You’ll never be the same…
Posted by cindy on July 18, 2008
Cristo Viene Girls' Home
Elvira hugging Nicol
When I called my mother and told her that Reed and I were going on a mission trip to Bolivia she said, “You’ll never be the same.” I wasn’t quite sure what she meant until I had spent a week at a Bolivian Girls’ Home.
Adreana (standing on the far left in the picture above) is a missionary from our church in Virginia. She asked us to come help out last summer. Five members from our church volunteered to go. We asked her what she wanted us to do while we were there. She gave us several suggestions, but mainly she just wanted us to “love on the girls”. That suggestion didn’t sound like a very important job. I thought you were supposed to go on a mission trip to witness about Jesus. I found out that loving was just as important as witnessing. Some of the girls are orphans; some have been abused; some of them had to leave home because their parent(s) couldn’t afford to support them. All of them need love.
On the first day in Santa Cruz, each of us gave our testimonies about Jesus, which were interpreted in Spanish. We offered each girl a Spanish Bible. They only took one if they didn’t already have one of their own. We also brought a new set of sheets for each girl. Marcee’ and Adreana, the two directors at the girls’ home, told them that they would receive the new sheets after they washed the old ones. They had to wash the sheets by hand and hang them out to dry. The old sheets were given to the poor people. We thought that we were already giving sheets to the “poor people”, but I guess it’s a matter of perspective.
Several times we took the girls to a nearby soccer field to play softball. They had never played the game, but they caught on really fast. Before long the boys who were playing soccer joined us in playing softball. They had a great time! After the game we gave them Spanish tracts about Jesus. They eagerly read them and took them home. They didn’t throw any of them on the ground. In fact, I was surprised that everytime we offered people these religious tracts they immediately started reading them, whether it was a passenger on a bus, a cab driver or the military police standing in the town square. We told them in Spanish that it was a gift for them. They seemed very appreciative.
The girls loved having their pictures taken. Elvira wanted to have her picture taken with Reed and me, pretending that she was our “hija” (daughter). Then another girl wrapped her arms around me and wanted to be another “hija” in the picture. We became attached to several of the girls. We were very sad when we learned that Elvira had run away from the children’s home a couple of weeks after we returned home. Adreana said that they found her working in a family’s home. I hope she’s okay.
We took a different group of girls out to eat almost every night. This activity was a special treat. They have very little variety in their meals. We took the younger ones to La Dumba. It was like a McDonald’s, but dirtier. The play area was very small and needed several repairs. While we were eating, a large light fixture fell next to our table. Needless to say, La Dumba wouldn’t have passed an O.S.H.A inspection. We went to several restaurants with the other girls, but La Dumba was the worst. The girls didn’t notice any of the problems we saw. They had a great time!
Ann, the other lady on the mission team, and I did some craft activities with the girls. Three of the girls gave me the Bible bookmarks that they had made. I thought they would want to keep them since they had so little. Elvira wrote on her bookmark (in Spanish), “The girls love you very much. To Cindy. From Elvira.” She was always practicing her English on me while I practiced my Spanish on her.
The girls really enjoyed reading the Spanish Bible stories we brought them. They would sit as close to us as they could. The little girls would climb up in our laps. They laughed when we tried to read to them and stumbled over the Spanish words. They loved looking at the picture albums of our families. Adreana told us to be careful selecting our pictures. She didn’t want us to show our houses or cars. It wouldn’t be polite to show off our “wealth” when the girls had so little. None of the team is wealthy by American standards, but Bolivians would think differently.
One little four-year-old girl named Nicol had a skin disease on her scalp and had her head shaved. Adreana said that the the infection was gone, but she still sprinkled a white powder on her scalp to make sure. One day I found Nicol crying. I think God was testing me. I am very germ-conscious, especially after taking Microbiology in college. I went over to her and picked her up to console her, trying to ignore the powder in her hair. She snuggled in my arms while I talked to her, trying to remember a little Spanish. I asked the other girls why Nicol was crying. They said that someone was teasing her and calling her by the name of her ”amigo” (boyfriend). She quickly recovered and started playing with her friends again.
The three men on the mission team also read stories and showed them their family pictures in their free time. They did some repairs on the childrens’ home. Reed and Ann worked in the small garden located in the courtyard of the childrens’ home one afternoon. When we returned home Adreana said that the girls took some of the plants to the “poor” people. They are always thinking of others.
Mom was right. I’ll never be the same again. For years I supported missions by praying for missionaries, supporting them financially, inviting them to speak at our church and taking them home afterwards, teaching GA’s (a girls’ mission group), and serving as a member of the missions’ committee at church. All of those activities were fun, but there is no greater joy than going on the mission field and serving with the missionary.
Fabiola
