Good Weekend, Bad Weekend...

I had GREAT weekend!! Friday night was a BIG birthday party for both Julian and Alvaro. We had it at the café. I think throughout the course of the night (from 7-10) there were at least 50 or 60 people who came! We had THREE cakes and finished them all, and only a few people had two pieces. It was a true birthday celebration – Alvaro even got dunked in the fountain at school earlier in the day, which is a tradition for students. Unfortunately for him, we were having a cold snap, and he had to be at school wet for a couple hours! Haha! Both Julian and Alvaro got the “mordida” at the party (where people smash your piece of cake in your face).

Here is a small glimpse of the happiness at the party:

Jean Paul smashing cake into Alvaro's face

Julian after his mordida

Whitney, Mayte, and Estefani ... with mouths full of food

And this picture pretty much sums up the atmosphere of the party!

Saturday, we had youth group as normal. Things went well – I think there were about 20 junior high students, and 10 “grandes” (those of us who are 19 and older), but only 3 high school students. We had just finished the meeting, and people were setting up the ping-pong table and chatting as normal. All of a sudden, Julian (who was on his phone) hung up the phone and said to me in English – “I gotta go, somebody just robbed out house!” And he was out the door, me being the only one who had any idea what was going on. I am always one to think of “worst case scenario,” and immediately thought of my friend Mayra and family in Honduras who got robbed a couple years ago – people came with a big truck, in broad daylight and cleaned out their ENTIRE HOUSE, leaving the curtains and their entertainment center (the piece of furniture). So I was thinking of how we can gather used furniture, clothes, etc. for Julian, Whitney, and the girls. Jenn and Jean Paul snapped me back to reality when I told them that the Kreveres got robbed. In QRO, people aren’t afraid to call the police when they see a house being robbed, so hopefully not too much was missing. We prayed, and called Martin – our pastor and one of Julian’s best friends. Martin went to the Kreveres’ house and dropped off Mayte (his wife), then came to talk with us at Global. Julian had been at youth group during the robbery, and Whitney, her mom, the girls, and Blanca (their house-helper) left to go downtown for like and hour. When they returned, Whitney saw that someone had entered the house with a ladder – like Julian does when he’s locked out – and thought that Julian had returned for some reason and didn’t have his keys. So Whitney went upstairs to talk with him… and found her jewelry case open on the bed, and some drawers open in the bedroom. That’s when she ran outside with her family and called Julian. Thankfully, the robbers had left already. The majority of their electronic equipment was gone, but all credit cards, passports, and visas were left in the house. And the family was safe.