eXchange

Today is the most difficult day of the week.  We’ve spent 3 days with the boys at San Gabriel, and we’ve watched them go from fighting with each other and posturing for status in the group to softening with us and opening up to receive our love.  We knew that this day would be our last with them and that the good-byes would be hard.  We didn’t know how challenging it would be.

We woke to find out that a couple of our team had been sick all night, and several others of us were various stages of queasy.  The sickest stayed in for the morning to rest with the hope that they’d feel well enough to join us mid-day.  The rest went to the boys’ home to repair chairs and tables and help in the kitchen and laundry.  We gave gifts to the staff, the ladies who work so hard for these boys.  The ladies in the laundry offered to sing us a song as thanks for our gifts.  Jay and Dave had "help" from Ambrosio and Isaias in using the tools to fix the chairs.  In the meantime, our prayers had been answered in that those who felt ill were well enough to join us for the afternoon.

Joanna prayed a strong prayer, claiming this day and this orphanage for the Lord, praying against Satan and the sickness we had been feeling.  We entered boldly to share more of God’s love with them.  We prayed with them, talked about forgiveness, sang songs, and pour as much love and attention as we possibly could in the time we had left.  We each met at least one boy who captured our hearts.  For me, it was the trouble-maker from the first moment in our group.  Humberto was mouthy and disrespectful, cutting off the other boys, and acting like he was the ruler of this particular kingdom.  Somewhere in the week, I invited him to play frisbee, and by the end of the day today, I had my arms around him and tears in my eyes.  Part of our team passed out gifts to the boys in assembly line fashion, and Humberto said that he wanted it to be me who handed him the gift.  And my heart broke.

We all left today with broken hearts; hearts broken for the things God loves.  We are transformed by our experiences this week, and we don’t quite know what we’ll look like when we fully understand and integrate the magnitude of it all.  What we do know is that God highly values the care of orphans (James 1:27), and that it is a beautiful thing to be in the midst of His presence when we do that which He is so passionate about.

-Jody