Carnival finished up yesterday. I thought I’d avoided the worst of it (except for the bright purple streak down the side of my truck). I wasn’t much of a target this year…I got my air conditioning fixed last September, so I could drive with my windows open (unlike last Carnival…just ask Nathan Epp who was visiting and became the unlucky target of a very accurately thrown water balloon…right in the window of my truck…square in the chest. You have to admire that really…). Plus my truck was really dirty (by plan) and so no one cared about spraying me with ink tinted water (most buses and taxis smear mud or grease all over their vehicles to protect them). Except for that one purple streak…which should wash off easily enough with the mud. So yea…I thought I was safe.

Then I pulled into the home and I saw the crowd of boys armed with water balloons…

I managed to intimidate them for about 30 seconds. Then it was pretty much over and I was wet for the rest of the night. One guy, Saipina, really deserves a mention here. I got him with a water balloon…but just one mind you. Later I was standing in front of the dorm talking to him (for like 5 minutes!). He just bided his time until one of the other guys called my name. I turned to see who and then turned back towards him…just in time to get nailed by the pail of water he had hidden around the corner. It was flawlessly executed. You have to appreciate that.

Then later I took three of the guys and two pails of water balloons for a quick drive to the nearest town for a little payback. Groups of kids (and adults) stand by the side of the road waiting for vehicles to go by (especially by speedbumps when you have to slow down)…and then they attack you. So the guys would crouch down in the back and when we came to such groups…we had a little fun of our own. The funniest part was when one of the guys told me I needed to speed up faster afterwards when the people on the ground would recover and start throwing balloons back at us. “The water balloons hurt!” he said.

He’s launching water balloons at stationary targets from a vehicle moving 20 or 30 km/h. And he’s whining about when the odd balloon comes back at him. So…being the good friend that I am…I gave the next group of kids ample time to retaliate before I “sped up”. Ha…

So passes Carnival for another year.

A couple of prayer requests of a more serious note. We lost another guy this week. Another good friend of mine. I have no idea really, what happened with him. But Reuben (one of the fellows I wrote about, who left earlier this week) is back. He came back the next day. He still had to shave his head though (the punishment for leaving without permission). But I’m glad he’s back. And the other fellow I spoke to last week who was planning to leave, told me last night that he’s feeling much more at peace. So thanks for praying everyone! I don’t think he’s planning anything now.

And one final prayer request. I had to ask one of the guys staying with me to move out. It was very sad and very hard. I’m not going to get into it really. But if you could pray for him and for me. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with him. I’m not going to abandon him or anything…I plan to still be involved in his life if he lets me. But I’m pretty sure he sees it as an abandonment. That’s been his experience up until now. But…it had to happen. I just pray that God uses this to change the direction of this young guy’s life. He’s an amazing kid…but with a lot of issues.

No new word on the house, by the way. The fellow living there thinks he’ll know more on Saturday…

Thanks for reading and for praying. It makes a difference here!