Along with working in the EMI office several days a week, I volunteer weekly at a children's home called Hogar de Vida, which means Home of Life. When I started volunteering, I was helping out with physical therapy, doing early stimulation on the babies. Last fall, I felt the Lord leading me to focus more on just being a helper in one of the three houses on campus....just be a "tia" which means aunt in Spanish, but is also what all the kids call the workers. The model of care is set up as a home simulated environment. Each home has a house mom that lives in the home along with 2-3 other ladies and up to 12 children in each home of varying ages and mixed genders. So, I started working weekly in house 1. Since starting there, 2 (soon to be 3) children have been adopted or returned back to their families, and I've seen children that were 1 when I met them turn 3 and grow right before my eyes. The last two weeks have been such a blessing. There are several of the younger children who I take care of on the mornings I am there that have just stolen my heart. Today, as I walked into the house I heard them running from the back of the house with an exuberant "ALLI" and a big hug around my legs. Then, as I was leaving today, my little sweetheart Brenda had my hands and asked if I was leaving. I told her yes, and she said I couldn't go and held my arms around her in a hug. It was so sweet and just melted my heart. Sometimes I wonder if the Lord is going to use one of these children to show me it's time to adopt. Josh and I have always talked about how it would be a possibility, but it would truly be a pleasure to bring one of these little precious ones into our family. I feel sad when I see them growing up...years, going through the red-tape process of adoption in Costa Rica when they could be spending those years with a family who loves them. It's just been such a blessing to spend time with those children, and the ladies that work in the home. I consider them my friends and confidants. I pray the Lord will continue to grow these relationships and work through them to show me more about Himself.
4.29.2011
This past week was a week of firsts for Josh and I. It was our first Easter celebrated at a Spanish-speaking church as well as our first Costa Rican wedding, both of which happened to be the same day. Easter here is definitely under-celebrated among the evangelical community. Evangelical Christians tend to lean toward the opposite extreme as Catholics. Catholicism is the most prevalent religion in Central America. Because of the deeply entrenched rituals of Catholicism, Christians tend to oppose things that are very "Catholic". For example, many Christians do not have Christmas trees or display nativity scenes. Also, Easter Sunday is almost non-existent in the evangelical church. Their reasoning is that we celebrate the resurrection of Christ every Sunday. Needless to say, It was not emphasized last Sunday. We did have a Easter breakfast with another EMI family, and it was great to be able to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior with pancakes and bacon:) In all seriousness, it was neat to start the day focused on the Lord and what He did for us. I did come to an interesting conclusion last week that the death of Christ is celebrated during Semana Santa than the resurrection of Christ. People have most of the week off and everything is completely shut down on Good Friday, but Sunday is like any other Sunday in evangelical churches and all the grocery stores are open. It was just very interesting.
That afternoon, the son of our pastor was married. It was the first Costa Rican wedding we've attended, and it was such a great experience. It was beautifully decorated, and one of the most formal weddings I've been to. It was the first wedding I've attended where I had a table/seating assignment in the reception. Of course, the 4 p.m. wedding started at more like 4:30 and guests were still walking in at 5:15. One thing that was interesting was that they had an MC type person. She give instructions before the ceremony about how to use the chocolate fountain, etc as well as announcing the wedding party as they walk down the aisle. For example, "And now, we have the groom Javier Gonzalez...accompanied by his parents Javier Gonzalez and Cecilia Quesada." Also, there were no real bridesmaids or groomsmen. The parents of the bride and groom sat in special seats up front along with people that accompanied them. The bride's parents had the mother's sister and her husband. The groom's parents had the sister of the groom. The night was culminated in a fire show. You know, where a guy lights two things on first at the end of ropes and does cool twirls. Yes, the fire show happenned INSIDE the church, but was a very cool experience. Most of all, we have enjoyed getting to know the Pastor's extended family which made it alot of fun. They remind me of my family, and it's so nice to feel as if we are being accepted into a community of believers here.
William Cornelius Vocational School, Guatemala
I was fortunate enough to run across the website for the project in Guatemala that I almost exclusively worked on while I interned with EMI back in 2004! Check it out! Brings back fond memories!!!
http://www.wcvtc.com/photos_beginning_to_end.html
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