BJ is staring straight forward and not moving. It starts smelling really, really, REALLY bad.
Me: BJ, do you need to go to the bathroom?
BJ: No.
We continue working while I also attempt to hold my breath. A minute later, he's holding his stomach.
BJ: May I go out? (the way the kids here ask to go to the bathroom)
Me: Yes (PLEASE).
BJ holds up five fingers and says, "five minutes."
A few minutes really do pass by, so I walk by the bathroom to make sure he's not goofing off because he's someone who would. A first grader from another class is in there commenting on how bad it smells. This is my welcome back to school :)
This week, Lance tells me, "I want to ride a cow!"
Also this week, Anderson had my class one day for our "station rotation" and told me he was showing them how to draw a tree for art. He said one little boy (I'm guessing Lance) walked up to the front of the class and was staring at the board with a puzzled look on his face. Anderson was expecting a question, but instead hears, "It looks so REAL!"
I love my kids. I didn't think I was ready for break was to be over, but when school started back up I realized how happy I was to see all of them!
Now onto today...
Today was a mostly great day. I left school feeling very happy about how smoothly things had gone. My kids had behaved pretty well. PE was easy, which rarely happens. I left school with a smile on my face!
I went back to the Barn, got my laundry to drop off, and as I was walking past the school to take my clothes to the laundry place I saw Shannon and she said my box had arrived that I've been waiting for from my mom and friends! I was SO SO SO happy to find a box full of yummy snacks, a few Thanksgiving decorations, some school supplies, and a few things I had requested from home. I still can't stop looking at it!
A while later, Anderson and I headed to Kagban where we go every Thursday for a feeding site. Jerry, a worker at the Jungle Barn, had told me he didn't think there would be a feeding because he's usually the one that goes and gets the food ahead of time, but Teresa hadn't told him to this week. We decided to go anyway and thought we'd just play with the kids if there wasn't a feeding. Sure enough, there wasn't, so Anderson pulled out a Frisbee and we started playing! Eventually, I became a human toy for about four kids as they ran around me in circles, pulling my arms along with them. It was fun! It was a blessing to be able to just spend time with the kids and love them. Parents were standing around watching us play, and I hope that we were displaying Christ's love to them that we came to have fun even when there wasn't a feeding.
We were having so much fun, I had to get some pictures.
At one point some of the kids saw the coloring sheets in my backpack. I had assumed I'd save them for next week, but they all wanted to color! I told them they could color if they wanted to hear the Bible story first, and it made me so happy that they seemed excited for the story (I'll hope that they weren't just wanting to color). Sometimes I wonder if they understand a word I say, but the best I can do is to do the best I can do! :)
As I pulled out the book and was using the pictures to paraphrase the story of 12 year old Jesus teaching/learning in the temple, a little kid brought me a stool to sit on. I thought that was so cute! He stuck it right behind me, so I sat down and the kids gathered closer to look at the pictures.
I had literally just gotten the last word out of my mouth when all the kids ran off for a reason I didn't understand. Ramelyn, a friend and the on-site helper at the feedings, told me there was a fight between two women. I went off to a corner with Ramelyn and a few kids and then Ramelyn informed me the ladies were going to get knives. It got scary then, as I saw a lady storming off to her home (it's the one with the green in the back center of the above picture) and then come out later with a knife. I wasn't able to see what was happening very well because the skirmish was around the side of a house, but at that point I was holding back tears and had already been praying to God. There was a circle of adults that seemed to just be watching, and the kids were all running back and forth not knowing what to think. I thought SURELY people would hold the women back, but for a moment I wasn't sure. I could just hear them screaming at each other and was finally able to see some adults holding back the ladies.
I guess the lady I had seen go get the knife had gotten it taken away from her, because next thing I knew she was off to her house again and came out with a long, pointy thing that could have definitely caused some damage. The one man that was near-by when she came out managed to get it away from her and somehow broke it. She tried to straighten it back up and fix it on the ground, but eventually gave up on that. Her next weapon was a really long bamboo stick. Lastly, she got a big, thick piece of wood. Everything got taken away from her as she brought it out.
At one point during a lull while she was looking for her next weapon, I texted some other missionaries here and asked for them to pray. I believe in the power of prayer, and while part of me thought it may seem odd that I would text during this ordeal, a larger part of me decided that powerful prayer was in order.
Also during all of this, I found out from Ramelyn that two of the kids who had been hanging all over me playing earlier were the children of this lady we kept seeing go back and forth finding new weapons.
Kagban is the same site I have posted about previously where there is a diabetic boy whose family can't afford medicine, so he takes spoonfuls of sugar and has diabetic ulcers on his legs.
Also at this site, the pastor for the community recently passed away unexpectedly.
Even living here, I still get stuck in my own little bubble and sometimes forget what's happening just up the road.
While my great day had turned into a scary one, I thank God that He kept us all safe. Jesus Christ is still Provider, Comforter, Prince of Peace, Almighty One.
I'm thankful that Ramelyn was there to help me understand what was happening. I'm thankful Anderson was there because it somehow just helps to know that I'm not the only one that experienced it.
I'm thankful that I went today. After things died down, the kids still got their coloring sheets. I may have handed them out with shaky hands, but maybe it was God's way of getting their mind off of what they saw. The two children, a toddler and maybe a four year old that belongs to the crazy mother, were kept away from the scene the entire time and seemed unaware of what was going on. I'm also thankful I managed to get the whole Bible story out just in time!
There were several kids who did see the whole ordeal, and I'm praying for them. I pray that they will completely forget about it, and I pray that they don't follow in these footsteps. I pray for the children of these two mothers. I pray that God teaches them, and all of the kids, what love looks like...HIS love. A perfect love!
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