That is so awk.

So, crazy past couple of days.
First off, Pedrito decided he wanted to be a Christian, and ended up praying with Kamyr, so rock on :) He seemed like he really understood. Follow up is necessary, but it was still pretty rockin. We'll just forget that his brother had quite the accident in his pantalones at that exact moment.. Oh, well. You give and you take.
Speaking of which, I guess that is something I'm learning here. God gives and He takes away. The time we have here is momentary enough... and I don't know. It's just becoming more and more real to me that we really can't be selfish and be joyful some days. Every moment we have here is a blessing, every second we have is a part of the fight we're fighting for the souls of our friends, families, and brothers and sisters in Christ.
So yeah. That's that thought for now.
As for what's been going on in the long week since I've blogged (well, I must say, I wrote a really awesome long blog and it got deleted..)..
We got taken out to eat at a fancy restaurant, which was nice, but I think I had more fun laughing at Noe and Vanessa (who are basically in charge of Fletcher and are past MCH summer missionaries who broke the no dating rule) than I had actually eating the ridiculously expensive food. Oh, well. It was a nice gesture in any case.
Saturday, we went to Trinity Pines, a camp out in Trinity, Texas. There are plenty of awkward pictures of us doing ropes courses and bonding activities, and I can also now check going on a blob off my bucket list-or, as our house mother wrote in her thank you letter we signed, the "blog." In any case, that's where we're taking our teens and preteens in July, which we're pretty excited for :) They've already gotten their papers and such, so just pray that God opens their parents hearts to letting their kids come, and I know God will bring who He wants there, so yeah! I'm pumped!
I guess what stuck out to me most about last weekend is how much of a culture-shock we all felt going to the church we visited Sunday morning. They were great, they even handed out beef jerky to all their fathers, which I'm sure plenty of people like other than me... But yeah. We got invited to speak at all of the Sunday school classes, and this particular time I think it just hit us harder how different of a breed of kids we get to work with.
These kids knew all the answers. They were confident and comfortable in their own skins. They wanted to pray.
My kids thought Jesus' parents were named Ana and Jacob. Eve.
The preteens are quiet, shy, and obviously under all kinds of pressure. The boys are pushed to work rather than spend time with friends, the girls are pressured to have sex at ages as early as 12-or more. I heard a story of one of the 12 year olds coming to one of our old volunteers saying her boyfriend wanted her to have sex.
And as far as wanting to pray goes, I get my kids to tell God what they're thankful for at the end of class. One sentence. Monday, Edgar raised his hand as asked, "OH! Miss! Can I pray for us?" I got so excited, told him yes, and eagerly bowed my head just to hear, "DearGodthankyouforeverythingamen," followed by, "Can we get our snacks now?"
Oh, goodness.
What am I going to do with them?
I don't know, though. I'm just getting so accustomed to our kids and their pains and struggles that the lives of kids in middle-class America seem foreign to me. Odd.

Oh, and this week we actually have a group working with us, which in the game and craft area, is quite a blessing. We have about 8 high schoolers from First Filipino Baptist, and they're pretty awesome. They're very hardworking, and it's been cool being able to pour into them.
I worked with one of the girls in clothing closet today, and I don't know, it was awesome getting to encourage and be encouraged. God definitely places different people in your life for a reason, and it's great being able to see that so clearly here.

Lessons have been interesting as always with my kids. Today I tried to be the cool teacher and use props and let them act things out a bit... well... fail. We talked about worry, and decided to incorporate the story of Jesus calming the storm. With that, we thought we could use some of the biggest cereal boxes I have ever seen from the food bank as our boats-these things fit four ten year olds comfortably inside- and I got some clothes from the closet so we could fully act it out. Well.. let's just say it ended with my boss coming up and threatening taking their snack away if they didn't be quiet.. Haha. Oh, well. They seemed to still have fun.
Plus, as always, rather than talking about what I had planned as our lesson we started our questions such as:
"Miss, I'm going to heaven because I go to church, right?"
Which led to...
"No, Miss, it's that we have to be really good."
...To which I explained to them once again why Jesus had to come and die for us and take on our sinfulness...
which led to:
"So, Miss, if I killed someone, would I still get into heaven if I believed in Jesus?"
"So, we can be bad and get into heaven, Miss?"
Which led to a lot of things.
So, to whomever may think that 9 and 10 year olds are not deep thinkers, you are quite wrong. As draining as it is to try to get them to focus and listen while I scrape to explain all of what God has taught me in such a short time, it's awesome to me that they are thinking so much about it and questioning it.
I honestly wish I had questioned things earlier.
As wonderful as it is to be raised in a Christian home, I feel like you miss out on developing a trust for God and truly wondering about how big and complex our God is, you know?
Yesterday, we talked about friendship and Lydia, but in reality, we talked more about scripture. Figure I'll at least mention what we were supposed to discuss. See, our memory verse is 2 Timothy 3:16, which we're using the New Living for, which states "All scripture is inspired by God and useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives..." Well, rather than discussing Lydia, we got rather stuck on working out the verse. It's personally one of my favorites, the diction in the ESV is just plain beautiful, but in any case, it's a rather large concept for kids.
We worked through the fact that the Bible is quite different from your average book. Normal books are human concepts built by our small amounts of knowledge and philosophy, while the Bible is literally of God. Everything in it can be trusted, is true. Then, my sweet kids learned what conviction meant.
So, as much as I hope I'm getting through to them, it really has been a good reminder for me to own my faith-to know what and why I believe in things. And it has been cool going through the Word and just finding solid statements that I know I can trust.
Teaching involves so much more than you may think.
Anyway, just pray for our groups if you can. They're great, but they're getting used to dealing with kids... So pray that their eyes can be opened to these kids' needs. Also, for patience for me as they do get more comfortable with them. One of the volunteers said something really sassy and mean to my kids during craft the other day, and, well, my first urge was to sass him right back.. So, just for understanding, I guess. I am so thankful that they're here, and for the most part, their presence really has helped us get fired up again and out of routine, and they are all really sweet.
Oh, and I did want to mention that I still love how connected my MCH family is. All 21 of us get along ridiculously well-we're lacking in clique, fights, grudges, pairing off... and it's such a blessing. I love these people so ridiculously much. I think what we do right is pray together regularly. There's nothing like getting to know a person through knowing their needs and bringing them before God. I really think that's the glue that's held us together.
Anyway, sorry it took me so long to post this. I'll try to get more regular again.
Grace and peace (and love you guys immensely)
Annnnd, here's one of my favorite passages-one that keeps me going:
"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you always be sober-minded, endure suffering , do the work of an evangelist, fulfill you ministry."-2 Timothy 4:1-5