Luis Migel

(August 28)

I want to introduce you to Luis Migel.

Now disclaimer. Absolutely nothing I could ever write will even compare to meeting this kid in person. But I shall do my best.

Take a 70 year old man and put him in a little ten year old’s body.

Tuck his shirt in and hike his Spiderman pajama pants up like ain’t nobody’s business.

Give him a really raspy voice that has no volume except loud.

Throw in a strong will or two.

And now give him a little wire connected to a toy car he drags around.

There you have him.

I. Love. Him.

I remember meeting this kid when I came for a week in March. The missionaries at the time told me he was literally an “old man,” and I’ve looked at him that way ever since. I mean it’s not even a joke. You’ll find him sitting in a chair outside the house watching the world go by, and I’m pretty sure if it was a thing here he’d be sitting in Casa Grande every morning with coffee and the newspaper.

Anyways, as you can probably imagine, this boy is not all about that affection. Whenever I go to kiss him goodnight, he throws the sheet over his head and crinkles his face like I am literally the grossest thing in the world and how dare I ever come near him. (I know. I try not to take offense.)

Like I said, he’s got a pretty strong will. And that darling fact often winds him up in a bit of trouble. He’s one of the ones I mentioned previously who had to machete at night because he literally refused to get out of bed. (I’m talkin at like three in the afternoon.)

So the other day during math class he was being incredibly difficult. He has buddied up with little Fermin and together they are trouble times two. My goodness. They just so happen to be two of my four math students, so as you can imagine math time is a little bit cray. Well, I had given Luis Migel a gazillion and a half chances to start behaving, which is about a gazillion and a half more than I should have given him. So when he folded a flashcard into a paper airplane and then told me he didn’t do it, well, I was over it.

So I gave him the beautiful and blessed gift of machety-ing (I’ve spent fifteen minutes trying to figure out if that’s a word. Just go with it.) during recess.

And then he cried. Now just know that for the time I’ve know this kid I would never have signaled him out as a crier. In fact, I think I’d only seen him cry once before this. And so I felt a little bad. I let him get himself together a bit before I made him walk in front of his classmates to get to the place outside where I told him to work.

Anyways, as soon as I got him outside and handed him the machete and told him what he needed to do, he started to cry some more. Like a lot more. And then he started to tell me how much he just wanted to go home and be with his family.

Now Luis Migel has quite the story. As far as anyone knows, he has never met his father. And his mother died around a year ago in childbirth. So now he lives with his step-grandfather and siblings. He just hasn’t had an easy life.

So when I saw this little boy crying about how he wanted to go home, knowing home life isn’t easy, it broke my heart a little.

But at the same time, he had been so difficult in class. Every day. I knew that if I didn’t follow through with my consequence nothing would change. And so I hugged him and comforted him and then I handed him the machete and told him he needed to work.

Rough stuff.

He walked over to where he had to machete and sat down and cried some more. Usually I leave when the kids are working and just have them come get me when they are finished. But this time I decided to sit with him. And so I sat on the tractor nearby and watched him as he wiped away tears and cut the grass. For all of recess.

Once recess was finished I told him he was done and he started to cry again. After a couple minutes of trying to help I told him he had a few minutes to pull himself together before he had to come to class.

And a few minutes later in walked Luis Migel, and soon enough he was back to his old self, trouble-making and all.

But something changed.

I don’t remember if it was that night or soon after but he was sitting up on his top bunk when I told him he needed to brush his teeth. As soon as I said that, he looked at me, reached out his arms, and asked me to carry him.

My goodness it was probably one of the strangest things I have ever done in my life.

You do NOT carry Luis Migel.

Dani and I went on and on about how strange it was that I was carrying around this boy that is basically an old man and I joked to the kids about how he was my little baby and Luis Migel laughed and laughed. He soaked in all the love and attention he could get. And now? Almost every night he asks me to carry him around. In fact, the other day he sat on the counter for two minutes just so he could ask me to carry him to bed.

And I’m sure it’s pathetic that I do it but my goodness. This boy that went from hiding from me to being incredibly affectionate? Well he stole my heart.

Yesterday his grandpa came to the orphanage to take him home for the weekend. He was so excited and all packed up with his little backpack, standing next to his siblings. I asked him if he packed his toothbrush and his clothes and I had a moment where I truly felt like his mom.

And even though he makes the house a whole lot more hectic I seriously did not want him to leave.

I bent down and gave him a big hug and said, “I love you,” and he looked at me with that adorable crooked-toothed grin and said, “I love you” right back. And then I watched him walk away, shirt tucked in and pants hiked up, so excited for what laid ahead.

Sometimes working with little kids who speak a different language and cry easily and don’t want to shower or brush their teeth or do their chores is exhausting. It can be difficult to keep my patience or tempting to just let things slide.

But kids like Luis Migel? Well they make it all worth it. Because when I follow through, when I set expectations and don’t let things slide, well it shows the kids I care. It shows them I love them.

And then I get to watch them tuck their shirt in and hike their pants up and keep walking, eyes forward, excited for what lies ahead.