Thursday, October 6, 2011

Faithful


This is a descriptive essay that I wrote for my College Writing class.  The subject of my essay focused in on my sponsorship of Aymar this summer in Peru with Inca Link International.  I hope this will help to better draw you into my experience! Enjoy :)

            I pulled the covers up and over my head as the sound of a cheap, tropical ring tone sounded, waking me from my sweet sleep yet another morning.  I couldn’t bring myself to move my body or place my bare feet on the cold, cement floor.  The mornings at the Albergue Children’s Home were always chilly, and today that seemed especially true.  Chills overtook my body as I sat up, wrapped myself in the bed covers and crouched beneath the bunk above me.  The crisp, Peruvian breeze fluttered through the curtains.  I hastily slid the window shut, dropped back in bed and squinted to read the time.  Realizing it was an early Saturday morning, I turned my alarm off and rolled back over in bed.  I painfully pulled my knees into my nauseous stomach and it wasn’t long before my exhausted body fell into another deep sleep.  The door creaked open; half-asleep I heard the sound of bare feet tip-toeing across the floor toward my bed.  Stretching my body, I yawned and scooted to a sitting position beneath my bunk.  Jessica and Cindy, a couple of amigas I was interning with, plopped down next to me. Both of their hands were full as they sat down; Jessica handed me a cup of hot, Manzanilla tea, and Cindy offered me some saltine crackers to ease my nausea.  It was officially day number two that I was confined to bed.  Sickness had overtaken my ability to get up and lead my eager short-term mission team and be with my precious, Peruvian children.
            Sitting cross-legged on my bottom bunk, Jessica, Cindy and I reminisced on the past couple of months. We laughed as we recalled our late nights on the roof and our attempts to build a fire beneath the flawless, star-filled sky.  Our eyes filled with tears as we were humbled by the work that the Lord had accomplished through us while leading our teams:  He opened eyes to the sickening reality of this broken world, foundations were dug and walls were built for the children’s home, Peruvian people were reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We sat in unbelief at the realization that our time together was rapidly coming to a close.  Throughout the summer we had become a family. Together, we lived in the ministry, loved on the Peruvian children in the daycare, did back-wrenching construction, saw brokenness as the “least of these” rummaged through piles of garbage to support their families and watched as selfless people come thousands of miles away to pour out their love to complete strangers. 
One particular ministry that we worked with stood out to the three of us, La Guarderia: The Daycare. Each time we arrived seventy children would dash to the barred windows as the bus came to a stop in front of the building. Every child in the building shouted in one unified song, “Gringooooos!” and as we crouched through the small metal door, we were mobbed with love as the children ran to embrace us. It was in this moment that we felt pure joy, delight, and a love that will never leave the forefront of our minds.  Some clean, and others covered in dirt, these children were cared for with the support of sponsors. The difference between the children who attended the daycare and those who weren’t yet sponsored was their bright eyes, and smiles so big and contagious that you questioned whether they could grin any larger.  They had hope. 
These memories were stored in my mind like a picture book, and as I recalled them, my heart became burdened as I turned to a specific picture - a picture of brokenness, hopelessness, hurt and longing:  Deep brown eyes as big as saucers, looked from the outside of the building in, a three-year old girl clung tightly to the metal bars that covered the windows, “broken and longing” written all over her face.  Her gaze was fixed on what was inside.  Children - riding on the backs and shoulders of the gringos, laughing with joy and contentment, singing their Spanish Vacation Bible School songs as they skipped around the room, hands tightly threaded together with an American girl or boy and sitting down to eat food specially prepared for their little tummies.   Aymar, the younger sister of a girl in the daycare, knew that she wasn’t allowed to come inside.  She hadn’t been sponsored yet. 
As I drew this picture from my mind, my heart broke, tears welled up in my eyes and what the Lord had been impressing on my heart was finally being made clear.  I sat on my bed, surrounded by the compassionate love of my two amigas, pivoted my body, set my feet on the cold, cement floor and said to them, “I have to go back.”  Running around the corner I doubled back and grabbed my towel for a quick shower.  There was no time to waste.  As the ice-cold water streamed through my hair, chills ran up and down my back, “Sponsoring Aymar is a big commitment, Hannah.  Are you sure you want this?” I questioned myself.  Hastily I turned the water off, wrapped my towel tightly around myself and scurried back to my room. 
Quickly calling the woman in charge of the daycare, I shared what God had impressed on my heart when He brought to mind the picture of Aymar’s face behind those barred windows.  The woman agreed to meet me after lunch at the blue, daycare doors.  Stooping through the small door, we entered into the tiny office space.  There I was given instructions to search for Aymar and bring both her and her mother to the daycare.  Nervous and a bit overwhelmed by the idea, I stepped out, and entered into the garbage dump community.  People in this village were covered in the nauseating smell of burning garbage.  I began my search and spotted Aymar’s older sister, Lupita, in the distance, I knew she could lead me to their shack.  As she aimlessly wandered through the garbage on the dirt path, I called out to her in my best Spanish, “Lupita! Tienes una hermana, no?! Quiero madremar ella hoy! Donde esta su casa?” I questioned if she had a sister and whether she could lead me to their house.  Only two years older than her sister, Lupita grasped my hand and led me through the village to their shack.  We finally arrived and my joyful, three-year old Aymar came running to the door to greet me.  Her face lit up, and a smile radiated through all the dirt on her face as I told her that I wanted to be her sponsor.  Aymar and Lupita’s mother came to the door. Although she had two babies, she was hardly more than a baby herself.  I shared with her my desire to sponsor her youngest daughter and she agreed to walk down to the daycare with me.   As I took Aymar’s hand in mine, the four of us strolled down the dirt road back toward the daycare. 
Along with the Daycare staff, we all crammed into the small office space to figure out the logistics of the sponsorship.  My heart skipped a beat in excitement and then silently cried out to God in thanksgiving for the joy that I could now give this precious, little girl.  I sat in anticipation as the Daycare staff discussed the sponsorship in Spanish.  I was too overjoyed to translate what they were saying.  I took Aymar’s sponsorship photo for the website, then gently placed Aymar on my lap as we anticipated the news.
The joy, excitement, and smiles abruptly took a sharp turn in the opposite direction when the staff grew silent and the woman in charge of the daycare solemnly looked deep into my eyes and voiced that I was no longer able to sponsor Aymar.  No details, simply, that I couldn’t sponsor her.  My eyes welled up with tears and I began to question the Lord and what He had laid on my heart.  I held in the tears as best I could, took a deep breath in, and asked one simple question. “Tell me one thing,” I said. “I don’t understand why Lupita is able to be sponsored in the daycare and Aymar can’t be.” Those in the room looked at each other, not knowing the answer to my modest question.  I left the room, and they discussed that question, seeking out the answer for minutes that seemed like hours.
The door creaked open, and Lisa, the woman in charge, slowly walked over to me as I sat on the dirty floor, head bowed, lifting my requests and anxieties before the Lord.  She picked me up from where I was sitting, looked deep into my eyes once more, this time with a new light in her eyes, and told me that I was able to sponsor Aymar.  My heart welled up within me and silently cried out, “Lord, you are faithful!” Now my precious Aymar would not only be given water to sustain her physical body, but Living Water that would sustain her little spirit and supply her with everything that I would never be able to give her! 

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Thanks For all of Your Support!


I know this is a bit late, but this was the letter that I sent out to everyone who supported me during my summer in Peru! - 


Pricilla and I
There and back.  Trujillo, Peru 2011.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support that made it possible for me to have a life-changing experience this summer in Peru.  I wouldn’t have traded the time I spent in Trujillo for anything. 

This summer was full of so many exciting, stretching and growing experiences where God opened my eyes to the world around me and broadened my perspective of His love.  This summer I saw the love of Our Father, God through the beauty of the Peruvian people and their hearts for their own community. 

As an intern, my main ministry this summer was to lead short-term teams that came down from the USA.  During the weeks that we had teams we would do construction in the morning at the Children’s Home (Albergue) where 72 children from the community will soon live and be fully cared for.  We made cement for footers, a driveway and walls for what will one day be a building where the children can learn skills such as cooking, playing music and building.  We made bricks by hand, which contributed to the 300,000 that they’ll need in the end to build a wall around Inca Link’s entire property.  We did a lot of other jobs such as bending rebar, digging lots of trenches, and leveling things over and over and over again.  It was amazing to see the progress throughout the summer and to remind myself and my teams that although it might not look like much right now, 72 children will one day be running around the property that we we’re pouring our love and time into.

Each afternoon we would either have a double construction day, or we would go to Inca Link’s other ministry sites.   One of which was the Trujillo Dump.  At the dump there are hundreds of people and families that dig through the garbage day and night to find things of value like bottles, plastics and glass, food for their animals and themselves, and clothes.  On Saturdays we have an adult and children’s program that is run by the Peruvian ladies from America Sur Alliance.  Their goal is to reach the people in the Dump with the Word of God.  People meet in a shack to hear about the Gospel.  Inca Link is now partnering with the Alliance churches in Trujillo to raise $30,000 to build a building in the dump to better reach these forgotten people.

Aymar Clarita Cruz Luna
Another ministry that Inca Link has started in the last several years is their Daycare in the Victor Raul Garbage Dump Community.  The Guarderia (Daycare) was built by short-term mission teams and now has around 80 kids in attendance who are able to attend because they are being sponsored each month.  We took our teams to the Daycare to do a VBS and to love on the kids.  On my days off, I would spend my time there with these kids.  I absolutely loved the kids in the Daycare and they became so close to my heart throughout the summer.  During the summer I got to know a little, three-year-old girl named Aymar.  She wasn’t sponsored, so she was never allowed in the building.  By the end of the summer God put on my heart to sponsor this little girl so that she too could learn about the love that Jesus has for her, have fresh drinking water, food, and the opportunity to be clean like the rest of the children. The love I have for those kids in the dump and in Peru is so huge, and I would love to give them the world, but we have a God who is able to provide in ways that I will never be able to provide for those kids, a God who is able to touch their lives and mold them into beautiful people who long for Him and yearn for His movement in their own lives.  These people have a hunger and thirst that I can never quench or provide for.  But in this world I am an instrument of the living God, “I am only a pencil in the hands of God, it is He who writes the story.” This summer God chose me to be his hands and his feet in Peru.  To be a leader for the teams that came down from the States so that they too might see how God is moving in Peru.  He chose me to be the hands to pick up all those precious, little children in the Daycare and hug and kiss them as if they were my own, to let them know that they are loved.  To let them know that they are known and not forgotten.  I so wish that I could always be there for those kids, but God called me for the summer to love. I learned that I can stand and let the light of Christ shine through me as I humble myself to be his hands and feet and serve as He served us.  I can point people in the direction of our Heavenly Father who provides for all of our needs and their needs and who can give them everything that I will never be able to give.  God has blessed me, He’s blessed us, for His Glory! He’s blessed us so that the nations will know Him and see His glory! 

There’s so much more that I wish I could write.  God did so many beautiful things this summer.  Psalm 113 was often on my heart.  I lived in the middle of the desert and was able to see God bring restoration to broken people.  These people may be poor physically, but they don’t even consider themselves poor because they are so rich in Spirit.  They would often say that they are content because they have the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is all they need.  These people get it. 

“Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.  From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.  The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.  Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.”  -Psalm 113:2-8