one of the boys damaged the painting he had completed! I was frustrated, and sadly watched him leave the crowd. As no more work could be done until his otras cosas had dried, I patiently waited and prayed. Entonces, I decided to bring the paint to him (we were making pieces of a Jacob's ladder, by the way). He was laying in his bed looking sullen. But then he surprised me by his response, "No! I wanted to paint the next one rosado!" I had brought green. So I slowly walked all the way back to where the others were to grab the um.. pink.. and then to slink away. Thankfully, Nahuel came back with me afterward, and we finished what we could before we had to leave.
In that time, Sergio dos joined in our laughter about making the paint dry. We were blowing with all our might onto the wood blocks, and when that wasn't enough, we would sling the blocks in a giant circle, como un helicopter, really fast. We were a comical sight!
I can not wait until I can speak more to tell them about Jesus! Please pray for us as we continue going each Tuesday morning!
Girls Institute:
The craft went well, and a lot faster than expected. I also have their names ready for some prayer action, but in a moment. First, I wanted to add that two other young women are coming with us. They are from Columbia and are daughters of a pastor who has moved here this past April to help with a church. I was blessed to talk with them a lot as a way to practice my Spanish (I got way too many compliments from them about this), as well as to meet more people my age that maybe I can have deep relationships with outside of the OM team.
Aside from these few comments, I also made a connection with Cynthia in the Institute. She pulled me aside very specifically so as to learn more English. While I'm not wanting to have reasons to speak more of my native language, I am grateful for any way to build trust with these young ladies. That's what I viewed this first week to be more or less. We played with their children so as to show them that we do care; we told them of our intentions of coming every miercoles; we want to be as dependable as we can be (even though we know we are not God, and have so so so many flaws<--understatement). Anything to help them see we're not doing this for our own glory.
So now I'll list the names to add to your prayer list:
Belen
Soledad
Diana
Cila
Cynthia
Laris
Maria
Jessica
Nelli
The stories begin, and I'm excited for what else is in store! Chau!
No comments:
Post a Comment