Children and Joy

Saturday, January 25th, 2014

A wonderful, crazy, intense, exhausting, exhilerating, and blessed day full of laughing children, singing songs, dancing like crazy, playing wayy too many intense games of hide and seek and "let's see how fast we can make Jenna run up the hill while she is carrying all of us," and once again falling in love way too fast and  way too hard with some beautiful children of God. It was one of those days that absolutely broke my heart and made it overflow with joy at the same time...

At 8:30 in the morning I met up with Nimsi, the woman I had met on the bus back from Panama. She and her beautiful  10 year old daughter Milenna took me to San Rafael, a town just outside of San Jose at the base of Montaña De La Cruz, a beautiful mountain range with visible crosses on the top. I hadn't realized it at first, but it was the same mountains I had climbed up with some friends on my last trip to Costa Rica. (If you look really hard you may be able to see the cross on the bump under the clouds to the left...)

After driving through the crazy traffic and going through a maze of countless turns, we arrived at Nimsi's house and church.

She immediately told me to make myself at home. We relaxed for a little bit in her tiny, comfortable house and talked about her ministry and the kids that would be coming at 10:00 for "Sunday school" on Saturday. Most of their church services are on Saturday as the "seventh day God rested" and Sunday is a day for family. We also discussed what acticities we could do with the kids to teach about temptation. We decided to use the anology of mice going for cheese in a mousetrap. (It was pretty fun getting to watch the kiddos comprehend how things that look good aren't always good for us.)

The first neightborhood kids arrived 9:15, and we headed out to walk around town and invite any kids we could find to come to our fun event. It was so cool to see kids so excited and willing to talk to other kids and invite them to hang out. :)

I can't get over how sweet all of the kids are. Even though they are so young themselves, they will do anything to take responsibility and help make sure their younger siblings are safe. 

At 10:00 we were back at the church for stories, short movies, crazy, joyful daning and singing, coloring, and lots and lots of games. They were so excited that I was there to help and they all wanted me to lead their games. I didn't know any of them, so they taught me. They taught me their games and words in Spanish and then I would teach them the words in English. So fun and soo much energy! 

Even so, I couldn't believe how respectful they all were, from the youngest four year old to the older 13 year olds, they all sat quietly and respectfully and listened when someone was talking.

(Nimsi teaching and asking questions.)

(Coloring time!!)

Every time we played a game I would hand out stickers to the winners, and after their games, I taught them the camp song "baby shark." Soo much fun!! We did it in English while teaching them the words and the meanings in Spanish. After that, the kids literally were singing "baby shark do do, dodododooo" alll day and would randomly stop whatever we were doing and ask me to sing it again. :)

After the main games, songs, and coloring, most of the kids left or went home for lunch. Nimsi served a delicious meal (then again, every meal down here is to dye for,) of tuna rice, creamed black beans, and fried plantains. The fried plantains are nasty and it definitely gets old having them at ever meal, but I dont think I will ever get tired of their countless ways to eat beans and rice.

After lunch several kids returned, begging me to play with them.

We played for hours, playing hide and seek, racing, climbing up walls trying to get on roofs, and my favorite (haha,) was when all off the kids simultaneously wares a piggy back ride, and if the back was full, they'd want on the front, or me to carry them, or to cling onto my leg...and then, they'd make me run. Ahh yes. I probably gained ten pounds of muscle and lost ten pounds of fat just from carrying them and running so much. :)

Finally, I led the kids to the nearby "pulperia" (store) and bought them all 20 cent popcicles. Buying kids treats is good for two things: 

1) Calming them down for two minutes and

2) Making them love you more. 

Ahhh they are all so precious!!! <3

And to prolong the inevitable of running around the town again, I convinced them all to take selfies with me, and let a few take some photos with my nice camera, but that just started a huge child war. Definitely not recommended. ;)

Moises. He made it his personal goal to teach me Spanish and especially for me to pronounce the rolling r correctly...great effort, but I think my "perrrrrro" will just be "Pero" for a little time yet... :(

Valia

Darion (with a shark sticker on his forehead)

This was Istrali's photo, but everyone else wanted to be in it, too...

Vanity was wonderful at helping me understand what all the othe kids were saying. While the others didn't understand why I couldn't talk to them, she always made sure to repeat what they said slowly and clearly for me to understand. Such a patient sweetheart. :)

Moises again, showing off the weird crab-like snail the kids found.

And Darion again, just because he was probably one of the most adorable children in the world. :}

The selfies didn't last and before I knew it, I was again racing all over town and giving piggyback rides and hiding and...dying. The kids have soo much energy!! At one point Nimsi shoed them all away and told me I needed to rest, so I did..for about three minutes. I figured I can sleep when I'm dead. Those kiddos needed me!

One of the hardest parts of the day though, was seeing just how poor some people live. Some of the kids were so tiny an skinny, and Nimsi told me one of the families lived in incredible poverty and in a really dangerous place, where people were constantly killed. 

San Rafael was "totally" safe as far as places go, but it was still simple and definitely didn't have any of the comforts that we have as Americans. While the kid's parents were at work, they were playing in the street. I don't think they are exactly the definition of "street kids," since most had families and homes, but all day there were countless kids, mostly boys, sitting along the road, drinking soda with friends, wearing their cool gangsta clothes and trying to do cool tricks with their (mostly old looking) bikes or skateboards. I'm not sure why, but it broke my heart and I just wanted to adopt them all and give them everything I have...but you know, I think they are happier there. 

Anyway, after playing for hours more (like, from noon to five,) Milenna and Sergio took me around town to show me a little farm! Always love seeing critters when I've been in the city awhile!

Then, Sergio raced me home... He's only ten, but he's soo fast. He beat me. Ha. He is in yellow, another precious boy came later. He was a sweetie, but I never got his name...

We got back in time for church, and wowweee, I have never seen a church with people so welcoming and full of joy! I'm not kidding when I say the churches and Christians down here are different. They sang like they were happy to be there, and I am pretty sure that nearly everyone in that tiny church came up to me, gave me a big hug, welcomed me, told me they loved me and how happy they were that I was there. During the service, they even specifically read slower so I could understand the Spanish. Who does that!?!? I felt so incredibly loved and important and welcomed into their little family. 

At the end of the day, after church, the children asked me to sing baby shark with them one more time, and then took turns hugging me tightly and begging me to stay or at least come back. One little girl even said I could live with her. My heart melted into a little pool of wax.

Then, as he said goodbye, my dear little Darion gave me a little plaque as a gift. So little, but so incredibly meaningful. 

I can't wait to go back. I don't know if it will be next week or next month or in two years, but Nimsi and her family welcomed me back at any time, and I know I'll be back to play with those precious souls again. :)