Fifth Trip June, 2010 Day 5

The night I originally sat down to write about this day my blog software crashed and I never got to write about day 5 and 6 so here goes from memory 3 months after the fact.

Our morning devotion centered around Power Through Weakness. I encouraged the group that when they “see” and “feel” like Jesus and then inevitably feel absolutely powerless to “do” anything about the great need around us that we must remember that God delights to do great things through weak people. He loves for His treasures to be carried in jars of clay. He is the one ultimately doing the work. We are to simply be obedient and His power will flow through us to the world.

We went on a wonderful walk to a large park in Bogota with the girls from Amparo De Ninas today. It was really fun walking through Bogota, a city of 10 million people with 80 orphan girls, our team of 30 and some nuns and staff. The most memorable part of the walk was when we came to a large intersection in the city with no crosswalk or lights and Sister Hilma stepped out in her long flowing white robes and raised her hand in the air towards 4 or 5 lanes of speeding traffic and they all came to an immediate stop and then all 120 of us crossed behind her. It was like Moses at the Red Sea. Unfortunately on the way home Sister Hilma road in the bus and so when we got to that same intersection I tried doing what she had done… I nearly got ran down… everyone finally got across but I was cursed at in Spanish by more than one driver and nearly hit more than once. It was hilarious. I guess if I was wearing the habit of a nun or priest it would have worked better. Ha ha.

I so enjoyed the walk and visiting with the girls and seeing Lisa, Heidy and Brooke walking hand in hand and sometimes with Heidy’s head on Brooke’s shoulder. It was so sweet.

When we arrived at the park our little friends from Pro Nacer Boys Orphanage were there and we had a wonderful time playing games and sitting on the grass visiting. Sister Hilma came over and sat by me and we talked for a long time about the children and about my Goddaughters. She was very sweet. My ninja friend Oscar was there and we had a few more go arounds too. As I write this I miss him. He is such a cute boy. When it came time for lunch we had catered box fried chicken lunches for everyone and the children loved it! We had a wonderful lunch and then some more fun and games.

On the way back a very pretty 17 year old whose name escapes me at the moment took my hand and asked if she could walk with me. I said, “Sure” and we walked the entire 4 to 5 miles or so back to the orphanage hand in hand. Between her English and my Spanish we were able to communicate very well and we talked about everything under the sun. She shared with me her story and how that she had never had a father or any other men in her life. She had lived alone with her aunt from birth until she came to the orphanage. I began to see why she wanted to walk with me. She had seen me with my daughter Brooke and my Goddaughters, Heidy and Ginary, and she longed to have a father. I shared with her many things about life, about good men and bad men, about values and morals. She was very open and had such a sweet heart. We laughed and joked about many things as well. After building some rapport I asked her, “what do you think of Jesus Christ?” Her answer brought tears to my eyes. She replied, “He is my Father, and He is the best Father in the whole world.” We talked much about Him after that and she promised me that she would never lose faith and that she would always trust her Father and follow His path and not the path that the world offers. I know that I will never see her again on this earth because she was scheduled to be moved out of the institution shortly after we left but I was so grateful that the Lord let me stand in His stead and hold her hand for that 4 miles and for a brief moment in time let her feel what it was like to have a daddy. I believe that I represented Him well and I hope she will never forget because I know that I never will. To know that there are 577,000 children in Colombia just like her is what makes me keep going back again and again. Though I will never be able to hold the hand of or share Jesus with each of those 1/2 million orphans, I’m reminded of the old man walking on the beach where thousands of starfish have washed ashore and as he stoops to pick one up a little boy says, “Hey Mister, you can’t save all of these starfish” and the old man smiles as he tosses the starfish back into the sea, “saved that one!”

Another sweet memory comes from our arrival back at the orphanage. We were so hot and tired and so we broke out some frozen yogurt pops. I was teasing Heidy and Brooke and they were laughing and teasing back. Suddenly Brooke reached out with her yogurt pop and wiped it on my glasses as if she was poking me in the eye. I jumped back and laughed and the shocked look on Heidy’s face was priceless. She could not believe Brooke would do that to me or that I wasn’t mad. She laughed and laughed as I stood there with yogurt dripping off my glasses and then she got the most pitiful face and said teasingly, “Papi pobre, Brooke usted es una hija mala al papi.” (Poor Daddy…, Brooke!, you are a bad daughter to Daddy) Then she took my glasses and ran off to the office and when she returned they were all washed and clean. It was too sweet.

Sometimes I dream that I am not able to rescue my sweet Heidy and she ends up on the street and I am searching and searching for her and when I finally find her she is gaunt and diseased and then I wake up weeping and begging God to help me to help her and all of them. I’m reminded of a quote from Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, “God, let my heart be broken by the things that break Your heart.”