Shortly after I signed the contract on Casa de Esperanza, Dick approached me, asking if I would consider allowing one of the boys from Chimaltenango, who needed to study in Antigua, to come and live with me. He was thinking about Cesar, who would need to attend Inval, just south of Antigua, to complete the first step in the process of becoming a PE teacher. While he could live at home in Chimal, this would make his commute to school, one way, over an hour and a half. Combine this with his school day starting at 7:30 and ending about 4 each day, and that would be quite a day.
Cesar is a young man, now 18 years old, who I have been sponsoring for the past few years. While school is not the easiest for him, he has worked hard, and has great goals. He would especially like to use his love of sports to draw kids to Jesus, an admirable goal.
So, after praying and talking with his parents, Cesar moved in to the house shortly before school started on January 15.
Since no teenage boy wants to live alone with an old lady, I thought, the more the merrier, and asked Fernando, whose mother is in the US, to come and live with us. For the past years he has been living with an Aunt, but pretty much on his own. That’s tough at 15. His mom gave her permission, and he’s here, too.
Fernando when I first met
him in 2009.
Fernando today, posing for a
picture for his school soccer team
Please pray for both of these guys and for me, too. I love when they call me their “segunda mama” (second mother), but I’m also aware of the responsibility in guiding them not only in their studies, but to help them follow Christ more fully. School does not come easy for either of them, and their classes this year are proving to be quite challenging. The private school Fernando attends provides after-school tutoring. One of the teachers from that school has agreed to come to the house three days a week to help Cesar with his math. This will be an added expense we had not budgeted for, but I believe Cesar is worth the investment.
Scott Hardee, a friend from Kansas City who, along with Lynda his wife, stayed with us for a couple of months earlier this year. Scott was a great math tutor and we miss him a lot.
The boys both spend the weekends in Chimaltenango with family. (Dick jokes that he gets weekend “visitation” with the boys, while I have “custody” of them during the week!) Neither of them like to attend the church their families attend (they say the people are rigid and judgmental), and it’s hard for them to attend church with me, since Chimal is 30 minutes away. We have decided that we will start our own “youth group” here at the house. We will be going through the book More Than a Carpenter, and using it as a guide in exploring the Bible verses that show who Jesus is. Please pray for us as we begin this next step. While I know this isn’t a substitute for a formal church service, both the boys say they get more out of it when we study together at home, so that’s what we’re going to try.
No comments:
Post a Comment