November 1 A

November 1, 2009
First things first; happy baptism to my sweet nephew Asher H.R. Morgan! I have not been able to talk with my family today because our internet is once again down. I’m sure today was a joyous occasion. I’m so thankful to be a part of the Christian family that Asher joined today. I feel loved and supported by so many people in the church I’m eager to watch Asher grow up in his own church community as his brother Emmanuel has already started. Asher you have been in my head and heart today. I love you and welcome you into the loving, forgiving, patient arms of God.
A couple days after I arrived in San Pedro Sula I was sitting outside with some of the girls between the ages of 9 and 13 watching them play hop-scotch. I was emotionally exhausted from the newness of everything, probably physically exhausted also, and one of the girls named Rosa was not very nice to me at all. I was shocked by her cold reaction to my trying to get to know them. I wasn’t exactly sure what to say at that point, but I waited and tried to continue hanging out. Rosa was dancing while playing hop-scotch in a very sexual way. It was so weird to see this 12 year old little girl dancing the way she was. I hurt for her, and because of that hurt, and how she had hurt me by being unwelcoming I kept my distance from Rosa. I think I reacted because it just felt like she was too much, I couldn’t relate to her and wanted to protect myself from the hurt and embarrassment she had caused me. Anyway, about two months passed of being cordial but never actually connecting. We’d play against each other on the soccer field and say hello during school but nothing more, ever. Then last week, or maybe two weeks ago, everything blurs together after awhile, I had the opportunity to connect with Rosa. I was helping a sixth grader Catherine with her math homework when Rosa called me over to help her. I jumped at the chance. I walked right over to her and asked her what she was doing.
My normal reaction would have been to tell her that I was busy with Catherine and that she needed to wait till I was done, but something came over me and I reacted in a way that proved to be key. I asked Catherine to move with me over to the table where Rosa was working so I could help them both. Catherine was working on the most beginning stages of learning factoring which I could only figure out thanks to her book, and Rosa was doing long multiplication. PS you should know that I HATE math! Anyway, I was actually helping them with math, big deal. But the best thing of all was that I had fun with Rosa, and it gave me the opportunity to see a wonderful side of her. We laughed and it felt like we were playing a game together to get her math homework done.
We didn’t have any “you mean the world to me” moments, but it is another little victory that God has blessed me with. These girls, injured and hurt in more ways than I can even imagine or understand are beautiful children of God. I am thankful for their presence in my life.