When I came on the world race I knew that their would be 11 goodbyes. And I knew that the person that I am it would be hard but each month is about 3ish weeks longs and I mean how attached could I get to people that fast? Well I will tell you something I was dead wrong.
I came into each month really trying to go deep with the host and the people that we were working with but some months you may just not click with them as well, and others will literally blow your mind with how much you never wanna leave a place or the people there.
This is the second month on the race that I have cried when I was saying goodbye to the people and I will tell you a little about my month and why it sucked so badly to say that hard goodbye.
We are in month 10 and in Bolivia and we got the privilege to work with an organization that takes in all sorts of people that have had addictions, troubles in the streets and just a hard life and that is some heavy stuff to work with. But we all wanted to give our all to these people who needed it. So we divided ourselves up and got to go to 2 different houses, a boys or a girls house and I got the honor of going to the boys house.
The boys house consistent of about 8 boys from the age of 13-16 years old and I had no idea what a house of teenage boys would be able to do for me but let me tell you that they have officially stolen a piece of my heart that will always be left here and taught me a lot about love.
So we were told that our mornings would be working on the house and then after lunch it would be spending time and getting to know the boys better. Our project inside the house was to repaint some walls and it honestly even gave us some more time to talk to the boys when they would walk by and want to talk or help paint and it was always just a good time with them! And then in the afternoon we realised that they just wanted to hangout with us and laugh and well thats what we did. We played card games with them for hours until we got bored, we ‘tried’ to play soccer but they are far better than us, and even sometimes do art of just try and talk in some spanglish and them talking in spanish way to fast!
But I never thought that I would be able to have inside jokes or just be so happy when some of the guys would laugh at how I could raise one eyebrow so dang high. Yet here I am writing a blog and trying not to cry because I had an inside joke with one of my favorite boys about not taking the lord name in vain but instead just saying “Oh my rabbit!!” or “ Oh my gatitos!” and we could barely talk but I mean love has no language and thats all we could this month was love these boys and thats what we did!
Sadly today was our last day and we had such a great day filled with laughter tears and testimonies. Which even a few of the boys opened up to us and told us their testimony which is a crazy big deal and we got to encourage them with our stories and how God has worked in our lives! But we hung out outside all morning and when lunch rolled around we all knew goodbyes were soon. We laughed and said some awesome goodbyes and almost all the boys told us small speeches and thats hard to get a 15 year old to show he cares or may even miss us but man those boys know how to tug at my heart strings.
After the speeches the tears hit mainly us but the boys had made us cards and of course my favorite boy came up to hug me and he handed me a bracelet and well we both cried. Of course I cried way more but I honestly can say that I will never forget for him or the other boys and our crazy times as a family together.
So what I am trying to say is that 11 goodbyes sucks but sometimes it hurts you so deep down that you may never want to leave but I am telling you that it will all workout because sometimes you get to tell your favorite boy in the house that his life means something to me and to God and that is what we came here to do. I will never forget this month and all these wild times with these awesome boys. Thanks Bolivia for breaking my heart for Gods people here.
Thanks for reading and just keep the boys in your prayers! They have my heart so full and leaving is hard but the workers here are working just as hard and I know God will do crazy awesome things in there lives 🙂
