Today started like any other day; sunshine, blue skies, chores, assessing school activities and then suddenly - no electricity. Hmmmm, 9AM, kind of early for a power surge! Except this time, it was not the usual power surge. There were several workers outside our house and one of them on a ladder at the utility pole began cutting wires.
Our first thought, did we forget to pay the power bill? Nope, found the receipt, everything good there! Then, one of the workers wanted to come into our gated area and was pointing to the meter. We told him we paid our bill. He kept pointing to the meter. So, we let him in the front area and he proceeded to take the meter off the house. WHOA, we need that meter; we have school today, we have a refrigerator (a lot of families do not), the washing machine WAS going, we need the fans working. Our minds were checking off all possible things that we would be without.
As we tried to "chat" with the worker, we noticed that the other men began taking meters off the houses around us. We were told that we would be without power ALL day. We quickly finished our chores, minus the laundry and we talked about what to do in class without the use of power.
The early training in the beginning days of the carpentry class was the use of hand tools. We told the boys that this was essential for a number of reasons. One, was the affordability of hand tools versus power tools; the other was to combat the numerous power outages that can be experienced in a week or day. The boys have come to rely on and REALLY like using the power tools. But, this day will be a proven lesson in the advantages of knowing how to use hand tools.
When the boys arrived for class, they quickly discovered it was hot in the house, no fans. Second discovery was, no power tools would be used today. They went about doing a little sanding, a little cutting on some of the simpler items of the projects; we tried to stretch the tasks. Then the silliness took over, the heat must have been getting to their brains. The power tools were becoming props and toys. The lessons in safety (power or no power) were ignored; as you will see in the video.
So, we made a quick assessment and determined that they needed a change of scenery. So off to the park we went, all twelve of us walking the 1-1/2 blocks to the park. The surrounding neighborhoods are getting use to seeing us head out to our outings, whether it be to the lumber yard or the park. It would remind you of a pack of ducks; we act as the protective "parents" with Sandra leading the way, the "ducklings" follow behind and Preston is in the rear watching over everyone. We sat for a couple of hours in the cool of the huge shade trees sipping sodas and talking what we call "baby talk". That's American for sentences consisting of 2-4 words in Spanish.
When we made our way back home, several of the boys were reluctant to leave to go to where they lived. For the first time, one of them asked if they could stay. 4 of the boys live in the Remar rehab facility and it never occurred to us that they would be able to spend additional time with us. There are very strict rules that govern what the boys are allowed to do. Preston walked the 2 blocks to the facility to ask permission for the boys to stay for dinner and we would accompany them back for the evening services. Permission was granted and the boys were extremely glad to hear the news.
Now, you have to understand the mindset of the teen boys in this country. They want to be clean; they shower several times a day and despite their poor existence, their clothes are always clean and pressed. So, next on their agenda was, they NEEDED to head over to the Remar Leon facility (the boys live out on the farm) to shower and change clothes. There was no talking them out of it. They insisted that they get cleaned up, you would have thought they were going out on a date. They think that we gringos are gross because there may be some days that we will only shower once. Well, away they went and returned in 25 minutes, smelling and looking good!
We had one boy who lives several miles away that we invited to spend the night. When we insisted that he call someone to tell them of his plans, the other boys thought it was funny to hear his side of the conversation. One can only imagine who he was talking to and what he said; remember, we still speak very little Spanish. So now, he needed a shower. We rummaged around to find something clean for him to change into. We gave him the option of wearing a blue or pink Tshirt and he chose the pink. Guys here are not afraid of color.
As the evening went on, it just got better and better. The boys are use to our home so they feel at home here. There was lots of laughter, cutting up, sharing in the few chores that needed to be done and conversation. Their faces and attitudes said it all, they were grateful and happy to be in our home for dinner.
After dinner, we walked together to Remar for the weekly Thursday night services. The worship was especially anointed and you could sense the Lord's presence heavy in the room. The lights were lowered as the men and boys sang Agnus Dei. Hearts were being touched and lives changed. Two of our boys who have gone through a lot in their young lives and are being transformed daily by God's love were overcome with emotion. I watched as Israel opened himself up to worship the Lord with his whole heart. While I entered into worship, I almost missed the most amazing moment. Leo who has been learning to surrender to the Love of God turned to comfort Israel. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
These 2 teens put aside being cool and caring about what others think in order to surrender and embrace the moment and each other. God was at work in His Way in their lives. More healing, more love being poured down upon and into them.
Go to YouTube and view the video that depicts our beautiful day in pictures. The theme "What A Wonderful World " describes this day and our life. We are blessed to be a part of what God is doing in the lives of some extraordinary teens.
http://youtu.be/sGGqfub3LJU
