Snapshot Joys

I never have time to type up all the stories I want to share, but i will keep on putting up what pieces I can manage to squeeze in between serving and exploring and as of today, moving.
Yeah, news flash, the apartment in Ilioupoli where I've been staying in with the other interns is closed down for a week for the land lady's wedding, so we checked out this morning, and are staying in a helping hands owned apartment in Neos Kosmos for a week, then moving back to the same building, different (nicer) apartment next Tuesday. You can look up the sites on the metro map here, they are both on the red line. It's a hassle, but on the bright side, it gives us an excuse to visit an island this weekend while we aren't paying rent! Woohoo! That adventure is yet to come. Meanwhile we sent our suitcases over last night, and carried our overnight stuff to helping hands this morning and then to the new apartment on the metro. Everyone has warned us about how small this new apartment is, but funnily enough, it turns out that now that we are here it's obvious that this apartment is larger than our last one! Also, now we have an actual stove and oven rather than the weirdest combo mini stove/oven/microwave thing I've ever seen. Looks like we are moving up in the world!

On to more serious matters. I think my new favorite game is catch.  Today is a Wednesday, which means women's shower day at helping hands.  It means a smaller than normal crowd, about 12-15 women with their kids who come to take turns in the shower and just relax and let their hair down, literally! On Wednesdays no men are aloud in the building, so the women can take off their headscarves and wraps.  It's a much quieter and more relaxed atmosphere that I really enjoy. We don't have a structured kids program usually, just a bunch of toys in the middle of the big room floor, and there will be a meal and then a bible lesson at some point during the day that are the only events.
Today we had an even smaller group than normal, either because metro strikes make it a little harder to get around, or because this is the first week of Ramadan, so people may be less interested in traveling downtown while they are fasting.  We also had a short term team with us from California, 5 extra girls, which meant that we could pretty much have two volunteers to every kid if we wanted to. There were plenty of other things to do of course, but it meant that I got to hang out with one kid at a time instead of worrying about crowd control.

Two of he girls were sisters, maybe something like 3 and 6 respectively, and they had the hardest time getting along.  Telling a two or three year old that she has to share is hard. Telling a two or three year old who doesn't speak English feels almost impossible, but we made it work.  At one point early in the day however I got the little girl on her own, and I offered to play catch with her. She loved it so much! We mostly sat on he floor and rolled it back and forth, and anytime the ball got away, she would laugh so loud while she was running to fetch it. She even taught me a new word, bishi: sit, for when I tried to stand up.  We must have played for half an hour, the same thing, back and forth.  I don't know if it was having my undivided attention, or she just really loved the game that much, but I got to make a little girl happy today. It was so wonderful to get to see her joy.
Even if I did also have to later watch her cry because her sister wouldn't give her the toy scooter, no who cares about that identical scooter you're handing to me, my sister is sitting on that scooter right there and I WANT IT! Her sister pulled the same stunt 20 minutes later. I'm so sorry your heart is broken little miss drama queens. It really helped to know that, despite the tantrums, something about today was joyful for those little girls.

My other highlight came later in the day, not with little girls, but with two boys that were probably about 8 years old.  I looked up, and saw the two of them were playing soccer in the hallway using an old volleyball that was flat enough not to hurt.  One of the girls from California, Hannah, and I had the same idea, and rather than stop them we turned it into two on two! I won't deny for one minute that it was disruptive, and a little bit risky, but it was also, once again, fun. So many games are hard to explain without a common language, but all of us knew how to play soccer already, and no one was going to throw a fit over rules anyway. The goal was get it past the other team, shout for victory, and then start over again, playing as hard and as fast as we could go. Frequent timeouts were called to allow other people through the only passageway between the showers/front door/office and the main room and kitchen, but I don't think I saw a single scowl, not even from the people who didn't insist on a pause loudly enough and had to dodge both ball and players! We were laughing and sweating and pushing and crowing and all four of us is, refugee and volunteer, were happy about it.

I can't have meaningful conversations with mothers about Jesus in Farsi or Arabic, but I am lucky enough to give some of these kids a little attention and a lot of joy, and lucky enough to get to receive some of that joy as well. A phrase that has really been standing out to me this week has been, "being the hands and feet of Jesus," that idea that when I work and when I serve, my efforts and my gifts are not from myself, but from God who concedes to work through me. Honestly, that just strikes me as amazing, that God can somehow work through my unskilled and careless hands to do his miraculous  and perfect work. Someone commented to me today that this is very practical work I am doing through helping hands, as compared to my more theoretical physics degree, and it is, but it also seems like a very impractical way for God to accomplish a His will. He just chooses to work in such a way as allows me to participate. Not for His sake, but for mine, and I am blessed beyond belief to be a part of His plan.