Frustrations and Fulfillment

As I sat down this evening to update my blog at the end of a very long, exhausting, yet wonderful day, I realized that I have been guilty of a great omission. While raving on a couple of occasions about the wonderful team God has provided for this trip, I have never told you who they are. I want to rectify that now.

We have eight people who have joined us from Trinity Missionary Church near Cleveland. Pastor Jeff Kephart is leading this wonderful group composed of his son, Daniel, Tim Morgan, Katheryn Frank, Tamara Kreis, Deborah D’Alessandro, and her two daughters, Rachel and Deanna.

In addition, we are joined by Mara Farmer from Pleasant View Missionary Church and Whitney Reed from Kenton, OH. The team is rounded out by Zac Robinson who is my Hope for Home Trip Co-leader and who has been a supporter and volunteer with our ministry since its beginning.

I have truly been touched as I have watched the gentleness, compassion, and joy of this group as the work with the children. I could not ask for a better team.

We spent today at Hermano Pedro loving the kids. We had a great time, but our day started rough. We arrived at the orphanage only to discover that they were throwing a party for the children. They had them gathered in a courtyard with music blaring and numerous people wearing cartoon like costumes with big heads dancing. Now, for a child coming from normal circumstances, this would have been great. But for a large number of the children who have suffered severe neglect and a lack of stimulation, this was simply terrifying. As I looked around at the faces of many of the kids I saw that a fear and daze had settled on them, and my heart broke.

To make matters worse, I saw numerous administrators, priests and local dignitaries walking among the children and having their photos taken with them. This would be fine if they were people who actually cared. But they were not. You never see them with the children at HP unless there are cameras around.

I confess, I wanted to rage at that moment. My first instinct was to cross the courtyard, kick over the sound system, and preach a sermon. However, since I speak very little Spanish and they speak very little English, I decided such an approach would be ineffective and open to “misinterpretation.”  So, instead, I chose to liberate my little buddy Louis, who was trembling in fear, and take him back to his ward for some quiet cuddling and soft singing. We had a wonderful time together. In addition, the rest of the team returned to the wards where there were numerous children who had not been brought out for the “celebration.” They spent the morning playing and cuddling with them.

The rest of the children returned to the wards around 11:30, so I quickly went through the procedure to check out some of them to take to Pollo Camperos for lunch. I told the team last night that I would only take 7 or 8 of the kids because of the work involved in getting them and their wheelchairs through town, ordering food for them, and taking care of their individual feedings. But, if I take Roberto I really need to take Diego. And if I take Diego I really need to take David. And, of course, I need to take my little buddy Ervin. And Henri would really enjoy the time out… So, I broke my promise and checked out nine of them. Whew! It was both wonderful and exhausting!

I sat next to Roberto who took great joy in smearing his sauces on my shirt and pants. I returned the favor by giving him war paint of sauces on his face. Someone (I won’t say who) started a paper airplane war. And the group made a large mess at the table set for 21. (I left a large tip as an apology to the waitresses.) About halfway through lunch we were joined by Dick Rutgers who ate with us and helped us on our journey back to the orphanage. And, of course, Dick became the largest trouble-maker of all! (if you know Dick you know how true this statement is!)

We returned to HP via Central Park where we splashed the kids with water and took a group photo in front of the large fountain. We got back just in time to love on the other kids who were looking a little dejected that we did not take them.

Diego, who went with us to lunch, had really been asking for my attention all afternoon. But I was somewhat preoccupied with Roberto and the sauce wars and Ervin, who sat across from me and played the war drums on the table. So he was ecstatic when I took him back to his bed and fed him his supper at the end of the day. Contrary to the photographic evidence, some of the food did make it into his mouth!

Below are some of the great images of our day. Please enjoy while praying for the children you see in them. Goodnight from Guatemala!