3-29

Well I’m not exactly sure how I should start this post. I want to be able to convey the amazing welcoming I received from everyone when I got back here. It’s been truly amazing thus far. Well I flew back in Friday. I didn’t get here until pretty late. Grisoul and Susana came to pick me up. Grisoul is a lady that’s been working in the Casa as a sectary, I think, and Susana is an older kid that lives in the Casa. Grisoul told me that the kids were waiting for me to arrive. They wanted to stay up until I got back. Well unfortunately I didn’t arrive until almost 12 so pretty much everyone was sleeping and most of the Madre’s had going to this Fiesta that a school was having, they told me they really wanted to bring me.

So anyway that next day was pretty cool. When I woke up Louis was pretty surprised to see me. He seemed pretty glad to see me again. I went down into the kitchen to help with the food and I got there before all the other kids. There were a few people in the kitchen that gave me warm welcomes. When the kids started to pour into the kitchen I just loved to see how happy they were, well mostly the little ones were really yelling “Blake”. The older kids came but and shook my hand or gave me a hug. I got a lot of “Bien Venidos”, which means welcome. All the Sister’s very happy to see me as well. Some asked about my dad and about my family. I tried my best to explain how my family has been and explain that it’ll be a difficult time for a while. Many of them seemed to be very understanding.

A lot of things seemed to be happing yesterday. In the morning Madre was telling me that there were a bunch of things that I could go do. I didn’t understand precisely what but I soon found out that I could go swimming at rancho, go to a fiesta that has music, or another fiesta I think. It felt kind or overwhelming at first to have to me invitations. I decided to go to the fiesta that was at the school. It was really cool. I have a few pictures of it in my album. The music was really cool. They had a band that was playing Banda music. It’s a huge band, like 10 or more people with all kinds of various instruments. It was crazy how many people were in it. Also there was lots of good food there. I bought some tamale’s, which were amazing . Another cool thing that they had at the fiesta was these kids that were swing chains that had fire on them. Oh and no they weren’t little kids. Probably 19 or 20, something like that. That was cool to see for a while, but the blaring electronica music became kinda annoying.

Another really neat thing that I for got to mention about yesterday is that they kids in the Casa performed a living stations of the cross. You know it’s like the one the Wisdom does but not quite as large or realistic. The kids were all dressed up. I have a bunch of pictures of that also. I really loved that so many of them got so into it.

This morning I went to the school for this huge competition that the largest school in Tepa has. A lot of the kids that live here at the Casa go to this school. So this was really cool. It lasted most of the morning. It was so awesome to see how excited the Sisters would get for the kids. I really loved to see that. It was just as if it would be their own child. And that’s exactly what they are, they’re the kids’ family. To see Madre hug and congratulate them was so awesome to see. One of the kids didn’t do so well in his competition and was kind of sad. He came sit by me and I put my arm on his shoulder and talked with him and made him laugh. Madre looked at me and gave me a silent thank you. Initially, I really didn’t know that I was consoling him, but I know that’s something he really need. I’m so happy I was there to help in that situation 

Tonight I went to the movies for the first time. It’s really nice. I would compare it to the theatres in Lafayette. I think Tepa only has one theatre. It’s really cool they have this whole little shopping area connected to it. The movie was in English, which was pretty cool. The sound was English with Spanish subtitles.

Well I think I’ll end on that not. I’ve a crazy busy couple of days. I hope everything back home is going great. I’ll be praying for all of you. Thank you again for reading! It really means so much to me.

Adios!