"No teacher, spanky!"

Don’t ask me where the children learn phrases like the one written above. I certainly didn’t teach them that phrase. Whenever I do something to my 8^th grade class that displeases them, like tell them to make sure they memorize their Bible verse because there will be a quiz over it on Thursday just like there is every Thursday, one of the boys will scowl at me then say very strongly, “No! Spanky teacher! Very bad!” I’m not even sure if they know what they’re saying in English but it is very amusing but I try to not let on how funny I find it. 

During study hall this past Thursday, Juan José decided that he wanted my pocketknife that I bring to class with me every day in my teacher bag. Juan José is one of my 8^th grade boys who is 14. However he has a bit of an attitude and one minute he’ll be saying, “How are you, my love”, (Again, I did not teach him that and I have no clue where he’s learning these things.) and wanting to hug me and the next minute he’ll be provoking me, calling me ugly and punching me in the stomach (It doesn’t hurt or do any damage, just to clarify.) In fact, Thursday night, he provoked me so much that I could feel my patience leaving me. It didn’t help that it had been about 100 degrees the whole day and that even though I had drunk three full water bottles, I had felt like I was going to pass out from the heat. That might have been though because I had to chase Kevin around the mission earlier that afternoon when he had taken my phone and somehow turned my music on. I’m not sure what music is appropriate to play at the mission so to be safe; I have only played Christian music for my girls. Well, once Kevin realized that I didn’t want him to play my music, he ran away from me while Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” blasted from the speakers for at least half the mission to hear. He finally gave it back to me just when I was about to collapse from the heat. Lessons from Bolivia: Don’t run anywhere, especially when it’s 1,000 degrees with 150% humidity.

That was a side story.

Back to the main story, Juan José really wanted my pocketknife and I was not at all willing to give it to him. In order to have a small possibility of his getting it, he challenged me to a duel 

– a who can drink all their water first kind of duel. He had a huge water bottled filled to the top and he said that if he were to finish his water before I finished mine, then he would get to keep my pocketknife. My water bottle wasn’t completely full and was not as big but I did have to weigh the possibility that my competition was bigger than me. However, this child had to go to the doctor last week because he had only been drinking two cups of water a day and thought that was enough for him. (Come to think of it, a lot of kids here hardly drink water at all.) Because of his need to drink more water and after my deciding that there was no possible way that he could win, I agreed to the challenge. Apparently my knife was good motivation because after I said, “Listo…….ya!”, he started drowning himself in water up to the point that I became worried for my pocketknife. We both were drinking water as fast as we could and as I started feeling very full, the story of the lady who had died while participating in a water drinking contest in order to win a TV floated through my head. Luckily in our case, no one died and fortunately for me, I beat Juan José by only two seconds. Neither of us had time to celebrate or mourn the outcome though because we both felt sick to our stomachs. I guess I should find a different method to motivate the kids to drink water. On the bright side, I now understand what my mom meant when I would tell her I was hungry and she would tell me to drink water. Point proven, mom. Water does fill you up.

Juan José - Although it may look like he's doing class work, he's actually working on concealing my sticky notes that he took from me when I wasn't looking. What am I going to do with this child? 

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You know how people say absence makes the heart grow fonder? Well in my case, being away from Famlia Feliz for a while makes you realize how much you love and miss everyone.

Anglica, Kimberly and I just got back from our overextended trip to Santa Cruz to finalize our visas. We ended up staying five days longer than planned and although it was nice to have internet for so long, after day three, I really wanted to be back at Familia Feliz with all the children, their hugs, laughter and even their, “Tee-cher, él me molesta!” (He’s annoying me!). We got back to the mission Wednesday afternoon and were met by the kids and given lots of hugs and kisses. I taught one full day of my usual classes then had to leave Friday morning to go back to Santa Cruz by myself. Friday was the only flight I could find out of Rurrenabaque that would give me enough time to pick up my passport early Monday morning then fly out of Santa Cruz the next day. I’m flying back home to California for a week for my sister’s wedding and I am so excited! However excited I am to see my friends and family, be back home for a short while and take hot showers, I am just as sad to be leaving Familia Feliz. My girls were very pouty when they found out that I was leaving again. I hugged as many as I could as I ran out the door to catch my ride into town dragging my suitcase behind me. I didn’t get very far though because I met Dagner coming up the dirt path. After explaining that I had to leave to go to my sister’s wedding but that I would be back in two weeks he gave me a huge long hug then a quick short one for good measure before he let me go.

Dagner is slowly stealing my heart. He’s not the only one responsible for this though.
Edward has the cutest smile and he sounds like he’s on helium, which, for some odd reason, makes everything he says ten times cuter than any other child. He is the happiest four year old I’ve ever met. He fell asleep on my lap during worship in the church Wednesday night and it was precious.
Yucet is pretty quiet and I don’t know him as much as the others but he is really interested in the Bible and loves reading Bible stories every chance he gets. I’ve been teaching him how to throw a football.
Belsabeth lives with me in my house and has the most infectious laugh. She laughs when she’s nervous, excited or thinks something is awkward. The last thing she was laughing at before I left was how red my face was. The one full day that I was at the mission, I got pretty sunburned and Belsa couldn’t understand how my face could get so red.
Then there’s Jahel who suddenly warmed up to me this past week. He still scowls at me when I walk past him and will pretend like he’s going to punch me but Wednesday night as he and I were walking back from worship, out of the blue he said in English with a very thick accent, “I love you”. I couldn’t help it and didn’t even pause to consider it and said “I love you!” right back and meant it with all my heart.

Jahel taught me how to make paper boats then stuck his boat on a pencil and put it in his hair. 

All to say that being away from the children has made me realize how much I have grown to like them in only a months time and I think I’m in danger of falling in love with each and every one of them.