Wendy flies to a foreign land that is full of wild animals, jungles, and lagoons. There she finds the lost boys, and of course, Peter Pan, the mischievous boys who refuse to grow up. The lost boys are a tribe of orphans who live for adventure and are a formidable fighting force despite their youth and they make war with the pirates. I have often felt like Wendy here in Los Anonos, and the Ticos I hang out with definitely seem like lost boys some times. And not just because I am older than most of the guys that are a part of the church. Many of them come out of families where drug and alcohol addictions run rampant. They may or may not have a father or mother figure at home. These guys have seen tremendous horrors in their short lives and their role-models are not necessarily people that should be looked up to. A constant spiritual battle is being waged against the youth that are a part of our church and "pirates" in the community that want nothing more than to ensnare them in any number of addictions. There are definitely times I feel like Wendy, trying to mother the motherless, trying to teach and instill values like how to speak kind words, keep your word when you say you are going to be some where at a specific time, and tell the truth.
On the flip side there is Snow White. And not just for the fact that my skin IS snow white compared to the Latinos...Or to the fact that everyone is significantly shorter than me and the guys are literally dwarves compared to my height...Not to mention the fact that I love to bake and keep the kitchen clean...or the fact that I'm usually singing. There are other similarities as well. The people here really do live in less than cottages. Filthy, patchwork tin shacks with dirt floors. They do their best to keep them clean, but when it rains every day and there are holes in the roof their roofs, there is only so much they can do for sanitation. Every day it's hi ho hi ho, off to work they go, trying to mine out the best life possible, working very hard for very little. Work is constantly needed in all parts of life, physical, mental, and most importantly spiritual. Of course for the dwarves themselves, I could probably match a dwarf name with each of the Ticos I hang out with... :)
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