Vida Joven in Guatemala, by Brady Greene

The Anexo is adjacent to a big soccer field.  The whole area – soccer field, houses, everything – used to be part of the garbage dump, and they scraped a thin layer of dirt over it and started building.  The city put a big white concrete wall between the fields and the houses, and when we walk into the neighborhood, the wall is the first thing we see.  Last night, when we walked down, Rebeca noticed that somebody had painted some things on the wall.  VIDA JOVEN.  EL AMOR DE DIOS it said, and there were some pictures of flowers and people.  “Young Life.  God’s Love.”  We went out to the field to kick the soccer ball around, and on the other side of the wall there were some hearts and flowers and a picture of a house, and it said VIDA JOVEN.  REBECA CHEPE LAURA PABLO.  Rebeca is our dear friend, the Guatemalan volunteer who really holds all of this together.  Pablo is her brother, who also volunteers.  Laura is Laura Garcia, who moved from New Orleans in November to join the staff team here.  I’m Chepe.  “Brady” is a mouthful down here; not many can say it, so in Spanish I’m Chepe. 

I don’t know who painted it, most likely some of the girls Rebeca and Laura know.  But I like the fact that someone wanted to paint our names on a wall.  It makes me feel like maybe we’re becoming part of the community.  Maybe this is the beginning of folks being comfortable enough with us to start telling their story.  Maybe we’ll get to talk about ours. 

Somehow they already figured out the first and last lines of our stories, though, and they wrote it up on a wall.  “el amor de Dios...”