Good news. William showed up today. It seems like it is very hard for him to be here, as though he questions if he should be away from him family. Hopefully they are able to find another dump community. There were two murders in the community last night. This time someone tried to invade a home and some of the bandits in the community chased them down on motorcycles and killed them. I don’t have all the details yet, so things could be different. I am struggling to hold back the tears as I tried to comfort a little girl that misses her mom. She is probably about Madeline’s age. I showed her the pictures in my wallet. She was in the cute little pink outfit with a couple of holes in her dress. I guess just seeing her touching at her dress and crying really was hard considering that they are in such a tough and violent world and they have feelings and sadness just like all little kids.

These boys are so tough. I’ve never seen kids so quick to punch each other in the face. And they hold their fists like they know how to fight, not the way American kids fight. I’m having some breakthroughs with my guys. I won one guys (this googly-eyed guy that I was kind of scared of) dessert in “poker” but I decided to let him keep it. They love my magic trick and I wish I had gone to Mike for more card tricks before I left. I meant to, but ran out of time. Keep praying. We really need it. The Pastor in my cabin talked with the guys about not being so crazy at night. Last night they were throwing shoes and doing other things. I tried to keep my eyes open as long as I could, and tried to sleep in a defensive position just in case. I put my mattress near the Pastor, but ultimately he doesn’t come down very hard. I was ready to stay up all night. I ended up falling asleep and then they all woke up at 4:30am. you don’t want to be the only one sleeping. We’re having a sermon right now. The problem is my guys will sleep through it, and then they will get dessert/snack, and then I have to get them to go to bed. It’s been tough communicating, but I’m getting better. I’ve realized speaking English in a hispanic accent doesn’t help them to understand what the English word means. I haven’t showered yet. So far I am swimming in my clothes as I don’t want to get near the showers. Tomorrow I’ll probably change clothes and go the last two and a half days without a shower. matt