Jhon

     I know it might be confusing when I write a blog or post a picture and throw out names of the kids here at New Hope since there are so many of them, so I figure I might post a blog now and then to share specifically more about one of the kids I work with here at the children’s home. That way, you might feel like you know the kid better and if you would like to pray, you would know how to pray more specifically for the child.

 

      Jhon is in sixth grade and likes to rough play a lot whether it be wrestling or just pushing others/being pushed around. He loves massages and always asks me to give him a massage. He’s not shy with asking me to help him with his chores or anything else he needs/wants help with. He’s also not shy with making new friends with any visitors that come to the home. For instance, he was very sociable with Cassandra’s (another intern) dad when he was here for a week, and on the way back from church one night, he jumped on his back and climbed onto his shoulders and got him to carry him the whole way back to the house. Like most of the kids, he loves using my laptop; and he likes playing strategy games on my laptop with castles and armies.

     Sometimes, Jhon’s very sociable and cooperative. Other times, he can be closed off and refuse to cooperate. For instance, sometimes it’s hard to get him up in the morning, get him out of my apartment when I tell him to get out, or get him off my laptop when I tell him it’s time to do something else. But I really enjoy being with him nonetheless.

     Although he interacts a lot with me and I’ve seen him interact a lot with others at the home and at school, he often likes to be a “lone ranger.” When asked, he insisted he doesn’t have friends and often likes to walk to school or home from school by himself instead of with the other boys.

     One day, he asked me why I combed my hair the way I do, and wanted to (and did) change it to be more like his hairstyle. Then he asked me to comb his hair like I comb mine (but he didn’t end up liking it). Then he took the comb, wetted my hair, and started giving me all sorts of crazy hairstyles. He tried combing my hair like a Mohawk, comb it up in the back and sides, etc. Each new hairstyle he gave me, I told him it was bad; but he still wanted to go around the campus and show it off. So with each hairstyle, we ended up going around to everyone asking them if they liked it or not. I told Jhon that no one would like the hairstyles, but he insisted that they would; so we ended up taking votes – every time someone said they didn’t like it, I would get a point and every time someone said they did, he would get a point – I usually ended up winning (even though I’m convinced some of the adults were lying when they said they liked it).

     I have been interviewing some of the boys here at the home to help with getting information about the kids for a sponsorship program. Here are the interview answers that Jhon gave me:

1.      What is your favorite color?

Purple

2.     What do you want to be when you grow up?

Mining Engineer

3.     What is your favorite subject in school?

Math

4.     Who is your best friend?

I don’t have any

5.     What is you favorite thing to do? 

Go on the internet

6.     What is your favorite movie?

Dragon Ball Z: Goku

7.     What is your favorite food?

Pollo a la brasa (some sort of chicken)

8.     Do you have a favorite Bible verse?

Psalms 23:1-2

9.     If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

Azangaro, (an area in Peru) because he used to live there. His other answer was that he would go to a country in Asia (when asked which country, he said it doesn’t matter which one)

10. If you had one wish, what would it be?

That his parents were alive

11.  Who is your favorite character in the Bible?

Moses, wouldn’t/couldn’t answer why (he quickly got tired of me always asking “why?” to his answers and having to explain them more.

12. Do you play an instrument? Which one and for how long and how did you learn?

No

13. If you could learn an instrument, what would it be?

Wouldn’t like to learn

14. If you could learn another language which would it be and why?

Quechua (the language of the Incas which is common here in Peru) because it’s fun and he said he would like to learn Korean too

15. If you had 1,000 soles (about $370 - $400), what would you buy?

A laptop to speak with my sister and would buy a cell phone to call my sister (He said his sister is 20 years old. He told me she lives on the streets in Lima.) and a remote control toy helicopter and a remote control toy boat and a house with the money left over. [I don’t think there would be enough money left over for a house, but he seemed to think that there would be money left over.]

16. How many people are in your family?

5 (Himself and 4 sisters. 1 younger and three older) three of them live here at the children’s home and 1 lives in Lima on the streets he told me.

Prayer Requests:

 

·         Jhon seems to be closed off a lot of the times although he’s been through a lot and has a lot going on inside. Please pray that he would draw close to God and personally learn that God cares about him and what he’s going/has gone through and that he can talk to God about anything. Pray that while Jhon has a “lone ranger” personality and is very independent, that when it comes to his relationship with God that he would learn that God is truly his Father and best friend and that Jhon would see Him this way.