Beauty Revealed in Tragedy

Greetings!

I hope all is well with you! I have had a busy and strenuous last month and a half, in which I've felt a vast array of emotions.

One event in particular really rocked my world- emotionally, physically and spiritually. Alejandra arrived to the Casa Hogar the second Tuesday in February, starved for food and human contact. I cannot say for sure, but we think she was kept in a cage by her parents for a large part of her seven years of life. My first response to this severely malnourished, unpotty-trained, handicapped little girl was shock. It felt like being face-to-face with a holocaust survivor or a child from the commercials about starving African children. The shock never went away, but this precious forgotten one did begin to steal my heart immediately, despite the great burden she was physically to take care of and the great emotional pain it caused me to think of her being so alone, so uncared for, so stripped of human dignity for so long.

As we always do, I began to scream out to God. How could he let this happen? Amazingly, a Bible study I attend talked about this theme of heart-wrenching suffering in our world and God's response during the week she was with us. We read in 1 John 4 and 5 about the great love of God and how it is His plan to overcome the evil in the world through empowering those who accept His love to love others and serve them.

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
1 Jn. 4:11-12

"This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." 1 Jn. 5:3-4

So the next day, when I went to give Alejandra her bath, I saw her tiny, malnourished body and struggled to try to make her look at me or understand what I was saying (she had almost no verbal skills), and I grew angry. "Why God?" I asked. "How will you make this right?" Then I had this slightly out-of-body experience as I saw my own hands reaching out to bathe her. I realized that God was giving this child a warm bath through me! He was using my hands to contact her, to comfort her, to start to heal her. Then it made more sense. God moved mountains to bring me to this intersection with Alejandra. Of course, He has a long way to go to make things right for her, but this is the way He has chosen in his sovereignty: to love her and forgotten ones like her through His children, those who have surrendered their own wills to His. Just as He won't force His love on us, He won't force us to love, but His beckoning to us to love, serve and act on behalf of others is His chosen way of loving the world. So I am learning to trust that His ways are higher and better than mine, even though I feel so unequipped and inadequate to be Him to others. Alejandra stayed with us for a week and then was placed in another home by the DIF. Please pray with me for her continued healing and redemption.

Another heavy burden recently was the story of Adrian. He is a 10 year old boy who has been in our Casa for around 5 years. He ran away twice and was then sent to a Casa Hogar in another city. This happened while I was away with my family, so I didn't even get to say goodbye. "Asi es la vida" in this kind of work. It has been hard, but I have heard that he was placed in a good Home with plenty of resources, so that's something to be thankful for. Please pray that he holds on to the Lord through this transition and finds the love and attention that he so desperately needs.

As I mentioned before, my family came to visit me the last week in February. I was so grateful that God provided for my Aunt, Uncle, Mom, Dad and sister to all come to see me! We had such a wonderful time seeing the sites, talking and traveling together. By far the best thing we saw was the Monarch butterfly sanctuary. We traveled up the mountain on horseback and found ourselves surrounded by millions of yellow and black butterflies. It was like a very beautiful dream, or a magical childhood fantasy come to life! I've posted some pictures so you can check it out. We have an incredibly beautiful God who created an incredibly beautiful world!

After my family left, I was a little depressed at the thought of 5 more months without them, so it was great that my sister's sister-in-law, Julia, decided to sacrifice her senior year Spring Break to come help me for a week in the Casa. We had a blast talking, playing with the kids, going for tacos and seeing a few sites in Morelia. She even helped me organize the clothes room again!

Also in February, I have been doing the Bible Studies with the older girls. These have been going really well, and I think the girls genuinely enjoy them, which was my goal. (While I was gone with my family, we didn't do them and they have been asking, "When are we going to do another study?" so that is encouraging.) Thank you for your prayers regarding the studies.

I will be leaving the Casa on April 30th to go back to Mexico City to prepare for the summer program, so you can pray that in this next month and a half, I would finish well. I still love it here, but sometimes I feel exhausted and in "survival mode." Please pray that God will give me a positive attitude, energy and constantly strengthen me through His Spirit to keep loving these kids and the staff here at the Casa.

Please also pray with me that God would raise up more long-term staff. While I was gone with my family for a week, the other staff felt a huge burden fall to them because just one staff was gone. The children lack attention and supervision more than any other resource. If you are interested in coming or know someone who might be, please contact me and I'll be happy to answer questions and/or put you in contact with the teacher/volunteer coordinator (who speaks English).

Thanks for all your continued prayers and support.

Dios te bendiga. (God bless you.)

Love!