I would advise you to get comfortable as this update is kinda long...I can't believe I actually wrote so much. :-)
Today we arose at 7:30am for Breakfast. We started with prayer. After prayer we all got ready and travelled with Les to one of the schools here (Chijacorral). This school is a Middle School as well as a High School. They were getting it ready for school to begin (which was soon). This building also houses their medical clinic. There we met a husband (Walter) and wife (Cathy). Cathy is a Doctor. We heard from them both about how pleased they were about the clinic. It is actually quite nice. They have a number of exam rooms as well as a Pharmacy. There is also a dental chair and dental xray unit in a room waiting to be installed.
We went up to a room in the school and met the Principal of the school, her name is Evelyn. We heard her story of her life and about how tough it had been. She spoke of attending the school and Impact Ministries had setup. She now speaks of her Love of God and thanks Les and Rita for helping her during her tough times and her journey to God. Her story was so emotional and heartfelt. I am pretty sure we were all crying, but in the end we were all smiling due to her success.
After leaving the school we went to a new building site where Impact Ministries has bought land to build another new complex. This site will have Bible Chapel as well as a school that will give the kids that graduate from High school an opportunity to continue their studies of God and Scripture and perhaps some day become Missionaries themselves. The hope is that by teaching these people (Guatemalan's) an even higher understanding of God then they already know that someday they can go out abroad and teach the word of God to more of their own people or perhaps even Muslams. The thought is that hearing about God may be more accepted coming from people of the same colour. They are hoping to build parking for something like 3000 vehicles, very optimistic according to Les. :-)
We then left here and went to Les and Rita's for tea. (yes I drank it! ;-)) It was a lemon tea. Les and Rita told us a bit of their family and of their adopted son Tim, who is Guatemalan and his story of how they received him. After tea we went back to our house in Tactic for lunch.
After lunch Karren (Activity Host) spoke to us about the home visits we were about to do. We then left for our home visits. I have to say that what we experienced over the next number of hours was both shocking and amazing. These people although appear to have nothing, they have great Love for God and family. We had some very tough walking up the mountains to get to these families. The trails were very steep and muddy in many places. At times you had to wonder what we were doing there but once we reached the homes it would soon become apparent as to why we were there. Each sponsor would meet their sponsor child and their family. We had an interprator named Heber (who also came up through Impact) who translated for us. At the end of the visit we would give a food box (due to our gifts not arriving) and then we would pray with them. We would sing sometimes as well. It is amazing to hear these mothers tell us that they pray for us always and that they wish us success and all of God's Blessings. At our second last stop we did like all other and at the end we prayed. To me this prayer was different because the mother prayed with us. Although I don't understand Spanish, hearing the mother praying was nothing short of life altering. She prayed so hard and with so much emotion, we cried with her.
After this visit we worked our way down the mountain to our vehicles. Heber, Cassie, Sarah, Christina and myself got to the vehicles first. When we got there, there were a number of kids sitting there and playing. Heber had a small boy on his knee and was going over his list for our next visit. He asked me where Wilma was. I said she was still making her way down the mountain. I seen his list and pointed to my name and said that is me. He looked at me with surprise and said, "oh, you are the sponsor", I said yes. He then looked at the little boy and said something. He then looked at me and said Jose. I said yes Jose is my sponsor child. Heber looked at me and said, "no, this is Jose!!!"...LOL I was shocked. Here I was standing in front of my sponsor child. I have to admin I didn't know what to say. Here was this little brown eyed boy staring at me and I am dumb founded. Eventually I started playing with him. Soon all the rest of the team showed up and found out what was going on. Everyone started taking pictures. I picked up Jose and we all made our way to his house. I carried him pretty much most of the way. I was getting very tired from carrying him so I tried to put him down, but he would not let go. :-) I eventually got him down and we walked the rest of the way holding hands. He talked to me all the way to the house, but of course I had no idea what he was saying. We made it to his house and with the help of Heber I spoke to his mother. I told them about my family at home, the kids and their ages. I told them how Blessed I felt to be there to see them. The mother said she felt blessed for us to have come so far. I gave them the food box and then we all gathered in the house and I led prayer for them. Since this really was the first time I tried to pray openly it was awkward for me but I did it. When prayer was finished I got my picture taken with Jose and his family. Jose during most of the visit was in my arms holding me like I was his Dad. I wasn't trying to put him down so this 'hold' was genuine. I held him in my arms and he put his head on my shoulder and sucked on the lace to my hoodie. i have to wonder if he gets hugs from his Father?
We all made our way back to the vans. At the vans the group starting commenting and asked about my experience. I lost it trying to explain it.....Graham came over and hugged me and cried with me. I have to say it was an amazing moment in my life I will never forget. To meet this family and to know I can make a difference in their lives with my sponsorship is very special. We went back to our house and had supper.
After supper we had a debrief with Les. He had a number of questions for us but we ended with a question about a moment that touched our hearts today. I explained about Evelyn's story, about the mother that we prayed for, but mostly I spoke about meeting Jose and his family. I bawled through the whole thing and I had everyone else crying as well. When they came to Graham he started crying right away. After a short time he said for him it was when we were in my sponsor childs house praying for them. He said to hear me pray knowing how hard it is for me was an awesome heart moment for him. We sang some songs then made our way to bed. Tomorrow we work.....
*****Update****
I was awoken from my sleep by the sound of voices and vehicles outside. It was just after 11pm. This is not totally unusual except for the fact I could hear English!! I got up an met Graham in the hallway. Our bags had
arrived!! It was like Christmas, only better. As I have told a number of people here. It is not that we invested alot in the bags, it's more that we would not be able to leave the items here with the people that need them.
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