This
past week a team from Forney, TX came in and we’ve been working with “Melodias
de Esperanza” (the ministry I wrote about a few blog posts ago), helping them
with some construction projects in the mornings and leading a Vacation Bible
School in the afternoons. Due to my injury, my ability to help out with the
construction has been limited, so a few of the Fornians and myself normally
just hang out with the kids in the morning which has been a blast. I’ve grown
close with a lot of the kids there, so you can only imagine what my reaction to
hearing the following news was.
There
are four kids there that are siblings named Axel, Arturo, Kimberly, and
Victoria. Their dad got murdered a while ago from gang violence (along with
many of the other dads of the kids there), and their mom had been living in
Mexico for seven years, up until two months ago. That’s when she finally came
back to be with them. You can imagine how much joy this must have brought them.
Well on Monday during the Vacation Bible School, their mom got on a bus to
Mexico and left them. Again.
I don’t
know what would be worse – having both of your parents dead or having one of
them alive but knowing they’re neglecting their obligation as a parent to raise
you. The sad thing is that so many kids around the world have been abandoned
and are in need of loving parents to raise them. When you don’t have parents in
a society like theirs, history says that they girls will mostly likely end up
prostituting themselves and the guys will probably get into drugs.
I got
to have a conversation with Axel today and it broke my heart. I was warning him
about the dangers of drugs and how smoking was bad for you and he said, “no.
fumar es rico”, which translates to “no, smoking is rich/delicious”. He then
proceeded to tell me that he had smoked before, and that he didn’t believe in
Jesus. He also has a huge disobedience problem. He often will just ignore what
adults tell him to do. I pray that God will save him from the evils of this
world, but the reality is that his future does not look bright.
I feel
that often we get our minds so set on the American Dream that we neglect the
kids suffering around the world. I know that up until about a month ago I had
never seriously considered adoption (check out the bottom of my blog about
Haiti – I talk about a similar experience that I had - http://beautifulfeethonduras.blogspot.com/2012/05/jezi-se-la-vi.html).
One of the many negatives of adoption is how much it costs, but I believe
strongly that the great need for it makes the cost obsolete. If you have never
personally considered adoption, I’d highly encourage you to pray about it.
In
John 14:16-18, Jesus says, “ 16 And I
will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows
him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave
you as orphans; I will come to you.” Jesus loved us so much that he refused to leave
us as orphans, and gave us the Holy Spirit that no matter how lonely we get, we
will never be without guidance. I pray that if you are a Christian, the Holy
Spirit that has been given to you will convict you to play this same role in
the life of an orphan somewhere.
A few verses on caring for orphans:
James
1:27
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is
this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself
unstained from the world.
Exodus
22:22-24
You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do
mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my
wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall
become widows and your children fatherless.
Isaiah
1:17
Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice
to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.
Axel on my shoulders, Arturo on my back, and Jeffrey (one of the other kids) posting up in front!
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