Life in Laureles This Past Week...

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has been well, normal and interesting all at once. It's cold and rainy and as always that puts a damper on our activities, at the same time though it allows me free time to simply explore, be with the kids, take coffee unmolested...rain is freeing.

this one is growing on me.
i've discovered i don't really care for babies, i know i used to; i used to love holding them, playing with them, watching them. now though, well i just dont like them very much. they're messy, the smell funny, cry all the time and i swear are strong-willed and know better but are using their age as a cover to get away with all sorts of shenanigans. i really could simply do without them. is that bad? anyways, this one here, maybe it's his name (mateo) but i'm starting to like him.

a budding mennonite

flirtateous

the other more sullen memo had his 14th birthday this past week. turns out he's not so sullen once you set a cake in front of him.

and where better to enjoy the cake then in the back of the toyota.

juan carlos, i love this kid - you would too if you knew him.

carlos with me in the back of tino's truck

elder and enil, two of the newest additions to our crew. i like being around them because they remind me of what it's like to be six again; the things they think are important and noteworthy like height, jumping ability, how fast you can run, stuff like that.

thursday and friday it rained so much that water inundated the church and messed up everything inside and out. friday afternoon then church members showed up to clean, i also brought 13 of my finest and hardest working. they left quite the impression with the church folk.

moving bricks laureles style



lauro and leda really putting their backsides into it.

taking a nap

yesterday 7 youth from church challenged 7 youth from laureles to an indoor soccer match. laureles won which made me happy but i enjoyed it that much more because it was the first time that i was able to connect with a large group of older youth (17-22) from laureles. i knew them all and we always greet each other but it was the first time we ever did anything together.
hopefully this leads to something greater.

the youth from church, frustrated at their loss

my friend soplo who comes with me to church. he's the one that really organized everything and is my contact into the world of the older youth of los laureles.

pichete, jeta and wilmer. these are tough kids but they make me laugh.

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