Volunteering and traveling in Argentina to proclaim God's great love, and hopefully not getting sick along the way.

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Monday, June 4, 2012

An interesting realization


It's nothing new for me to say that I'm not a fan of kids. I know how bad that sounds, but it's absolutely true. I've learned a lot since my time coming to Argentina; and I can appreciate all the work that goes into teaching them and loving them.. but in the end, I definitely stick with pre-teens and teens.

Enter Dara.

Dara is the daughter of my mentor. All last year, she came to Escuelita, and of all the kids, I struggled with her the most. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I respect her mom so much, any time she caused trouble, it irked me more than it should have. "How come your mom is so great, and you are such a rebel?" I thought to myself.

Victim of the missionary kid syndrome; we project the expectations of the parents on the children.

I realized that I was in the wrong, but also made an effort to avoid her so I wouldn't be so frustrated anymore. So much for being a good missionary (though that's nothing new).

But then recently, in our Friday morning Bible study with the OM team, the father of Dara mentioned that he and his wife were feeling convicted about how they raise their kids. They asked for prayer to be better at being attentive to them. At really spending one-on-one time with them, and the prayer request gave me pause. I should have been praying about my time with Dara too!

Two weeks later, Dara asked if I would lead a game for her birthday. She told her mom, "Sharayah always has good games." My eyes were widened to the possibility that we were finally warming up to each other. I even found myself making time to chat with Dara during Escuelita, or during church, or when she was at the house during team meetings.

And this past Saturday was a new experience: she came to me to ask how I was doing. She asked about a specific thing going on in my life, and I was touched. We laughed together. Her mom later told me about how we had laughed together.

Some of this has to do with God changing me, and some of it has to do with Dara's parents making more time for her... all of it has to do with God. Obviously.

Chau.

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