Time With the Chavos (Teenage Boys)

Last night we had the chavos (teen age boys) over to our house.  We have been having them over once a month while their supervisors go to a singles meeting at church.  This has been a great time for us to connect with them and share with them.  They have fun watching movies and playing games but we always have a time of sharing with them.  They seem to really enjoy it even with our botched up Spanish.

I have no pictures but maybe I can describe what it was like last night to watch Leandro eating his spaghetti.  In the United States, when we eat spaghetti, we just eat spaghetti.  Maybe people put some parmesan cheese on it but would you ever think of putting hot sauce on it, right?  Well, the kids here put hot sauce on their spaghetti, their corn, their cucumbers and their tortilla chips last night.  All the boys were eating and Leandro caught our eyes.  He had put a large amount of hot sauce on his food.  His face was bright red and he had tears welling up in his eyes.  He reached for a napkin and was wiping his face.  He started pacing back and forth, opened the door to breath in some cooler air, paced some more and then came back to eat some more.  We were laughing so hard.  You would think that after that, he would not use so much on his next plate of spaghetti, but we were wrong.  A second plate was poured and more hot sauce went on.  I will tell you that I did not see any of the kids putting hot sauce on their ice cream later in the evening.

We enjoy these times to really be a part of their lives.  It is the reason we are here.  We are watching them grow into mighty men of God, men of respectability.  Jim was able to share what he sees in them and you could tell they were honored to have him share from his heart.