I felt like I needed to introduce yall to the family that we have mainly been spending this month with in Los Pinos. Los Pinos is a very poor colony that overlooks the whole city of Tegucigalpa–entrapped with a lot of violence and poverty beyond imagination. Tony (our ministry contact) met Carlos over a year ago and has felt that God put this whole family in his heart for a reason–and they are so amazing! We’ve grown so close with all of them and each built personal relationships that will go beyond our month of ministry in Honduras. Here they are 🙂 Lillian–She is the mother of the four boys and left them eight years ago to go and work in a trash dump about 30 minutes away from their house in Los Pinos. She rummages through the trash every day to try and find something of value to sell. Lillian lives in the dump with her boyfriend who physically beats her often and she is constantly surrounded by men high on paint thinner. She has promised the boys numerous times that she will move back in with them, but always goes back to her boyfriend. The boys grandmother and aunts live in Los Pinos near their house to look over them, but it still blows my mind that a mother can leave her four boys to raise themselves. However, for the past four weeks, Tony picks Lillian up every Sunday with the boys and they all go to church together. That was a promise made to Tony and her sons, and it’s a huge step in the right direction. Lillian’s house at the dump These people all have such great personalities and hope for their lives given the unfortunate circumstances they’ve been dealt. They are POOR. They don’t have clean water. They have to steal to eat. When they get out of bed each day, their thick feet touch the dirt floor. They don’t have clean clothes…or many clothes. They have a house with three walls. They are kids left to raise themselves. They don’t sleep with pillows or blankets. They have lice that they can do nothing about. They have holes in their teeth because they don’t have resources to brush them. They don’t have their own bed. They smell bad and can’t help it. They don’t have toilet paper. They don’t have discipline. They don’t know affection. They don’t have whole families. They are POOR. This isn’t exaggerated or something that is meant to make you feel bad. This list could go on and on, but the point is we are so blessed. We don’t know what it’s like to be poor. We take hygeine, a bed, clean clothes, and even family for granted. I don’t want this to sound like a cliche ad for the poor, that we need to “get up and do something”. But I do want this to break your heart like it breaks mine… like it breaks GOD’S. I have fallen in love with these kids in Honduras. I hate that they live like this, these innocent children of God.But there is always hope. I rest assured in the fact that they are His beloved and they are so loved. They are inspirations to me everyday because they have HOPE.
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The Four Brothers
Cristo (15): Cristofer has impacted me the most this month. He reminds me a lot of myself at his age. He’s really hard on himself and is trying to find his place in the world. A lot of times, he acts like he’s “too cool” but I see right through that. He can be a little quiet at times but he’s definitely one that the boys all look up to–the silent leader. Cristo is mature for his age and is has such high aspirations for his life regardless of his circumstances. He tries to act like a tough guy but is so caring, sensitive, and empathetic. He’s a lot more mature than the other guys, and he just needs to grow in his faith in order to use that as an advantage to influence his brothers.
Josue (14): Josue is definitely the most street smart. He knows the system and is a little rough around the edges. He has been known to roam the streets at night and leave for days at a time hustling people on the street, stealing, doing thinner; basically being a punk. He’s the most challenging one because he’s so tough, but he has slowly been peeling away his hard exterior since we’ve been here. We’re going on week two with him living at the farm with us and it’s been going great. He needed to get out of his environment for a while and away from temptation so he’s been doing really well. He sees how we live in community 24/7, how we love each other, pray together, have fun, etc. Each day, he comes to Los Pinos with us, and he has even prayed in front of the large group of people that come out and play. God’s doing big things in his life.
Carlos (13): Carlos is genuine and doesn’t care what other people think about him. He is the first boy that Tony met when Carlos was begging for food on the streets. He is a precious boy who is always wanting to hug and give kisses. Everytime I walk by him, he hugs me and doesn’t let go for minutes…I love it. He’s the “good” one of the group and always tattles on the other boys if they’ve been using paint thinner or have girlfriends or beat him up. He’s sensitive, caring and yearning for the attention that he’s been neglected. Yep, I’ll give him all the attention he wants 🙂 He turned 13 years old last week and still sucks his thumb haha. Carlos is the cry baby of the group, but he’s just Carlos and we love him.
Fernando (11): Ball of energy. Firecracker. Crazy monkey. He’s just Nando and I love this boy. Fernando is the youngest of the four brothers and he is a tiny little cutie pie. He’s really just all over the place in every aspect–and so is his hair. It looks like he stuck his finger in an electrical socket everyday. When we first met him, he had a cast from his hand all the way up to his shoulder. He’s reckless, wild and so tough. Nando gets along with all of the boys and never really gets picked on even though he’s the youngest. If I have a son someday (I want a bunch of boys…go figure), I would love for him to be a duplicate of Fernando. He keeps me laughing all day long and is so full of life. He’s just a kid, but has done paint thinner before with his brothers which is insane at such a young age. Nando has been an angel since we’ve been here and is another one who watches our group a lot and sucks up everything he sees us doing.
Cousins
Luis (13): Not that I want to have favorites, but man…I love this boy.He is so joyful and full of life. Luis’ grandmother raises him and she is an amazing woman. She loves Luis to pieces and their family is proof that even if you are poor, family and a lot of love is what really matters. Luis is still a little boy at heart and hasn’t gotten into a lot of trouble like some of the other boys. He still gets embarassed when we tease him about having girlfriends…and I hope he stays that way for a while haha, the other boys can get a little girl crazy. Luis is hilarious and we joke around a ton and have a great time together, but he’s also my favorite snuggler. He is such a sweetheart and I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to kidnap him when I leave. He’s my “boyfriend” of the group and gave me a picture of him to put in my locket (pictures are very rare for them to have so it was a huge honor). Everytime I’m around him, I’m just so happy and I love every second we spend together.
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Henry(17): Henry is another great kid, but has a lot of maturing to do. He hasn’t quite decided whether he’s still a kid or bordering the adult age of responsibility. Henry has the potential to be a great role model to the boys, but he has a hard family life. His mom kicked him out of the house (she hates that he hangs out with gringos) so he lives with his aunt. He recently quit school and got a job sweeping the streets in the city six days a week for 90 cents an hour! I think he maybe acts immature around the other boys because that’s the only chance he really has to be a kid, because financially he’s pretty much on his own. Henry is full of a lot of love and a lot of fun, and I think he has the potential to be another great leader in his community.
Sandra(11): Ok, I know she’s not one of the boys, but this beautiful little girl is amazing. She’s 11 years old and wants to be held all the time. She has the dark Honduran skin with captivating bright green eyes. I met her the very first night we met everyone and she just ran and jumped in my arms. Sandra is so sweet and is a little reserved, but has a mischievious side (kind of like how I was–but not the reserved part haha). She’s so innocent, but has no positive women to look up to in her life. The women in the Honduran culture get their worth as women by having a lot of kids, and they start at a young age. It’s a vicious cycle in this country of women having a lot of babies and the dads bailing usually before birth. Over 80% of the birth certificates here don’t even have a father listed on them! I hope that we have been positive influences of women to look up to in her life in the time that we’ve invested with this precious girl.
Rony(17): Rony isn’t related to this family, but he’s a great guy that we’ve really been ministering to a lot, so I felt the need to include him with the bunch. He’s one of the newer guys that have started hanging around, but he’s a great kid. He’s a little bit older than the other ones, so they really look up to him. Apparently, about a month ago, everytime Tony saw him on the streets, Rony was high on thinner. He’s really come around lately and is constantly reading stories from the bible. It’s truley genuine because he does is reading at all times of the day–when no one is around, the boys are playing, we’re doing fun stuff–he’s so ready to turn his life around at 17 years old. Roni aspires to be a pastor when he’s older and has told us that he loves seeing how we live our lives for Christ. Rony is staying with us for a week or two to learn english and he also volunteered to teach a bible lesson each day to the kids in Los Pinos. I’ve really loved hanging out with him and love how his passion is contagious.
