77. Feliz Navidad!!!

Not your typical Christmas. Obviously, I made the most of it.

Tuesday, 12/25/12

In a nutshell (or should I say Chestnut Shells—hehe), today cannot compare to the usual warmth, love, and fun I experience with my family on Christmas Day. However, Chad and I made the most of it, and in the end, little nuggets of specialness rained down on us from above—spiritually and literally.

Where to begin…

Moises the puma and Edwin the cheetah

The day started off fantastic. Lots of warmth…too much. Liselle woke me up at 6:00 a.m. to borrow money. After that I slept for 2 more hours. When my heavy eyelids mustered up the energy to open, I was surrounded by two 9-year olds, and two furry cats. They had snuck under the mosquito net while I was zonked out. Like I said, I was quite warm.

Coloring their masks

We warmed up vegetarian chicken soup for the boys, and then they played with the animal masks and bubbles I had gifted them with last night. I spent a good half hour helping the boys with the arts and crafts while Chad was weed-whacking the football field. Yup, our lawn mower is broken, and we finally fixed the weed-whacker (which is must faster than using machetes). Let’s just say, it definitely did not feel like Christmas. There were Christmas-like moments, but for the most part, it felt like a typical, hot day in the jungle with more work than usual.

Then a fun part: water balloons. My mom sent me 90 water balloons and Chad had about 280 balloons since the beginning of our time here. We have been saving them for a moment such as this. We planned on having a balloon toss and mini-war just before the evening Christmas “program”.

Haha. Think those are enough water balloons?

My "grenade-shaped" one is way heavier!

They could hardly wait to dig in

I was feeling slightly homesick by this time. I felt like a call home was in order. Oops…only 2 minutes left on my calling card. However, I was able to talk to my Dad and sister for a bit before my time ran out. I did not even get to talk to my mom on Christmas Day! Bummer! But I did feel better after my brief chat.

Than I cut grass. And I could not stop! Chad and I have been waiting for the opportunity to cut the jungle of grass growing on the soccer field and around our house for weeks. All the machines kept breaking and we could not muster up the humility to machete the entire field. With the power cutter in my hands, I was content and Chad and I were able to clear almost half the field with the weed-eater. We made a design in the grass for the out-of-bounds for the water balloon fight.

 

Import note: never trust a crazy guy with a weed-wacker

Teaching Edwin the ropes. He becomes a pro at everything so fast!!

 After mowing, it was water balloon fun time! We gathered everyone together, explained the rules, and then observed mayhem. The proceedings were disorganized…but full of fun!! Everyone got soaked. Mission accomplished. Everyone was smiling. Mission accomplished. I got bit by our dog on the leg in the chaos. Minor setback!

Balloon toss

Got her!

Got me!

The war!!

Chad is about to get soaked by two balloons.

Explaining the rules

The girls made us food (woohoo!), but they said it would be ready in 30 minutes. It was ready in 3 hours. Before then, Chad and I relaxed, reminisced about home, and settled arguments between the kids. Then, Milton, Joy’s 16-year old, arrived and said we might get power lines installed tonight. BUT we would need to disassemble a 250-pound pillar from the playground and move it 1,000 feet to the church.

So much for a normal Christmas. However, Chad and I hunkered down and began our work. Of course, there were major setbacks. 1. We did not have the right tools to unscrew the bolts on the pillar. 2. Trying to physically pull apart a well-made play set is no easy tasks. 3. It was already 7:00 and the generator needed to be started. 4. The generator broke when I tried to start it. 5. It took 30 minutes for me to unscrew everything and fix it.

However, I fixed it. Then, Chad and I removed the pillar successfully. We were rewarded for our efforts. How? We felt like self-sacrificing and grisly macho-men that spent all our efforts for the well being of our “family”. Always a good feeling, if not a little exaggerated. We were physically rewarded with a chair to sit down in and delicious food consisting of rice, yummy plantains, soda, sweet bread, and…veggie meat!

Then we moved the huge pillar with the help of Stephen and Brayan. A lot of work. But we again then felt like real men afterwards.

Chemicals can be so pirty!

Then, Joy surprised me. She had told me we were not doing fireworks tonight. I was heartbroken. Or close to it! Then boom, there she was with armfuls of kaboomers ready to explode. They were a nice treat…although quite dangerous! We enjoyed those and each other’s company for about an hour and then headed off to bed.

Not bad for an orphanage, eh?

This was the highlight of my day. Before bed, Stephen had prayed with Edwin. Edwin had come from a nonreligious environment and knows little about God. He never responded to any of the prayers and lectures from caring ol’ Stephen. However, Stephen definitely planted the seed as I found out tonight.

Juan, Edwin, and I headed of to our temporary home in Melissa’s house which we affectionately call the Casa de Gatitos (House of Cats) due to the presence of the only two cats on campus. Then, it was time to pray like normal. I said it was Edwin’s turn. He does not like this since he never prayed before here. But he is the type of kid who likes to try new things and be good at them. So he asked me how to pray. Juan and I showed him how for the next five minutes. When ready he said one the quietest, most humble, and most beautiful prayers I have every heard (from what I understood—his Spanish is far purer and advanced than the other kids here).

Then Edwin would not stop asking spiritual questions. And amazingly, Juan would not stop helping me supply the answers. He asked things like what happens at the end of the world (Juan answered this one almost entirely by himself)?, do we need to be afraid?, and what if they kill us? When he was finally overwhelmed with new info, he contentedly fell asleep after he requested for and I sang him a badly pitched version of “Jesus Loves the Little Children”.

How about that for a meaningful Christmas!! The little troublemaker is coming out of his shell! But wait!...it is not over.

At 11, Liselle came over with a community student and grabbed some cable she left here. Okay…now it is over.

Alright, maybe this was a totally different form of Christmas than I am used to. But, I will never forget it and all the tidbits of unforgettable experiences. God always manages to bless me with little gifts of love that make any day worth it.

With that, Merry Christmas!!!! And to all, a good night!

**Keep adventurizing!...I know I will!**