Monolo

I added a buttload of new pictures!

So. I am sitting here on D-well�s laptop (and yes, D-well and Jennie made it here to Guatemala just fine,) and am typing in Microsoft Word with white text on a deep blue background. D-well claims that it is somehow easier to read text that way, but I find it quite difficult to embrace this �QBASIC style� of typing documents. I feel like I have to prefix every line with a multiple of 10. Ok, that was a stupid nerd joke which probably only David Potter got. :)

D-well and Jennie have been here for a while now. It has been so great to serve the Lord in Guatemala with two wonderful friends. D-well and I are living in �The Shalom House� which is located mere FEET away from Shalom, so it�s nice to not have to wake up at 5AM and drive 45 minutes each morning just to get to school on time. Jennie is staying in my old bedroom at Mark and Andrea�s house experiencing the full �joy� of having a toddler consume every moment of your day and night. D-well and I have had the opportunity to spoon a couple of times which is one aspect I have missed from him. :p

I am in the middle of working on the Shalom Sponsorship website and it�s coming along great. It involves new challenges for my programming skills, but I welcome them gladly. I am always looking for a challenge in programming because most stuff has become so easy that it doesn�t require a whole lot of brain work anymore.

The week after next, Shalom is having its mid-year two-week school break. I think D-well, Jennie, the Smiths and I are going to Tikal or some other city to do some truism for our break. We still have to talk with Mark to work-out the details.

Well, the other day in school, I was teaching the PhotoShop workshop. One of the kids in the class is kind of �an outcast� who�s name is Monolo. His name doesn�t really help his situation, because �Mono loco� means �Crazy Monkey� and his name is almost identical. When ever the kids have to sit next to him, they roll their eyes and say, �Awww, man!� Monolo is a little strange, I have to admit; he seems to have something a little wrong in his head, but he is almost always smiling. After observing him over the months, I think he smiles to hide the pain he really feels inside. I don�t know what his home life is like, but one could assume it�s not a good one, especially here in Guatemala.

At the beginning of each class, I have all the kids line up in two lines outside of the classroom with guys in one line and gals in the other, then I issue their seats three kids at a time. When the line whittled down, Monolo was solo so I placed him at a computer by himself. Shortly afterward, a kid come in late and I told him to sit by Monolo and the kid�s response was that of every student who �has to� sit by Monolo; some eye rolling, deep sighs and resistance by saying, �No, not with Monolo!� After some reluctance, the kid finally plopped down next to Monolo with a deep sigh. Monolo said nothing but forced a smile on his face and squinted up his eyebrows as if to say, �Why?�

Sometimes during class, the kids will stand up and walk around to try and talk with their friends or whatever and I am always telling them to sit back down. They know that I don�t like it when they stand up since I am always saying, �Sit in your place please. Sit down please. Please sit down.� Towards the end of this class, I noticed Monolo standing in the open doorway of the classroom. The computer room is on the 4th floor which overlooks quite a �vista hermosa� (beautiful view.) The door of the classroom opens to a view of wide open scenery that Monolo was just staring into. My first reaction was to tell him to sit down, but I felt a little tug on my heart. God whispered into my ear, �Go stand next to him and put your arm around him.� So I went over to the door and Monolo turned to me with his smile mask. The look on his face said, �Well, I guess I have to sit down now,� but he was surprised when I didn�t say anything and just put my arm around him. His smile got a little bigger and he put his arm around me. It had just started to rain and the drops on the tin roof of the school made lots of noise. We both stood there for a few minutes just watching the rain. I broke the silence with broken Spanish, �I like it when it rains hard.� Monolo politely corrected my Spanish and agreed with me.

We made a little more small talk and he went back in to find his seat in the classroom without me asking him to. I don�t know why, but I really feel like Monolo needed someone to let him know that they cared at that moment. God has laid two specific kids on my heart; Monolo and another kid named Wellington. If you guys wouldn�t mind praying for these two guys and also pray for God�s guidance in what He wants me to do with them.

Wellington, like Monolo is an �outcast� and gets the same reaction from kids when they are told to sit by him. Wellington is really interested in computers (and hey, so am I) and today he came to me with a problem he was having with his computer at home. He was trying to describe what was wrong and I was trying to understand Spanish. :p I finally got the gist of what he was saying and so I offered a few troubleshooting ideas he could try. I also asked if he wouldn�t mind bringing his computer to school so I could look at it, but from what I understand, it seems like his dad wouldn�t like that idea. Then the idea of going to his house popped into my head, but I immediately shot it down for a number of reasons. But God tugged on my heart again saying, �How great my love is for him. I would do anything for him.� I after a little thought I told him that if his dad wouldn�t let him bring the computer to school then I would try and take a look at it at his house. You should have seen Wellington�s face, it was as if I had said, �I am going to give you one million dollars.� So pray that I will have an opportunity to go to his house tomorrow and that God will lead me to do what I am supposed to do there (it might just be fixing a computer, but it might be something more �lasting� if you know what I mean.)

Oh, and one last thing. This past Sunday at church, I was sitting kind of close to the front with Jennie and D-well. Towards the end of the service, the pastor turns to me and says, �Sam Jancanna, come up here with me please.� I don�t know why he calls me �Sam Jancanna.� Anyways, I go up on stage wondering what the heck I am doing being up on stage and the pastor turns to me and asks me to translate for him!! I was so shocked!! TRANSLATE!? I can hardly understand people half the time and now the pastor is wanting me to translate for a group of Americans that were there this particular Sunday in front of the whole church!? WOW!! I mean, yeah, that�s what I would love to do someday, but I never dreamed I would be needed NOW. So anyways, I don�t think I did such a good job of translating word for word, but the point was to present some certificates to the team that was down here helping with Shalom.

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