So, yesterday we were able to go help out at a daycare that Buckner runs that is for the single mom's who are in their housing program. There were 8 little ones and three of them came from the baby home (orphans) and all had disabilities. After about 4 hours of that, we went to the baby home near by and only stayed for about 30 minutes. It was beautiful to see these kids in such a good home and being taken care of. When we were done there, we went to the Buckner Warehouse to help load some boxes of dried veggies to take to the homeless in the dump. That was the best part of the day. The man Amed who works for Buckner goes to the dump every single Monday to help serve them food but most of all to minister to them. I was so afraid to go because I knew they would be on drugs and it would smell bad and I can't stand any bad smells lately but I was truley blessed to have gone and same with Shawn.
We pulled up and unloaded the food into a small room where all of the people come on Mondays to get their food and here a Pastor minister to them. It started with worship and then the Pastor read the bible. Before any of this started though, the pastor went arond with a plastic bag and collected all of the bottles ofglue, pieces of cloth with glue. and any other drugs. It was exactly like so many movies I have seen that had made me sick to my stomach. More than half of the people who came where high and that is what broke my heart. You could look into their eyes and see nothing...saddness...they are all so lost. We helped pass out trays of food to them, took some pictures with a couple and watched one dance for a while. We also went into one of the "homes" at the dump. It was by far the worst situation I have ever ever seen. Amed is such a special man to minister to these people even when he knows they don't hear him and cannot pay attention to what he is saying...he still goes.
Today...! We got picked up at 7am and didn't get home until 7pm...it was a long but amazing day. We first went to an ADP office in our sponsored children's commmunity. We met some of the board members who are ladies from the community and looked around the office. Then we went to Gilma's house. I was car sick by the time we were there but after walked 15 minutes to get to her actual home, I was fine. The roads weren't even roads...piles of hard dirt I would say.
Her house was beautiful! It was only her mom and her there and then they also invited her aunt to join us. I don't have anough spcae here to tell you all how great it was to be there with them and how sweet they both were. The mom at one point started crying and was thanking us for the last time we gave them money. She said it came at the right time because she had no money to buy clothes or anything for her daughter and she didn't know what to do. It broke my heart, our little gift of maybe $150 was such a huge blessing for their family. Gilma was adorable, asked me quesions like when were we going to come back again! She showed me the dresser they bought with the money I sent and the clothes she was wearing were from that also. We brought gifts for all of them and they were so greatful! I will stop writing about it now because this would go on forever but honestly...it was the best part of this trip so far.
Next we went to Oscar's home. I was able to go last year with Angela as well so it was neat to see his family for the second time! Oscar was much more comfortable with me this time too. Angela, he asked where his "Tia" was! We asked alot of questions about their water, their home, school, what their biggest needs are and so on. It was another great visit and once again, I left feeling that they blessed Shawn and I so much.
Now we are back and both ready for bed at 8pm! Tomorrow we will take a bus to Xela (about 4 hour ride) from 8am-12pm which will leave us time to still visit the orphanage in Xela and the SOS home too! PLease pray for safe traveles!
BY the way...Shawn is amazing!