Okay, I have to start out by telling you about Ricardo.
Short re-cap of the past three years for those of you who haven't known me that long:
My first trip to San Luis, three years ago, we got there at night, right before the kids went to bed.
I played tag with a bunch of the boys, but only for a short time and it was dark so I figured none of them would remember me in the morning.
But I walked outside the next day, was walking around, taking pictures, when I heard, "Amiga!"
I turned around and there was Ricardo, the only one who remembered me. He ran to me and hugged me and then didn't leave my side the rest of the week.
My heart broke when I left him but we wrote back and forth for over a year until I could go back and see him.
The second year I went to San Luis, he remembered me, grabbed my hand, brought me to the shelves where the kids keep their backpacks, and showed me every letter I'd ever sent him, every picture, every little toy.
Again he didn't leave my side all week. We walked all around with his hand around my waist, just like the year before.
He is also my sponsored child, and I feel so so incredibly blessed to get to see him every summer.
Okay so that's Ricardo!
2009
2010
Alright. Unlike most days in San Luis, we actually could sleep in until 9ish.
But most of us were up by 7 anyways :)
I woke up in a fantastic mood, I knew I was gonna see my amigo today :)
So we ate breakfast and played with the kids for a while,
they are so cute in their church clothes.
Then church!!!!! We were sitting in church before the service started, and the boys from Oasis got there.
I saw Ricardo and I was so excited! I went up to him and tapped on his shoulder.
He turned around and when he saw me he gasped and said "Gianna!!" and gave me a huge hug.
I could have cried.
We sat together in church, just like last year.
Nina and I did our testimonies.
Oh my gosh, if I tell you how great Nina is, this will be the longest blog post you've ever read.
But her testimony was so awesome. If you don't know Nina you should because she is just so great and everything God has done in her life is so great and her love for Him is insane.
Then I did my testimony, and Ricardo took a video of part of it but I had to delete it for camera memory purposes.
But it turned out that the verse I used, and what Nina and I talked about, was exactly what Ken had already been planning to preach on that morning.
And we had no idea.
God is so great!
After church I talked to Ricardo for a while. I overheard him talking to some of the girls at the orphanage and he said "She was Ruth's best friend."
Tears!?!? If you don't know who Ruth is, there's a blog post about her from back in June, read away :)
We hung out in the back of the church until he had to go.
Then a little girl came over to me. She just stood in front of me and stared at me. I knelt down and started to talk to her, but she didn't say anything back except for that her name is Mili.
She just kept staring at me, so I held out my arms to see if she wanted me to pick her up.
She walked towards me and put her little head down on my shoulder.
So I picked her up, and she just kept staring at me.
She saw my necklace I was wearing and was fascinated by it.
She played with it forever.
Then a woman came up and told me they had to go.
I asked if she was her mother, and she told me no, her grandmother.
She said their mother was gone but I wasn't sure if she meant she was away, or gone gone.
She told Mili to give me a kiss, so she wrapped her little arms around my neck and kissed me on the cheek.
When the grandmother tried to take her she clung to me.
It was sad and sweet at the same time.
Later we went to the boys' home.
When we walked in Ricardo was sitting at a table playing with a toy I got him.
He gave me a hug the second he saw me.
I'm so glad he's there, loved and safe and taken care of.
Later we went to the taco stand, but as far as ministry, today was more of a relaxed day.
Stay tuned for tomorrow, getting up at 4:30 to paint ;)
No but really, Sunday was amazing and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Thank you to everyone who helped me go to Mexico and I hope you all keep reading!
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