Update

Dear friends,

Monday, I didn't go to the foundation because Luis was sick and couldn't bring me. I had been on Ampicilina, which I think is Penecillin or something similar, so I thought I was better. Yesterday I came home with a headache and today I have swollen glands again and my throat hurts really bad. I am taking the medicine again, we went this morning and bought more. Hopefully this will go away for good.

This weekend I am hoping to go and spend the day with Luis' mom, if I am feeling better. She keeps asking why I don't come and visit her, it is just hard to find the time. She is sweet and I love her to pieces, but sometimes I just don't know what to talk to her about. Pray for God to open doors, she is a devout catholic, and she prays to a crucifix.

As for things at the foundation, the boys are doing well. Still troublesome but they are all wonderful. Trying to teach english is hard because I am supposed to teach at 3pm, but the person supervising homework says they can't come because they havn't don't their homework, then hermana anita gets annoyed because I am not teaching. I bought a beautiful book of bible stories with pictures to teach the boys, but it is really hard to find a time to do it.

On Tuesday evening we went to Play Land Park, and I discovered that Luis is petrified of amusement park rides. I got him on one ride and he was petrified the whole time and I felt horrible. All of the guys here are terrified and the girls aren't. It was pretty funny to me. Each ride was between .75 and $1.50 and they were all really short. We had fun but Victoria and I only went on four rides. It isn't as much fun with only two people. It wasn't very busy though because it was during the week.

I better get going because Luis has to work and I need to go home and rest. I feel like I have popcorn hulls stuck to my throat. Hopefully it goes away soon!

Thanks for your prayers!

God Bless.

week 3

Thus far it has not been a very successful week. There is some kind of bug going around Guayaquil and I seem to have caught it. Its like a cold with headache, fever, aching body, sore throat, the works. It has been miserable. I came home Monday and Tusday with a headache, and by wednesday I had no strength, I was really dizzy and felt miserable all over. I feel terrible for Samuel too, because he had it before me and he couldn´t tell us how he felt. Anita, the director of the foundation, has been really nice. We called her yesterday to tell her I was still sick and wouldn´t be there again, and she said, not to worry, but to take the rest of the week off, and come in on Monday. Hopefully I can kick this thing by then.

Sorry I havn´t been posting more frequently, but I am keeping busy. Things at the foundation are going well. I will try to get here more often to keep you ùp to date. Thanks for your prayers.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

I woke up early this morning at 7am, and I went down and made myself some fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and then decided to write something for my blog. I have heard that grapefruit juice is good for your throat, so I have been drinking a glass a day for the last couple of days, since my throat hurts and I keep getting headaches. It feels like a cold, my sinuses are filling up. Its pretty miserable, but I am trying to stay ahead of it with plenty of rest and lots of fruit and fresh squeezed juice. Have I mentioned yet how cheap the fruit is? On Sunday’s Luis takes me to the market to buy fruit, its one of the few things I can eat, and we always buy two big bags full for $6.00. You can get 20 oranges for a dollar, 10 grapefruits for a dollar, a delicious pineapple for .80 cents. There’s also pears, green apples, bananas, watermelon, avocado, kiwi, melon, grapes, etc. It’s wonderful!!!! I can eat it, if I can peal it for the most part. I also eat lots of vegetables that are peeled or cooked and its nice because if you go to the street markets they are really cheap, four ears of corn for a dollar, and potatoes 20 cents a pound. You can buy most food products on the street for cheaper, and as long as you boil it or peel it then you are good to go.

Yesterday was a really good day. Hermana Anita wasn’t there for the whole day, I hope she was relaxing and resting, but she was probably out doing business for the foundation. Instead we had a new helper, Hermana Doris, come over. I guess she has worked here in the past, and she is really good at what she does. She has worked with hermana Anita at another foundation before this one as well. When I arrived she had the boys (who apparently don’t have school for a whole week) well in hand. They were all doing exactly what she told them to do, and were especially attentive during English class. They were well organized for lunch and ate all of their food because she warned them ahead of time, ‘if you don’t like it and complain about it, I will give you double. You are accustomed to not eating what you don’t like and taking food with you when you are done, but it stops here. You are to be grateful that God gave you the food, and you are to eat it all, and take no food away from the table with you, you sat down empty handed and you will leave empty handed.’ It was wonderful! This is the firm hand that the boys need. After lunch she made them rest for a while on the floor, and she told them that they could talk and scream and yell and make all the noise they wanted during nap time, but if they did she had a special vitamin for them, so they could rest better next time. As near as I can tell that vitamin was more chores.

Later on Luis came to play soccer with the boys, which he tries to do on Tuesday’s when he doesn’t work. It was a long day as always, but a good one. When we got home we were pleased to find that Samuel seemed to be a little better, since he was up and around. Luis and I were both trying to get him to come to us, and of course he went to Luis because he tempted him with the car. Then we ended up making a 20 minute video of him taking the keys walking outside to the car trying to open the door, then finally getting in the car and pretending to drive. Its quite amusing. He is only 13 months old but very intelligent. You show him something once and he tries to do it. He even tries to clip his own nails. He’s adorable.

By the way, I am adapting a little more to being here. I still have loads of bug bites, but I am eating better which they are relieved about. I am sleeping a little better too.

Anyway, it is getting close to 9am and I have to go down and try to eat some breakfast, then we leave around 10 to be to the foundation by 11am.

Blessing to all!

Monday, June 09, 2008

Monday, June 09, 2008

Dear Friends,

As I write this I am very tired. I didn’t sleep well, having to share the twin sized bed with Francisco, he sprawled out everywhere and I got a little piece on the edge. It was worth it, because we were able to spend some quality time together, and I got to deliver a blessing from God to the family. I had some things that my mom had sent, for girls, that I couldn’t give to the foundation that consisted of all boys, so I dropped them off with Francisco. One of the items was a darker skinned doll, that I was able to give to Francisco’s sister. She loved it! They are a wonderful, kind family. Though I don’t know most of them very well, there is just something about them you know, something that draws you to them. A kindness and joy in their faces, and smiles that radiate for miles. A beautiful family for sure.

As for last night, it wasn’t Francisco, that was the problem with me sleeping, but Samuel the one year old that lives here. He is really sick. He has a high fever and cough with Phlegm and he has been vomiting, and not eating. He usually eats a lot. He has been really fussy and not sleeping, and it keeps us all awake. The doc says that it will be about three days of fever before he gets better, but I think today was the fourth day, so hopefully he is better soon. He is on some meds, children’s Tylenol from what I can tell.

Today at the foundation was a peculiar day. Most of the boys were home from school, I don’t know why, some teachers workshop or something. They have random days off here, where no one works or doesn’t much of anything. They seem to have a holiday for everything. Anyway, with all the boys there, it was harder to get things done. I help sort and mark clothes again, which is difficult, and it seems like we keep on doing the same thing. Trying to figure out who has what and how many etc. I also got to help a little in the kitchen. We made something that they call puuding (that’s how they say it anyway) it sounded like pudding to me but that isn’t what came out. They put some of what looked like powdered milk into a huge metal dish, then we took a heap of really hard dry bread and crumbled it up, added 6 or 8 boxes of liquid soy milk, which we had to blend to take out the lumps, and 8 or 10 eggs. After that was all mixed I left to eat and then help with homework and when I returned it was being fried like a pancake. That’s kinda what it smelled like too. It was odd, I had a headache, and I chose not to eat it.

There seemed to be a lot of boys who didn’t return after the weekend and I am not sure why. I didn’t know if it was because they didn’t have school, or because they had done something wrong, or their parents decided they shouldn’t come back or what had happened. Its hard to tell, but I didn’t want to ask hermana Anita, she seemed stressed today, for some reason. They said she was worried about something but I wasn’t sure what.

I was able to talk to a couple of the boys a little more in depth today. Lucho and Kevin. Lucho is at the foundation with a younger brother, and I found out today that he has a little sister, who is at another foundation for girls. He goes home on the weekends and he said that his mom and his dad are both there, but it isn’t his real dad. He said that he doesn’t know him. Lucho is a fighter. He seems to always be splitting someone’s lip open and he is very protective of his brother. He said that he was sent to the foundation because he would climb the walls and when his uncle came home he would jump down and attack him. It didn’t really make sense to me, but that is what he said. His sister comes home for the weekend sometimes, but sometimes she has to stay where she is.

Kevin is also there with a brother. I am not sure who his brother is, but I know he is there. In his family there are 5 children, the oldest of which sells drugs. Kevin is at the foundation because his mom died and he doesn’t know who his dad is. He said that when they go for the weekend, sometimes they go stay with his big brother, other times they go and see an aunt, or the pastor.

This is just a glimpse into the things that these kids have experienced. These two kids are 9 years old, but they have already faced so much in their short lives. That is just the beginning. Most of these boys lack a strong, positive, male role model. When Luis is there they all flock to him and he doesn’t even have to be firm with them, but they do what he says. They all crave his attention. Please pray for God to raise up positive male influences for these boys.

It seems that every day that I am at the foundation, I notice a new necessity. For example, after 3 or 4 boxes of milk, the blender died. Hna. Anita had just come to the kitchen and said thank God for that blender, its old but it works, and less than a minute later it wasn’t working. I was surprised it worked as long as it did, since every time we turned it on, it smelled like it was burning up. They also need an iron, the one they have, the hot part is busted up and rusty. They have very few pens and pencils. A lot of the boys write with just the ink refill for a pen, because someone broke their pen. The list goes on. But I have a very limited supply of funds, so I can’t do as much as I would like.

This foundation does so much for these boys, but there is a lack of funds and workers. Please pray for the Lord to bless the foundation and especially hermana Anita, that God would give her clarity, and wisdom.

Thanks for your time and prayers!

Week 2

Week 2- Saturday, June 07, 2008

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers, and I am sorry that I can’t post more often. Its hard because I work at the foundation during the day and don’t get back until 6pm at the earliest, from there I eat dinner, shower and head off to bed. It has been a very busy week.

I could tell you about how difficult things are, like not adapting to the food, ice cold showers, or the constant parade of ants everywhere I ago, invading my belongings, especially my toothbrush. On and on the list could go, but I would rather stop it there and talk about the Foundation, and the wonderful boys! After last weeks cell phone episode, Hna, Sonya decided not to return. Therefore, no one was able to cook for the children, and if they ate lunch, it had to be at school. I’m not really sure what they did about dinner, because I always leave before dinner. However, on Wednesday, Hermana Anita went and talked to Sonya, and convinced her to come back. Praise God!

The boys are beginning to respond better when I tell them to do something. They get suspended often, but its nice for me because it is easier to work with three or four at a time for the morning, so that I can get to know them better. They all have their days when they are especially difficult, or extra obedient. We have lots of fun learning English and playing games. If they do their homework, they get to come to English class at 3 pm. They get home from school around 12:45 or 1:00pm, they change and eat lunch, and then do their homework. They do chores for punishment when they act out. We spank only when necessary, but I still don’t like to. Most of them have so much “street” in them, that they are difficult to handle, they get angry easily and fight often.

There is one group of brothers, who are very sweet and kind. They rarely fight and are usually pretty compliant. Their names and ages are as follows: Llefferson age 12 (double L pronounce y), Jose age 11, and Francisco age 7. This weekend I was able to bring Francisco home with me. Most of the boys go home for the weekend, and we took these three to their house. Come to find out, they are only 3 of 7 children and the rest live at home, but they live in extreme poverty, so they had to send these three to the foundation. Hermana Anita told me that they are not like the rest, they never lived on the streets, and they come from a home with both parents. She prefers not to keep them at the foundation for long because she doesn’t want them to learn to be hard and angry like the other kids. She is hoping to find some sort of sponsor for the family, to help them get by, so the boys can go home. I have a couple pairs of shorts, a doll, some little toys, and some other things, that I brought with me and till now I didn’t know what to do with them, but now I know. We have found another family to do our best to help. The mother is an evangelical Christian, and attends a church near the house. I don’t know about the dad. I have to get going, Francisco is getting bored.

My first week complete...

My first week at the foundation is complete, and I am now able to take some time to rest, get some laundry done, reflect upon the events of the past week, and update my blog. This week was difficult. The boys are wonderful, but difficult at times. With so many of them, all craving attention, wanting to learn English, and fighting, it is hard to catch my breath, but I do really enjoy my work.

I teach English to three groups of boys, three times a week, if they finish their homework. I also help serve the noon meal, supervise as they do chores and homework, I help with cleaning and laundry, and other odd jobs that need doing. I really enjoy working with all the helpers, though we are few. The director, Anita, is there with the boys most of the time, she only leaves to run errands, go to meetings, etc. Then there is the cook, Sonya, and Freddy, who comes to oversee the homework, I think is like a tutor. There is also, Magali (spelling) who comes to help when Anita can’t be there, she helps with a lot of the cleaning too, and Carlos Alberto, who comes to teach the older ones English, once or twice a week.

Friday brought my week to a close with a little trouble. Some of the boys got into trouble at school on Thursday, and were suspended until Monday. Others didn’t have class, so we had 8 or 9 boys at the foundation all day, plus the two older boys, Jacinto and Celso, who don’t leave until 12:30 to go to school. Those who were suspended were having to clean, and the others were bothering them and distracting them, so it was my job to keep the others busy. I was teaching them some English, and Hermana (sister) Sonya, went outside to check on the others who were working. I had all but two of the smaller boys with me, and the two older ones were doing their own thing. We keep all of the doors padlocked, and the adults always have the keys, since it is easier to keep an eye on the boys when they are in the main room, if we leave the doors open, they steal or break things, and they take naps, when they should be working etc. Hna. Sonya opened one of the bedroom doors for one of the older boys, so he could change early, which is against the rules, but he had been working hard so she thought she would be nice and let him shower and change a little early.

Well when Hna. Sonya went outside, she didn’t lock the kitchen and she left her cell phone inside. When she came back it was gone, we asked all the boys, and they all said they hadn’t seen it, we searched everywhere, and never found it. We didn’t let the two older boys leave for school, and we made everyone sit inside and pray and look for it, but it never turned up. Hna. Sonya is always kind to the boys and goes out of her way to help them, and she was very hurt that they would do this to her. We think we know which boy took it, but we looked all through his room and all of his belongings and couldn’t find it. We can’t prove he took it, so there is nothing we can do. For Hna. Sonya it was more than just a cell phone, it was expensive, and her only way to take pictures, all of which she lost with the phone. The foundation does so much for them and this is how they respond. It is hard to see all of your hard work come back to you void.

Please keep these boys in your prayers. They all struggle with a lot of issues. There have been many cell phones, and other items lost, never to be recovered. The boy that we think took the phone, has told Hna. Sonya in the past that he isn’t afraid of hell, and that he was a thief before coming to the foundation. He has already been their 6 years, but is seems, Satan still has a strong hold on him. This boy also has the younger boys under his control. One of the younger boys said he saw the older boy with the phone, and that he would punish him severely if he told anyone. We don’t know for sure if that is true or not, but it is likely. Please pray for God to send his spirit to dwell among these boys and rescue them from Satan’s grasp. You can also pray for the physical needs to be met. They have a plan to build another building so they can house more boys, but it is really expensive. Right now there are 6 rooms with about 6 boys in each, and they have to turn some away because of lack of space. They don’t have enough dishes to serve the boys all at once. Everyday soup is the main course for lunch, but they can’t all eat at once because there aren’t enough spoons or forks. There isn’t enough rice for everyone to eat rice as well, so they have to take turns, with who gets to eat it. They also need short sleeve button down white dress shirts for the boys to wear to school, and undershirts (t-shirt, or tanks) the boys also have to wear navy blue dress pants, with a black belt, and black lace up dress shoes. On Mondays, they have to wear solid, navy blue ties. From what I can tell, the ones they currently use now, are made from old pants or some other material, and attached to a thin elastic band, so they can just slip it on over their head. They also need pencils and erasers, and blue and red ink pens. Most pencils get lost or broken, so Hna. Anita has to lock them in the office and they only get one to use at the table during the homework time, if they lose it they don’t get another one.

I will try to keep updating, at least once a week, so everyone knows what is going on. Please keep praying for these boys. They are hurting, they don’t understand why life is so hard, they have very little to play with, most things get broken quickly, they fight easily and are always defensive. Even the littlest one acts out trying to fit in with the other boys, who are rough with him, but really he is sweet and innocent. I will try to post pictures so everyone can see my beautiful boys. God Bless and Keep an eye on this page so you don’t miss the updates.