Day 10

We went to church at Casa Hogar Douglas again today and it was awesome!  We did worship in Spanish and sang “Te Doy Gloria” and “Tanto” multiple times which involves lots of crouching and jumping.  My legs were killing me by the time we left!  I danced with several of the Douglas kids including Jair and Kevin, two smiley 8 year olds.  But during the entire service, my attention kept being drawn towards Alex.  He was asleep with his head on another little boy’s lap, this boy was around 7 and Alex is 5.  The other little boy was perfectly content with Alex laying there; he was even rubbing his hair a little.  I am so used to these little boys beating on each other and chasing each other around that this picture came as a bit of a surprise.   It was even more special because Alex has had a very special place in my heart since the day I met him last July.  I have no idea why this one little boy stands out to me so much over all the others, but I’m guessing that one day God will reveal to me why it is that I always gravitate towards him.  It’s not as though Alex and I have ever had a conversation more than a few words, nor has he ever just climbed up on my lap for a cuddle.  And yet, he is who my eyes are drawn to every time I am at Douglas.

This is Alex playing in the new library at Douglas

We packed up and headed to LTP (La Tierra Promisida) next.  I “worked” with Cassie and Sebas (Say-bahs) for the 3 hours that we were there.  I say “worked” because we mainly just goofed around and did a little bit of digging while trying to understand each other’s Spanglish.  Sebas is a teen who has graduated from the Hope Program and is now a chef.  Him and I decided today that he could speak to me only in English and I could speak to him only in Spanish, in hopes of improving our vocabularies and abilities.  Let me tell you, this was quite hysterical for everyone who could hear us.  At one point I was asking him for the shovel, which is the word “pala” in Spanish.  But I ended up asking him for a “pata,” which is the leg of an animal.  I dug myself even deeper in that hole when I laughed out loud and explained to someone who was listening that I accidentally asked him for a duck, which is the word “pato.”  Needless to say, it was an afternoon of endless laughter about our language blunders.  We ended the day with some pina coladas that the kids in the Hope Program make in order to raise money for their mission trip to Cancun in September.