Friday, October 21, 2005

Victor

This evening I met someone who highly impacted my life...Victor; a 13 year-old, poor Brazilian kid. My roommate and I decided to walk to the park near our home here in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. This park is also close to Victor's home. I've not seen his home, but I know the neighborhood he lives in pretty well and I can tell you that most of the homes there are clay brick walls, some make-shift room and dirt floors. Victor, I'm sure lives like the other hundreds of children in the "villa" live - many "family" members crammed into a 2 room shack.
So, as my roomie and I are getting ready to throw the frisbee a bit, we meet a few kids from teh Vila...they adore talking to us because it's not everyday that "rick" people treat them like real people and it's especially not normal for them to talk to "gringos" (foreigners). And, we adore talking to them because it's not everyday you get the chance to love and be loved by someone from a totally different reality than yours - oh the things one can learn about life and love and God thru these little, dirty, simple, tender yet hard people.
SO, back to Victor...we wrap up our convo, which was mostly about all of our ages and language, and my roomie and I head off to throw the frisbee. A few minutes into our "game", the elder of the children we'd just met, walks up and starts showing us his game - hit the plastic bottle with an old broom stick. If only they had baseball in Brazil - this kid could go somewhere! Well, we decide to take a whirl at it and then Victor shows us some of his quite impressive front flip on foot tricks (we were terrified he was gonna bust it!). So, as we con't to hang with this boy, he suddenly opens up and shares his broken, bitter heart with us.
Turns out Victor IS a normal kid from the Vila - angry, hurt, abused, no dad at home, a mother who's present but likely not capable of mothering anyone and lots of siblings, aunts and uncles. But, something is oddly different about Victor - he's smart, he's educated, he's pilote and he's honest - about his heart even. He's angry, but he claims God as his only friend, the only one he "can really talk to, who really cares and listens." Victor seems to be Catholic, for he uses the terms and speaks of the church as the place for forgiveness.
We listened to Victor a lot, shared with him the most we thought appropriate and promised to pray for him. Just before leaving he shared that his birthday was on the 13th, but that noone really remembered it, so that was it - a tangible and simple way to love this kid. We busted into song, first in Portuguese and then in English, with Happy Birthday to Victor. Oh, the smile, with just a hint of proud embarassment. Earlier in the conversation, as he was tearfully recounting something, I has so wanted to hug him, but wasn't sure if that would be too much for this guy who probably never got hugged. But, in this Birthday Moment, I had the perfect and appropriate moment to do so (to Brazilians, hugs and birthdays go hand in hand!) .
So we left Victor, but not without a promise to see him Monday - if he'd meet us at the church service there in the Vila. Oh, how I pray he'll go. Oh, how I pray he'll love Jesus and be restored and loved and used by Our Sweet Lord someday. What a victory I imagine for our Victor!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

created a blog!


well, i guess it was a year or more ago that i first heard this word "blog" and suddenly tonight i felt inspired to google "how to start a blog". ends up, it's pretty dang simple to do this...so, hey, who knows where this will lead. one more internet distraction to keep me from doing something useful!
so, my name is heather and i currently live in belo horizonte, brazil. have been here for almost four years and next month i'm returning to the USofA. don't know for exactly how long or where i'll end up after my time there, but i'm sure God knows and that's pretty much all i'm banking on these days.
okay...guess i'll post this baby now...