I've been here for a little over a month and I cannot believe it. One third of my time in Spain is over. Que rapido! The time is flying by. The more difficult days are definitely longer, but I'm trying to see that these are the days that should mean the most to me. I want to learn to love being challenged so I can offer it to God. I'm leaning more and more on Him and this makes me happy. My spiritual reading really strengthens me, so I'm doing much more of that! And fortunately I'm able to go to daily mass. I ask the kids I live with if they want to join me but they never do. Maybe they will one day before I leave!
Teaching English to the servers and the girls at the hair salon is going well but I'm having to come up with new activities because it's pretty repetitive. They're such limited subjects, so there's only so much they can learn. Many people ask me to help them with English on the side. That is beautiful to me and honestly much easier because I can teach them anything!
I miss my family and friends very, very much. The other day, though, I was talking to a boy who travelled here from Morocco when he was 16. He hasn't seen his family for seven years and rarely gets to talk to them. He said sometimes he prefers not to because his mother just cries and tells him to come home, which he can't do until he gets his papers. He has six siblings, all younger than he is. This conversation really made me feel pathetic. I'm away from my family and country for six months...how can I complain?
We have a new girl in the orphanage! I'm sure it's not as exciting for her. She's 16 years old and her family lives in the same neighborhood where I teach twice a week. For some reason they can't take care of her anymore, so she's come to live with us until she turns 18. She's very sweet!
Please keep the kids I live with in your prayers. Two of them are uncontrollable. They get suspended from school all the time. They're brother and sister. The boy was suspended for punching a girl in the face. His sister has been suspended for the rest of the term, which is in a couple of weeks, for fighting with a girl as well. The boy is very violent with the women here in our apartment who look after him. They both need a lot of prayers.
School's out for summer for the younger kids I teach! We celebrated with an awesome party with tons of water activities. It was so much fun! The stamina of the sisters is remarkable and inspiring. They do everything with so much love. It is a great example for me and for the kids. They look for any way to bring the kids some happiness. The lives these children lead is very hard, with parents in jail or never knowing their parents, and horrible living conditions.
The other day, one of the boys was wearing a jacket zipped all the way up and it was very hot out. One of the sisters asked why he didn't take off his jacket and then came to find out he wasn't wearing a t-shirt because he didn't own one. His parents either couldn't afford one, or didn't care to buy him one. Stories like this are everywhere I turn. I'm really beginning to hate possessions. I barely brought anything with me to Spain, or so I thought, yet one of the kids went in my room the other day and was in shock at the things I had. There are times when I think, "I miss my big bed at home...I wish I had this or that pair of shoes with me..." and then I stop and realize how ugly I sound! None of it matters in the long run. Possessions mean nothing. I want to be rich in the things of God. I want to find ways to show the people here how attractive and beautiful a close relationship with Him is.
