Speaking English

by carrollministry

If you have been keeping up with this blog, then you have heard a lot of generalities about the people here. I want to take this opportunity to tell you the story of a boy named Francisco. I met him yesterday on our hike up the mountains. He is 16 years old and is in his 4th year at La Asuncion. Francisco touched me in a very special and different way than any of the other kids I’ve met so far. He is very humble and very genuine. Francisco is one of 6 children in his family; he has 3 sisters and 2 brothers. He told me his dream is to teach English. He was the first person who I really had the opportunity to communicate with because he spoke a little bit of English. He spent 3 years studying English in Guatemala City and when he finishes at La Asuncion he would like to continue on to the university in Guatemala City. He told me another dream of his is to travel to the United States in order to get better at his English, and then come back to Guatemala, his home, to teach. However, he recognized how difficult that would be, and knew his parents didn’t have the means to do so.
The difference in Francisco and the other children was how he treated us. I have literally felt like a celebrity here. I mean the children at the school would line up to get their picture taken with us. But Francisco did not. He genuinely wanted to get to know us and told me he liked talking with me to practice his English. There isn’t much opportunity for him to do that here; very few people speak any English. I spent most of the 4 hours we hiked with him, and the whole time, he just wanted to learn more and more. In return to me helping him with English, he helped me with my Spanish, and probably more so than anything I could teach him. I saw God very much in this young man, in his humble heart and genuine spirit. And he will always hold a very special place in my heart.