Goodbye, Daniel

Hello again, friends and family. Buckle up because this post is a doozy (content-wise, not length-wise).

Friday Fun

I will start with my excursion on Friday. Of the 12 weeks I’ve been here, not once have I been to town on a day other than my day off. That changed on Friday. Joy sent a text Thursday afternoon saying that Justin, Kelsey, Ellie, and I needed to come into town on Friday to get our visas. That was exciting for me because going to town is always a fun time. The other three SMs ended up staying in town on Thursday night because they were already there on their day off, so I met up with them on Friday morning to eat breakfast before we had to go to the immigration office. After enjoying a delightful meal at Roots, we had our pictures taken for our visas at this little photoshop. Then, we ran a few errands while Melissa was waiting in line at the bank, so she could get the money to pay for our visas. If you remember, Melissa had been in Santa Cruz for the past two months working through some legal matters with her kids. She came back last week, so now we have everyone back at Familia Feliz. Anyway, after getting everything we needed for our visas, we headed to the immigration office. Between the four of us, it took us almost three hours to get our visas. It was crazy. Then we grabbed a quick lunch at Roots and headed back to Familia Feliz. I thoroughly enjoyed that time in town. It was like a miniature day off but with three people I am never in town with because they have a different day off than me. 

Daniel

The next thing I have to share is rather sobering. Sabbath started out like any other Sabbath. We ate breakfast, got the kids showered, and in their church clothes. Before heading off to Sabbath school, we took a group picture with all of the kids and T. Juan and his family because we needed it for the Familia Feliz website. During Sabbath school, Justin looked through the group photos and realized that you couldn't see some of their faces fully, so we decided to try again after church. Nothing out of the ordinary happened during church except that the mom of one of our kids, Daniel, came during the church service. She wasn't there to join our church service, however. She came to pick up Daniel. I never even saw him get up and leave, but after the church service ended, the boys told me he was gone. I just assumed his mom had taken him home for the weekend. I walked back to the house with the boys and told them they could change because Daniel wasn't there, so we couldn't take another photo. As we were all in the process of changing, Teacher Juan and Teacher Emi came back to the house and asked if we wanted to take another photo or not. I was confused because we no longer had all of our boys at the house, so we couldn't take another group photo right then. I asked T. Emi if she wanted to take a photo even though Daniel wasn't there. What she told me I was not at all prepared for. She told me he was gone para siempre, forever. I was shocked, to say the least.

Because Daniel wouldn't be coming back, we were able to take a group photo without anybody technically missing, but it wasn't the same. I think what hurts the most is the nature of his departure. Within ten minutes, Daniel went from sitting in church singing hymns to driving away with his mom, never to return to Familia Feliz again. I didn't get to say goodbye or even watch him leave. He left because his mom moved to another city, so she took him with her. I pray his new life will be full of happiness and health and that I will see him again in heaven. I ask for your prayers as well for Daniel and his family. I trust that God's will was done in his departure from Familia Feliz. All I can do now is keep him in my prayers.

Even more sobering is the fact that this is only a preview of what is coming. In just three and a half weeks, the school year ends at Familia Feliz and the majority of the kids will be going home for their summer breaks. We don't know who will be returning and who won't. Most likely, for some of my boys, I only have three and a half weeks with them before they too leave forever. I don't know for sure of anyone leaving after this school year, but there is always the possibility of their parents/caretakers not sending them back. I'm doing my best to take it one day at a time and not worry about what the future holds for these kids, but that's easier said than done sometimes. Whatever happens in these kids' lives, whether they are sent back here next school year or not, please pray that God will protect them and that His will will be done.

Pictures

I have this picture here so it will appear on the front of the blog post.

Do you see anything off about Selim? He
got a wasp sting on one of his ears.

On Friday, while we were waiting for Melissa to be done at
the bank, we found this amazing hang-out spot on the top
floor of one of the hotels in town. It was incredible!

A view from the hotel.

And another view.

And another.

Jayden's dad is quite the balloon twister, so
he brought a bunch of balloons for the kids
to play with. Unsurprisingly, they popped
the balloons within ten minutes, but they
repurposed them as water balloons, and 
had a ton of fun with that as well.

Valentine, Alvaro, and Andrés with their balloon weaponry.

Friday night after worship was the best. I got to hold so many babies.
Since Melissa left with probably a third of her kids to Santa Cruz only
about a week after I first got here, I forgot that she had so many little ones.
This picture is me and Jayden holding Zeinet and Azumi. I love those
girls so much!

Santiago has warmed up so much to me 
in the past week. On Sabbath when I came
over to say hi, he ran over to me and put 
out his arms for me to hold him. It was
precious!

Baby Heidi!

Baby Henry, Heidi's twin brother. Look at that smile!

Kelsey and I with Nirza and Santi.

Zeinet stole my hat.

The SMs did a special music for the first time. It went well.

A typical Sabbath with my boys.

A yellow-chevroned parakeet.

Hanging with Alex and Selim.

T. Juan and his family brought home a ton of mangos from
their day off on Sunday, so we absolutely feasted on Monday.
I think I ate five mangos that day!

A perfectly cut mango, ready to eat!

Our group picture before church with 13 boys plus T. Juan and his family.

Our group picture after church with only 12 boys. Goodbye, Daniel! 
"The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace."
Numbers 6:24-26