to lose everything...

On Tuesday afternoon I arrived at Project Chacocente to spend a couple days with my loves, my family, my friends. I went to Rosaura's house to visit, and found Migdalia (my current, very talented piano student!!!) picking up dried stalks of beans; so I went over to help. We stuffed a big bag full of the dried up bean stalks. Whenever we were done she tied it closed and grabbed a big branch and started to beat the bag. After about 10 minutes she dumped it all out onto a tarp - the vast majority of the beans had been beaten out of their pods! So then we de-podded those that hadn't. After this we would pick up handfulls of the bean stalks and beans and then drop them back onto the tarp. The beans, which were heavier would fall straight onto the tarp, and all the dust and dirt and stalk remains would fly further away into the wind. It took probably 20 minutes or more but we had all the beans gathered from this set of stalk. After that we de-podded other beans from more dried stalk - but she didn't beat these ones - I think she just was too tired, because she really had to put a lot of effort into it before. After a couple hours of working we had a big bowlful of beans - enough for dinner that night.
WOW! Never have I had to work so hard just to get a part of my dinner. If I'm having beans, I pull out a can, open it with my electric can-opener, stick it in a pot on the stove and voila - beans! Maybe I'm going old-school and having some fresh beans from some garden... so, oh it's really rough to snap a few beans stick them in a pot with some water, and voila - beans! Either is going to take me less than 10 minutes and didn't take hard labor in the hot sun.
Although, the labor in the sun wasn't all that bad; granted I don't have to do it everyday, but Migdalia and I spent the time talking. She is such a sweet and responsible girl. She's 15 years old, but she does the majority of the work around the house, because her mom is always off working to make some money. Migdalia has as much a part in raising her younger siblings as Rosaura.

I stayed the night with Rosaura's family. It passed really well. We had fun talking, playing with my camera, watching TV. I enjoyed myself very much... except while we were watching some Novela (soap opera) I decided to look through my pictures and sort of got lost in playing with my camera... I was discovering new settings that I had never taken the time to look through, trying new buttons, etc... and who knew, but something I pressed erased EVERYTHING! Now, don't worry too much, it was my second time filling this memory card, and I have probably 1500 videos and pictures safely saved elsewhere... but I lost 664 photos from the past 3 weeks. From Itamar's wedding (luckily I had 60 of these saved in the computer) until yesterday! This included the Sixth Grade Promotion, the Ballet Folklorico that I went to the theater to see, the trip to the Pool with some friends, two different reunions with the Youth in the Church, the trip with Madeling to her families' homes, the festival that just happened in church here in which I passed in three dances, a drama, and sang twice, and the video of Culto (worship) Monday night, where I gave the sermon - in Spanish, and of course three weeks of daily trips to Chacocente.

Now, to further depress you, but on a more serious level. We have a lovely family at the Project: Nelson, Vilma, Jonathan, and Chelsea. A couple weeks ago, Vilma and her two children went up north to visit Grandma because she's not doing well healthwise. On Friday while they were away, Nelson was down at La Casona in the Project and his house caught fire. When it was seen by his neighbors (I don't remember who was the first to see it) they went running to La Casona to let Nelson know. People tried helping, but EVERYTHING was lost. The house was burned out. So, a few days later, when Vilma and the kids returned they came home to an empty home. Vilma had gotten and been saving away new clothes for December (for Christmas!), she had a whole bunch of hammocks that she had made/been working on to sell when the Delegations come to work. The house still smells of smoke and the walls are black, the roof supports are ruined and are beginning to sag. The one thing that survived the fire is an orange blanket covered with the words "Jesús me ama." (Jesus loves me.) Half of it hangs in their window as a curtain, and the over half is hanging on a wooden pole that they erected, kind of as a memorium I guess. The family is sleeping on two cots that were purchased by the Project for a couple of Americans who are coming to stay in a couple months... they are borrowing them until they can do something about the beds. This family definitely needs all the prayer and support they can get...

You know, I was so mad, sad, annoyed, frustrated, when I lost my pictures and I was hoping that somehow the pictures could come back... that God would perform a little miracle for me, mostly so I would be able to send pictures that I had promised to the people here... and I'm still a little sad about it... but today when I saw Nelson, Vilma, Chelsea, and Jonathan I was reminded of their great loss, and yet they're still moving along, and sticking together... in comparison to their situation, the loss of my pictures is nothing.

And thank you God that when it all comes down to it the material doesn't matter... the material can be erased, or burned in a fire... but what do I have?
Amazing memories and experiences from the family-bonds I've formed with the people in Project Chacocente and Sabana Grande - and I will never lose that.