To Peru and back
First, lets start with how after all the planning and waiting and excitement, the trip almost got cancelled!! My dad went into the hospital on April 12th, just 9 days before we were scheduled to leave! and thru miscommunications between the 2 hospitals he was in, he didn't get transferred til the 16th and the angio test wasn't done til the 17th! He finally was released on the 18th, just 3 short days before mom and I get on a plane for Peru!! He went in because the defibulater worked again. It shocked him. Apparently, he is one of minority of people who will have arrythemea (sp?) the rest of his life, which terrifies him, because the defib going off is very very painful. But I had so many people praying that mom and I would still be able to go to Peru and that dad would be find and God is great and merciful, and let us have that special trip together. My dad is still scared, but is otherwise fine.
Mom keeps telling people it wasn't a vacation, but an adventure! They are so poor there, and so connected to God there, sometimes I wish we had simplicity in our lives, no ipods, computers, tvs, nintendos and the 1,000's of THINGS that drown out God's voice.
The girl I sponsor there, Jenifer, had one real possession, her pet dove. Her pet, that she loved. And she wanted to give it to me!! how amazingly sweet and generous of her. Of course, I was relieved that the compassion staff explained to her that she couldn't do that and that she left the bird at home!! She is an awesome big sister and helped her mom all day long with her baby sister Sarai. She's 10 mths old. The family left the mountains when Jenifer was 15 days old because in the middle of the guerilla warfare, soldiers beat up her father and stabbed him (he's fine, he has an ice cream cart) They live on the side of a sand hill in a small house (2-3 rooms) with dirt floors and plywood walls. No electricity, no water. She is 9 now, and has never lived in a house with electricity!! The community is almost 10 years old, when that happens, they can work on getting the gov't to run water and electric lines to the "town" and after 10 years of squatting they can own the land. There are 4 kids and 2 adults living there, in that tiny place. Some of the visit was so sad, like the woman who has flimsy walls and gang members knocking them down all the time to try to get at her daughters. Some was amazing like the 15 year old kid who is in the leadership development program that Compassion has who was in his second year of college and spoke awesome English, a mind that would have been lost if not for Compassion!!
God bless
Mom keeps telling people it wasn't a vacation, but an adventure! They are so poor there, and so connected to God there, sometimes I wish we had simplicity in our lives, no ipods, computers, tvs, nintendos and the 1,000's of THINGS that drown out God's voice.
The girl I sponsor there, Jenifer, had one real possession, her pet dove. Her pet, that she loved. And she wanted to give it to me!! how amazingly sweet and generous of her. Of course, I was relieved that the compassion staff explained to her that she couldn't do that and that she left the bird at home!! She is an awesome big sister and helped her mom all day long with her baby sister Sarai. She's 10 mths old. The family left the mountains when Jenifer was 15 days old because in the middle of the guerilla warfare, soldiers beat up her father and stabbed him (he's fine, he has an ice cream cart) They live on the side of a sand hill in a small house (2-3 rooms) with dirt floors and plywood walls. No electricity, no water. She is 9 now, and has never lived in a house with electricity!! The community is almost 10 years old, when that happens, they can work on getting the gov't to run water and electric lines to the "town" and after 10 years of squatting they can own the land. There are 4 kids and 2 adults living there, in that tiny place. Some of the visit was so sad, like the woman who has flimsy walls and gang members knocking them down all the time to try to get at her daughters. Some was amazing like the 15 year old kid who is in the leadership development program that Compassion has who was in his second year of college and spoke awesome English, a mind that would have been lost if not for Compassion!!
God bless
posted by katiescarlet at 2:33 PM
2 Comments:
I just came across your blog in tracking a link to a search page, which had led someone to my own blog. I am also a Compassion sponsor (as well as a Volunteer Area Coordinator in the Advocates Network) and have made two sponsors tours to the Dominican Republic.
Those tours really are life-changers. Each time, when I've returned, even friends at church ask me if I had "a good time." Well, yes, but--as your mom says--it wasn't a vacation! And some of it is downright depressing.
But there are also the blessings--the day with our kids, the visits to projects that are making a real difference, the connection with other sponsors and with Compassion staff from both countries. And, yes, seeing some of the students who have done so well and are now in the LDP confirms that Compassion is doing so much that is right.
I hope your dad continues to get along all right. It never occurred to me that a debfibrillator would cause pain. I'm not a fan of pain, anywhere, but in my heart would not be my first choice!
God bless!
You are one special lady.
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