We ended up driving 4 neighbor girls to Hera’s funeral. It started late so we got to talk while waiting outside the church. The funeral itself was all in Spanish so it was hard to understand. It was sad and the whole thing felt so senseless. 20 year old young men should not be dying of shootings. Our girls were crying off and on. They knew Hera way better than I. There were a lot of people from the neighborhood there, even some older kids that have not been around at the Center for several years so it was great to see them and give them a hug. It was good to see and talk to Hera’s brothers and even his dad as well. I am sure as time passes the girls will open up more about their feelings. Today it was just a day to cry.
Tonite I was out in the neighborhood hanging with kids and got to talk more about what happened. It is all the buzz in the hood. We talked about how sad it was, how Hera’s family has lost so much, about gangs, choices, and more. One girl Ellie said she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep tonite.
So it was a hard day but in the end, a cool thing happened. All the Barajas kids walked down to our apt. and they invited Pete and I to their house to have cake and celebrate Maria’s birthday. It was mainly the family and a couple friends. We had a wonderful and fun time. Enclosed is a picture of Maria and her dad and as you can see Maria was all smiles. That was so good to see. Her mom Elizabeth died June 28th, not even 5 months ago. So, God turned our sad day into a very happy day.
Thank you for your prayers. God is so good! Patty
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