Sorry about the delay in blogging about my Mexico trip...I caught a bug I can't seem to get rid of, but I am on the up and up. Everyone I talk to told me this trip would change my life and I didn't believe it until I actually lived it. It is one thing to SEE poverty it is a completely different situation when you put yourself in the middle of poverty! I told my brother yesterday I will probably never be able to vacation in Mexico again because of the fact that I am aware of what surrounds the tourist areas and the need that these people have. To the right are the people I traveled with got to know and became to love. We set out on a week long adventure to help children that have been left by there family and landed on a trip where we learned so much that I can't even be able to explain. Theses children taught me so much about happiness, love, and worth then I had learned in an entire lifetime. They just wanted to be loved....and around every corner my assumptions were proven wrong.
The first home we visited I fell in love with a little girl named Xiemna....
she was full of life and all she wanted to do was eat play doe. We began our relationship with me telling her No...no bueno. I am sure this is something a little girl her age is not thrilled to hear. As the day progressed I spin her around we played chase and we made one of her friend who rarely smiles Gabe burst out in laughter. It was a life changing moment for me. A couple days later we got to go to an animal park with this home and I was kind of disappointed that that babies would not be going because that is where I had connected the most....God did his magic and the Babies came with us. Even though this little one was sick she had the time of her life. I have never seen a little one be so brave! It broke my heart each time I had to leave her at the end of the day she would cry and cry and all I wanted to do was bring her home with me.
The next day we went to a place called Rio3 it was a shanty village made up of swatters. We were taking a tour of the area and this little girl came up to me as we were walking and grabbed my hand...her name was Veronica and here she can be seen eating the food that we gave them that day. She was a precious little girl.
The girls shown here in the red shirt spent the entire walk back playing with a balloon with me....she showed me how to keep myself cool and she giggled as she told me grande, grande...she wanted me to blow it up bigger.
There
were little houses a far as the eye could see and they had no indoor restrooms, but they were the happiest people I have ever met. There were two ladies who had lost their legs to poor circumstances and as we walked through their house I thought to myself "they must think this is a circus with the Americano's parading through their House." My perspective did a one eighty when the sister started to pray for us and tell us how thankful she was that we took time to visit their home....that we were their family and they love the fact that we took time out of our day to think of them. It was such an interesting perspective that I had never experienced before. Two days later their house along with most of the other houses were destroyed by Hurricane Alex. Even in the mist of all the damage and inconvenience they had those two women were still giving grace to God!!! They had so little, but it was an advantage for them. I think that too many times we as Americans feel so entitled to everything when the truth is we are spoiled rotten BRATS! We have every convenience known to man and yet we find reason to complain.
The next few days the rain came down as I have never seen it come down before. Our dorms were flooded, we were ankle deep in sewer water, sweeping the water out of the building as fast as we could, and no reason to believe that we would be leaving Mexico any time soon because the three bridges that we needed to cross in order to reach the airport were not available starting with the first on to get off the property. Ok I am getting a little ahead of myself....on Thursday night at Back2Back they had what they call "marketplace" it is a time to buy souvenirs. It is also a time that you can sponsor children from the children's home's. I had it in my mind that I was going to sponsor Ximena from Del Norte, but as I returned to the Dorms to grab a pen to fill out the paper work I found myself in a position where I had to stop and pray. I gave the decision to God and even though Ximena was not available I felt lead to another girl named Maria Luisa. She was from Casa Hogar Douglas which was one of the houses we had not visited, but I still felt lead to select her. I thought if I didn't step out in faith at this moment in time I would not do it when I returned to the states. Long story short I end up sponsoring both girls and Maria Luisa was actually at the house Imperial del Amor that we had visited during our trip and we had met. She is such a doll and I am looking forward to getting to know her better.
Needless to stay I am headed back to Mexico during my 6 week sabbatical I can't get enough of this place and what they are doing. I am also looking at returning next summer with a group to a little city outside Cancun Mexico next summer. Please continue to pray for the needs of this area as the hurricane has had a huge impact on the area. We were very blessed to get out when we did, but it was so hard to leave everyone in our "Great Escape" Viva Mexico!!!
