...if it wasn´t for the fence, we would have lost Jeremy...

Friday afternoon (6.18.2011), we went with Dario to visit and meet his family. Dario, we found out, is a Guame indian. Spanish is his second language....Dario is a twenty year old that we met in December at the church. a very sweet boy that is shy, emotional, and such full of joy and God´s love. he wakes up almost every morning and goes to the iglesia (church) and prays from 5-8am.....EVERYDAY!!!!!!! amazing!!! as i type this jeremy and dario are across from me using google translator to communicate. it will probably be a 2 hour conversation that might typically take 5 minutes....anyways.....
dario kept the group´s heart this year. we have tried to help him throughout these past 6 months and we were so happy with the outpouring of everyone´s support for him.
....his parents and family live in a village outside of el silencio. we drove up there not knowing what to expect. we parked alongside the road and then proceeded to hike up a mountain with a walking stick for support. it was raining a bit so it made the hike very hard to manage. everytime we hiked a bit, we would turn the corner, and there would be more to hike! at one point we had went through a gated area...dario first, then alicia, then me, and all of a sudden we hear a big thud and a scream. i turned around and there was jeremy flat on his back!!! he had slipped and a barbed wire fence was the only thing that caught him!! if it wasn´t there he would have slid down the mountain.....only God would have put that fence there....we praise him for barbed wire!! ha!!!
we finally made it up to where his family lives. we took photos, but to describe it in words....where do i begin? it was very similar to a tree house only on stilts. under the flooring was about 2-3 feet where chickens, dogs, and cats slept. the ¨house¨was made of 12in wide boards. there was a staircase that we took to walk up. we sat in the first small room we walked into. he said there were 4 rooms in the house. in the house lives his parents, 2 sisters, 2 brothers, and 3 nieces and nephews. they were such amazing people, very sweet and his mother was very nice. she expressed that dario was the first to go to university in his family. his 18 year old sister only went to 8th grade where she was pregnant at 15 and again at 17. she lives with her parents along with her children.
through alicia, his mother shared with us that she does not know how to read or write. we were so excited to be able to give to her the new testament in guame (her language) on an MP3 player. i took a photo of her listening to it! she was very excited to receive it....we gave it to her and also extra batteries.
after many photos, we gathered around the little room, holding hands and Jeremy prayed over Dario´s family. you see, dario´s family are not christians. they don´t go to church and they do not know Jesus....we are praying that the MP3 player is a start to many more questions they may have for Dario! please pray with us over this MP3 player and his family!!!!
there house was very simple, writing and drawings on the walls, colorful ¨curtains¨to shield from the mosquitos at night. nothing at all we would live in, but amazingly, Dario stepped out of his shoes to walk in the house...we did the same. this gesture was a slap in my face to wake up and realize that they were proud of what they had. just because it wasn´t the greatest in my eyes, didn´t mean that what they had was any less.....the last shall be first....i was in awe of the lesson learned...
the trip down the mountain was tricking, but we made it without any falls! we met uncles and aunts, grandmother, and several cousins on our way down the mountain. we heard many sounds of animals and a beating sound also as we made it down....the beating sound?...girls beating the laundry on the rocks in the river....again, a life so foreign to me! again, a lesson learned of what we have and should be more appreciative of....
God bless you for your prayers for Dario and his family.....