Hola!
First of all, updates...Nancy´s fever is gone!!! She still has a bad cough and has stayed home from school, but she is feeling much better! Praise God that I am not sick...I have been wondering how in the world I´m not sick because she has coughed all over me, but its most likely all of your prayers!!! Thank you!
As I mentioned before, Cipriana is recently separated from her husband, and two of her sons. Well, when i was finishing the dishes up last night, she was standing beside me in silence, so I asked..."How are you?" And she said..."very sad." Now, I figured she was, but I had not seen an ounce of it. She is always laughing and being an amazing mother. She went on about how much her heart is aching for her youngest son that is seven and with his father. She says he needs attention that he won´t give him. As she told me about all of this, we both sobbed and hugged each other. Even though we can´t communicate as much as we´d like, we definitely connected on a very real level. It was amazing to watch how strong she is. I can not imagine the hurt she feels having her son taken from her ESPECIALLY after I´ve seen how great of a mother she is to her four children in our home. After we finished, she immediately dried her tears, and went back into the room to with with her children laughing and smiling all the way, not to let her children know her pain.
Yesterday we began the hardest work I believe we will do here. It is at Mother Teresa´s Missionaries of Charity. This is a home for severely mentally and physically disabled men and women. There are six nuns that live their full time, and they are incredible women. We spent a lot of time just talking to them women, giving them lots of hugs and kisses. They love kisses on the cheek which is the formal way to greet anyone here in Bolivia. I did all kinds of things, like helping them make their beds, try to walk, throw a soccer ball back and forth, wash clothes (by hand because thats the only way they do things here), and clip most of their fingernails. It was so gratifying to be able to really love and serve these people. My group and I have been talking that this is THE opportunity to act out everything we have read about and learned about how to love the people as Jesus does. But we couldn´t help but have this battle between flesh and spirit. One moment, you know this is where you are supposed to be. This is where God wants me. The next moment, you´re wondering what in the world am I doing here?!? It is so hard. I met Estella, a fantastic woman with a huge smile on her face, but she can not express what she would like to because she is mute. Or Teresa that has crooked legs and can not walk. Or Atoñia, a woman that got the polio vaccine as a child, and instead of being vaccinnated, got polio. It is an incredible experience that I will need great prayer for, and the residents of the home. We will be serving there every Monday and Tuesday from 8-12.
Well, thats about it for now! Lots of love from El Alto!!! Caio!
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3 comments:
Hi Kelly!
I've been thinking about your post ever since I read it last night. I am so glad to read that dear little Nancy is better and I'm praying you have continued to not get sick yourself.
The sorrow Cipriana is holding in her heart is so huge-and her dear little boy.... She will stay in my prayers. Do you feel that she thinking the separation will be permanent? When parents separate it tears at the kids emotionally but oh in this case the physical tearing of the siblings apart and from their mother is so sad. I pray the Lord takes this opportunity of sorrow to create something better. I have so often found that the Lord and mend what to our eyes seems unmendable.
When I have worked to try and help children torn apart with separation a great realization came to me one day long ago that I have held tightly to ever since; the LORD raises the children. I have seen the Lord's powerful love guide a child into the light from the most impossible family circumstances. I know HIS awesome love is there holding them all; HE never lets go.
Your account of your time at Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity made me cry.
Estella, Teresa, Atoñia and the others there are right here with me in my kitchen tonight. I used to be part of a prayer group where a man would come each day and ask the Lord to heal his seriously handicapped son. One day he wheeled the boy in and prayed that prayer again. I had a reaction that almost knocked me to the ground with the power of the Lord's message. Into my head came the words, "This boy does not need to be healed -he is perfect exactly as he is." I wish words could capture the richness of the Lord's message to me that min. That min taught me more than I'd learned in all my years up until then. I knew we saw things so wrong when we think of what makes us *handicapped*.
You remain in my prayers dear!!! Thank you so much for sharing with us in the Blog. I pray that the Lord's hold you and inspires you and fills the lonely moments with the great consolation of HIS LIGHT.
Hey Kelly! My mom gave me your blog that she got from your Dad... Word travels!
Anyway, I've read through all of your blogs and I'm so impressed by the step you took to do such wonderful work! You are an inspiration to so many people through doing this and I know that you will come back a truly changed person!
You're already beginning to appreciate small things and that is amazing! Anyway, your stories are fantastic and I look forward to reading more. You'll be in my prayers and I'll be thinking about you often!
Soak it all in!
Sara Hartley
*Ed. (Tried to leave this comment on the other post- Blogger can be funny sometimes- blank word verification and then it just flat out wouldn't post. Anyway, keep up the great work and absorb as much as you can out of the experience!!!! DCT)
I know that having Tarzon's trust is totally awesome for you- as it would be for me as well :) Just wondering if his name means anything? (Funny what you think of when reading a blog from a relative halfway accross the world!)
Keep enjoying yourself and spreading the word!
Love ya,
Chris T.
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