Yesterday was my first day in house two of the
orphanage that we are working for here in Bolivia. House two is for the kids
that are 3-8 years, they are awesome. The day began with helping a little girl
Sara with her homework. This may have been the first time that I have acted as
a tutor and I really enjoyed it. Sara and I formed a pretty special bond
throughout the day.
I never realized how much I love kids; they
bring so much innocence and joy to life. At one point towards the end of the
day I was outside, enjoying the sunshine. Suddenly, 8 kids are running at me
like the final battle scene in Braveheart. They commence in a session going all
out ninja on me. You better believe that this was some of the most fun that I
have had in quite some time. They would run up to me all at once, half scared,
half karate kid ready for battle. The next ten minutes that followed consisted
of me picking them up, one or two at a time, and placing them in a massive
human pile, ninja noises and fake Japanese language included. We had an absolute
blast. I went to bed with a smile on my face. I don’t think that I have had
that much fun since I was a boy.
Before the race and in previous experiences
with orphans, I looked at caring for the orphans in a different way, way more
serious. I viewed them as a separate population of children that were sad and
needy. I was wrong. They are the most joy filled, selfless and cool kids I’ve
ever met. Now I am having a darn good time with these kids and treating each
one as if they were my own. This often looks like having all out battles in a
field and soccer until we drop.
The reality is that the best ministry that you
could ever have with kids is the ministry of simple, joy-filled fun. Fun
changes the atmosphere and speaks more love than a thousand words. You can learn
a lot from kids. I want to listen to them more, get more advice from them and
let them show me how to have the most fun I have ever had. In the process I am
feeling much more like a kid myself.
(pictures coming soon)
