Spare Change

We are finishing up our third day, which included a return trip to Las Casitas, the all girls orphanage, as well as a trip to Nueva Esperanza, which is another orphanage off younger age kids. It was a blazing HOT day and one that had me both physically and mentally exhausted.

Our morning at Las Casitas was very productive. We were able to fellowship with the girls through futbol, manicures, and bible study. It was great to see the girls again, many who were quick to trash talk and tell us Americans that needed to work on our game!

After about passing out from the game, we shifted some of our focus to planting some trees. One of the goals of Justin and Ashleys is to develop and do ministry that will have a long term effect and help organizations, such as Las Casitas, sustain. In this case, the orphange was government funded an created, but is only budgeted for 60 girls. As of this morning there were over 130, which means they are trying to feed and house twice as many kids as they have room and food. Planting trees will hopefully help provide fruit in the future. It won’t help over night, but our prayer is that those trees will grow fast and bear much fruit!

After planting trees, when had a few more minutes to spend hanging out with the girls. One of the more difficult things for me this week has been handling my emotions and feelings about the level of injustice we are dealing with this week. Here we are hanging out at a orphanage of 130 girls, who are sleeping on 60 beds. There are kids 2 months old to 17 and very few adults around to monitor. I have had to try and put that behind me and just minister. The stories and smiles have been moving and the opportunity to share Gods love has been amazing.

For instance, meet Sandra.

She is a 17 year old girl who I struck up a friendship with on Sunday. Today, i got the chance to hear more of her story. She shared how she was a afraid to move to another facility, which at her age is likely. She told me how she used to do drugs, how here parents sent her, and how she dreams of having her own shop in a market one day. I had the incredible opportunity to pray with her. I prayed for her future, one which i prayed included Jesus as her Savior. It was a moment that I thanked God for letting me be a part of. God has a plan for Sandra, even though she might be dealing with injustice in her life. He can use her where she is.

One last pic from our morning.  Today has been difficult for me as I have really missed my little ones.  I miss getting to play capture “Doggy and Monkey” with Colby or watching Kallee sing.  Spending the day at two orphanage, both which had kids the same age, just reminded me of how blessed I am to be a father and how important a job that is.  I pray that Colby and Kallee are one day here with me playing and praying.  These two sweet girls were always quick to pose!

After Las Casitas, we headed over to Nueva Esperanza. Here our team conducted a VBS like afternoon, with bible study, crafts, worship and recreation! The kids were full of energy and jumped in quickly. While many of the team were tired, it was fun to watch as kids played baseball, swung in swings, and climbed all over an incredible playground.

Tomorrow looks to be just as busy, as the team heads to two schools and another attempt at Los Bordos. Please pray for good weather as rain severely hinders our ability to serve in Los Bordos.

God Bless!