Saturday afternoon there was a knock on the gate. One of the guys came and told me that there were two neighbourhood ladies who wanted to talk to me. And he thought maybe they were drunk…

So I gingerly went to the gate to see what was up. I wouldn’t say these ladies were drunk exactly…but you could sure smell the alcohol on them from a few feet away. The issue seemed to be that the older lady was concerned about her youngest daughter. She was falling behind in school and seemed to be having problems learning to read. The lady called the little girl over to meet me. She’s a sweet little thing, probably around eight. Very outgoing and friendly…and with a big smile for us. I was never quite sure what this lady thought I could do for her daughter. She just kept explaining over and over (and over) again the situation…that the little girl was having problems learning to read. Somehow sending her to the gringo who can barely speak Spanish much less read it, seemed like a good idea.

All I could think of was to say that my friend (Corina) has a centre and they work with children. Maybe she could help. I told her I would talk to my friend and on Monday we could talk more then. After saying that a few times, it seemed to sink in and we were all good. As a side note, while the mom seemed very concerned with her little girl, the other lady (probably in her early twenties) seemed more concerned with Sandro, who was standing there keeping me company. There were lots of smiles and eyes and whatnot. Poor Sandro had no idea what to do. That kind of entertained me too…

So that’s where we left the situation, that we’d talk more Monday.  That is until first thing Sunday morning when Sandro came to tell me that the ladies were back and he thought they wanted to go to church with us. Hmm… I’m never going to be one to tell someone they can’t go to church…but I was sure hoping these ladies were a little more sober than the day before.

As it turned out, they weren’t planning on going to church with us…they were just going to send the little girl, along with her twelve year old cousin to watch over her.

I guess I should be honored that they have such trust in me. I am a gringo after all…and we’re all trustworthy. The lady wasn’t even sure if I was catholic or evangelical or what…she just thought a little church would do her daughter good.

But God can use anything and everything. The little girl seemed to have a good time and her cousin (who didn’t seem that thrilled at first with the situation) had a good time too I think. We’ll see if they show up at our gate next Sunday again.

So now for church we’re the eight guys from the home…two or three more guys who don’t live with us but come to church sometimes…two girlfriends…one girlfriend’s little brother…one baby…me…and two little neighbourhood girls…

Life just keeps getting more interesting.