HOLA!

Hola! I think I will start off where Liz left off. All of us agreed that last night was pretty awesome because the boys seemed to finally open up to us. We spent almost the entire hour of their "night activity" running around playing tag and soccer, but the hugs and the smiles and laughter they shared with us was what really hit home. After the boys went to bed, we came back to the volunteer house for a few rounds of Catch Phrase (a game similar to charades and Taboo) where the Cool Team (aka. team 2: John, Joe, Chrissie and me) dominated! We have decided to keep an ongoing score for the week because the Uncool Team (aka. team 1: Bill, Liz, Kate, and Gracie) is hoping for a comeback.

This morning we met with Doña Claudia (the director of El Hogar) who shared with us some of the stories of the boys and girls. Although very heartwrenching to hear, the stories encouraged us even more to pour out our love on these children. As Doña Claudia said, we are not just here to work or play with them, but to be there brothers and sisters. More than anything they want love, care, and attention that many of them did not receive before they came to El Hogar.

After our meeting with Doña Claudia, we spent about two hours hauling a pile of wood up a steep hill to make yet a larger pile of wood. We suspect that tomorrow we will have to bring the wood back down the hill. The old dormitories are being torn down and new ones built in there place and the wood we hauled this morning will most likely be reused. By 12, we were pretty tired, dirty, scratched up, and a little sunburnt, but had a fun time bonding over our accomplishments. Not to mention, we all got a pretty good work out (especially Thunder and Lightning....aka my arm muscles) and I think to some of us the watermelon snack made up for it all.

This afternoon we were scheduled to work again, but instead went to the wake and burial of the grandmother of Cesar and Melandro, two of the boys at El Hogar. The boys were very close to their grandmother and this loss was very hard for them, especially Cesar, because she was the only family he had left besides his sister. But in this moment of sadness, our hearts were touched by the way the other boys embraced and supported Cesar and Melandro. Eight of them came to the burial and we watched as they put their arms around each other as they walked along the pathway toward the grave.

I can see God in this place...it´s a place where hungry, poor and desperate children find mercy, where the lost and neglected find not just a home, but a family, and where empty hearts find not only friendship and love, but the love of God. I feel so blessed to be here. I will leave with this quote by Frederick Buechner that speaks a lot to me: "The place that God calls us is that place where the world´s deep hunger and our deep desire meet."

Lane