First it was Jackson who left, then it was Tata who was
taken from here, today it was Jaimes. After
the departures of Jackson and Tata, I learned to cherish every day with the
boys here because I never quite know when it will be my last and they will be gone. After the events of this afternoon, I know
that I am a long way from learning this lesson completely. I’m also learning that even when I attempt to
treasure each moment I have with these boys, it doesn’t make it any easier when
they leave, in fact, it makes it that much harder. When Jaimes first left the orphanage back in
February, he had run away after breaking into our house and stealing our things
and we were left feeling shocked and sad.
Today, Jaimes is gone again, except this time he left under much
different circumstances, but we are still left feeling shocked and sad.
This afternoon was like any other, I was helping Marcela in
the office when we saw three ladies arrive at the orphanage. I assumed they were social workers, but
something about their mannerisms gave me a bad feeling about the purpose of
their visit. They came into the office
and started talking with Marcela as I listened intently desperately wishing I
understood Portuguese better. Even with
my limited Portuguese, I understood that they were here to take Jaimes and when
I heard this, I desperately hoped I had misunderstood what they were
saying. However, I did indeed interpret
it correctly and I found myself walking with Marcela up to Jaimes’ room,
gathering his things, putting them in a bag, and returning in a daze to the
three social workers all the while trying to remind myself to breathe. While we were gathering Jaimes’ belongings,
Gerson had gone to pick him up from school.
Once he came back from school, hugs were exchanged, goodbyes were said,
tears were shed and just like that, in less than an hour, Jaimes was ripped from
our lives and taken to live with an aunt in Tres Pontas who all of a sudden is
interested in having him live with her.
While it is hard to see Jaimes go and I still can’t quite
comprehend the fact that he is gone for good, I have so very many reasons to be
thankful for the time that I had with Jaimes both before he ran away in
February and after he was returned in April.
One of those reasons far surpasses all the others though and to explain
why let me take you back to the night of May 7th. That evening I was helping Marcela in the
homework room like usual. There were
four boys left in the room, Jaimes, Alan, Bruno, and Reinaldo. All of the boys had finished their homework
except for Jaimes who was working on his Algebra with the help of everyone
else. They were all chatting with
Marcela and I wasn’t understanding much of the conversation (which is pretty typical
J)
when I realized that the conversation had gone in a more serious
direction. Even though I didn’t
understand most of the words that were being said, I knew that they were
talking about God and when Marcela started drawing a cross on the paper, I
realized that she was explaining the message of salvation to these boys. I began to pray, watch, and listen carefully. What I saw unfold before me could be
described as nothing less than a miracle as I had the absolute privilege and
blessing of witnessing these four boys, who have come from every walk of life
imaginable, ask Christ to be their personal Lord and Savior.
My prayer when Jaimes returned in April was that he would
know he was forgiven and loved by us, but more than that, I prayed that the forgiveness
and love he saw from us could be used to help him understand the forgiveness
and love that is found in Christ. On the
night of May 7th, that prayer was answered. So while it was really tough to say goodbye
and it is really sad to know that Jaimes is now gone for good, I praise God for
and rejoice in the fact that while I will probably never see him again in my
lifetime, I will spend all of eternity with him J
But as for me, it is
good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all
Your deeds.
Psalms 73:28
