Yesterday I realized the extent of my selfishness yet again. Some of my teammates and I were on a mission to find cookies and cream ice cream after a sunset dinner at the sky view café. Two grungy, unpleasant smelling kids, with a mastered pitiful expression asked Andrew my teammate for dinner. He walked them over to a nearby chicken restaurant and bought them each a meal. A little later a small kid asked for me for dinner and after a huge mental debate, I said no.
I felt guilty, but all my reasons seemed justified. I didn’t have many Quetzales (cash) which are hard to come by because the three main banks closed down this month, I figured that there had to be some where else he could get food, and I questioned his motives. Eventually he walked off the other direction. After buying my double chocolate covered waffle cone I felt a twinge of guilt and looked to see if he was still begging outside the restaurant, but he was gone.
We all went out the town square to eat and enjoy watching the mix of Guatemalans and tourists. The same boy from the earlier came up and offered to polish our shoes. I started a conversation and quickly learned that his name was Alex, he was 14 years old and he was from a town about two hours away but attends a free school in the city.
Alex told us again that he was hungry. I was thankful, it’s not very often that God gives me a second chance when I don’t listen to Him the first time around. Alex, Emilie (my teammate) and I headed back to the chicken restaurant. After we sat down, he was talkative and fun. I enjoyed listening to him talk about his village and he even taught us some words in his first language, a Mayan dialect.
Alex told lots of stories about his life, and honestly I don’t know which ones were true and which ones were fabricated with the intent of getting more cash out of us. He talked at length about his druggie, abusive father who passed away three years ago and about his mom who is sick. He also told us stories about school, learning English and how if he could do anything in the world he would be a tour guide. I truly enjoyed the time we spent together.
At the end of the night I realized that it’s not my place to judge if Alex’s stories are true. It was my job to get over my selfishness, follow God’s prompting and provide a meal for Alex. I’m thankful for the second chance and hopefully next time it won’t take two!
A couple pictures of Antigua, complements of fellow World Racer Ryan Stewart.
