I am struggling to find the right attitude with these kids. Like I mentioned before, I have been working with special needs kids. I am not sure what a Christ-like attitude looks like. It is hard for me to explain. But I am going to try so that if anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it. Okay, so here it goes. I don't know if it is okay to pity and feel sorry for these kids. At the same time, is it okay to laugh when they do funny things? For example, today a boy named Jeremy has legs that are somewhat inverted so he has a hard time walking. Anyway, he got going too fast running down a hill and wiped out. Is it okay that we laughed? They are just kids and we laugh when "normal" kids do funny things. I am trying to process all this and I have not really quite come to a great conclusion. I think its okay to laugh and just enjoy being with them.
Besides that, I am started to feel a little less overwhelmed. I still am unsure why God has placed me at the physical therapy site. I feel that my passions are sports and education so at first I was a little be frustrated that I wasn't at any of these sites. However, I am realizing that I still may be able to incorporate these at my site. I still feel pretty inadequate. One of the toughest parts is trying understand what these kids are saying. These kids already slur their words and do not speak clearly. It's hard enough trying to translate their Spanish. For example, today a boy took about ten minutes to explain a game to me. I sat there clueless until finally he tapped me and said, "topa" which means tag!
Well so far, a week has gone by and I am so glad I am staying here for 9 more weeks. I have already learned so much Spanish and I have many opportunities to continue practicing. I still need prayer for courage because I am still intimidated to practice with other adult Spanish speakers. It is easier to practice with kids. But I know the only way for me to really improve is to practice. Today, Amy gave us some more freedom. Knox and I were in charge of physical therapy with the kids and I really liked that. I feel like I am gaining the essential vocab needed at the site (follow me, don't hit me, come here, look here). Tomorrow we have our excursion day. I am going with a lot of the Bethel people to go white water rafting. Tough life I know. :)
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It's always tough to know how to act around people in other cultures, which is one of the ways, I believe, the devil tries to make us feel uncomfortable and not be able to relate and interact with them as much. Jess if you just be yourself around them, it's okay to tease and make jokes with them, it's one of the ways kids bond, obviously just don't take it to far. I know you're doing a great job and you're definitely in my prayers. Hope you're doing great!
Alex
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