How I saw God: Every single day we had awesome weather of our sites! And I saw God in the kids' faces. Some of them may not have had a real relationship with God, but watching them come to site with duct taped shoes, or untreated lice, or simply driving through their village, or meeting children abandoned by mothers, the people who were supposed to love them the most, those children have every reason to be angry and sad and some may be, but most of the children I saw were the happiest kids you will ever meet in your life, and that is definitely a God thing. And this was a huge eye opener for me, despite the major losses or illnesses or just lack of necessities or love, these kids smiled, and they were happy. And that's what I need to learn, that at the end of the week I get to go home on the plane and live a pretty comfortable life, I get to leave that country, and I don't have to stay in the poverty-stricken towns, but those kids have to stay there, probably for their whole life, and all in all, I probably complain more about my life than they do. And that's a major way God worked in me. Most challenging thing: I would say I'm a person that wants to control things, not always in a bad way, but most of the time I know what I want, and I think I know the right way to get it done. And it was very challenging for me to go into this situation and simply love these children, without taking "heroic" action. I had to Love them how they need to be loved and not how I want to love them, or what was comfortable for me. I sat there for 30 minutes to an hour, in the same position holding three different bracelets for girls as they braided them. The pins and needles were HORRIBLE when I finally stood up, but that's what they needed from me at the moment. Just someone to sit with them. It wasn't comfortable for me, at all! But it's the way they needed my help, and that's why I was there, to help them. How to sum up my trip: This trip was an incredible experience for me. The moment our plane touched down I fell completely in love with the country and the moment I saw the children I fell in love with them. I was challenged to help people how they needed and not how I wanted and I had to sometimes look stupid while speaking Spanish to try to form a relationship with a child, and that's not comfortable. These kids had nothing, but they were some of the happiest and most loving and joyful kids I have ever met in my life and I will never forget this week. |