Last Wednesday I went to el hogar, a home for girls. I'm not exactly clear on if they are orphans or from families con problemas or some of both. A group of us (gringas and chilenas) went to play with them, love them, and teach them about Jesus.
I need to practice my Spanish and they need to know God's love so it's a perfect trade :)
I was only there for a few hours, but it was enough to tug at my heart. I don't know their stories, but I can see the pain and brokenness they live with anyways. One little girl, surely not more than three or four years old, came up to me and said, "Ahora eres mi hija!" (Now you are my daughter!) I responded with "Hola, Mama! Te amo!" and a big bear hug. She giggled and we continued with this game, switching roles once in a while. While she was the mom, there was a noticeable theme of leaving and having me wait for her--more so than is normal for children, and believe me, I've played enough make-believe games to know. Quieres esperar aca o con Abuelita? she'd ask. This is what she knows of how mothers act. They leave you. You wait for them. They leave you again. Later in the evening she asked me to hold her up to the fence so she could see her mama's house. She pointed out to me where it was (not that she could possibly know that)...muy muy lejos. por allá. mas allá. (...very far...).
Needless to say, I just wished I could adopt all these little girls and show them what a different kind of mom and a different kind of Love. How thankful I am to God for being the best Father ever and for giving me parents that didn't leave me, but instead taught me about God's love and displayed it as best they could.
While we're on the subject of homes and love...Home is where the heart is. My heart is definitely here in Chile. I consider it as much my home as Dillsburg, Grantham, and Newton, NJ are. I love these people. I love this culture. Something I'm working on is starting to make more of a family bond between the people in my pension and myself. Diego's parents and brother came to visit from the North (I had previously stayed with them for a few days over Easter) and we all had a great time laughing and joking together. I loved the extra family atmosphere they added to the pension. I thought to myself: can't that be present even just between myself and Myriam? It doesn't take many people to make a family, just a bond. Let's work on growing that bond through the love and grace of Jesus :) Good thinking, self. I'll do just that.
I need to practice my Spanish and they need to know God's love so it's a perfect trade :)
I was only there for a few hours, but it was enough to tug at my heart. I don't know their stories, but I can see the pain and brokenness they live with anyways. One little girl, surely not more than three or four years old, came up to me and said, "Ahora eres mi hija!" (Now you are my daughter!) I responded with "Hola, Mama! Te amo!" and a big bear hug. She giggled and we continued with this game, switching roles once in a while. While she was the mom, there was a noticeable theme of leaving and having me wait for her--more so than is normal for children, and believe me, I've played enough make-believe games to know. Quieres esperar aca o con Abuelita? she'd ask. This is what she knows of how mothers act. They leave you. You wait for them. They leave you again. Later in the evening she asked me to hold her up to the fence so she could see her mama's house. She pointed out to me where it was (not that she could possibly know that)...muy muy lejos. por allá. mas allá. (...very far...).
Needless to say, I just wished I could adopt all these little girls and show them what a different kind of mom and a different kind of Love. How thankful I am to God for being the best Father ever and for giving me parents that didn't leave me, but instead taught me about God's love and displayed it as best they could.
While we're on the subject of homes and love...Home is where the heart is. My heart is definitely here in Chile. I consider it as much my home as Dillsburg, Grantham, and Newton, NJ are. I love these people. I love this culture. Something I'm working on is starting to make more of a family bond between the people in my pension and myself. Diego's parents and brother came to visit from the North (I had previously stayed with them for a few days over Easter) and we all had a great time laughing and joking together. I loved the extra family atmosphere they added to the pension. I thought to myself: can't that be present even just between myself and Myriam? It doesn't take many people to make a family, just a bond. Let's work on growing that bond through the love and grace of Jesus :) Good thinking, self. I'll do just that.
reading this post about el hogar just fills my heart...and breaks it at the same time. i love those girls so much and it breaks my heart to leave them at the end of july. thanks, so much, Rachel, for helping out and loving those girls! they need to see the love of Jesus and you have it coming out of your ears -- so it's great!!! i love youuuuu, rachel! God is good. so good. siempre.
ReplyDelete