There are 67 children at Casa De Esperanza, a children’s orphanage in the mountains right outside Caranavi, Bolivia. After a long couple of travel days, my team of six finally reached the orphanage campus. The orphanage rests on top of a quite hill overlooking the city of Caranavi. The beautiful landscape of mountaintops can be seen surrounding Caranavi. Trees and ridgeline stretch for miles around and on a clear mourning, a beautiful sunrise can be seen coming over the mountains. It is a very quiet place to live. It is a fairly simple way to live. There is a single dirt road connecting the orphanage to the city with not much to do but visit the marketplace or on certain nights attend youth services at the church down in the city. Otherwise time for the children is spent on the campus playing with the other children, working on homework, or doing chores around the houses to help out their tias (house mothers). Occasionally, the children will be allowed to watch a movie or two together in the dining hall.
The children’s faces shined our first day in. They were happy to receive us. We were happy to receive them. The children were adorable and loved to play around and be silly. They loved having us with them. We played with them, held their hands, taught them games. They didn’t grow tired. They were thrilled to have us pour into them and love on them. Talking to them was a Spanish lesson, but they didn’t care that most of our team couldn’t speak Spanish. Our smiles and our desire to be with them spoke louder than our mouths ever could.
After a few days, your heart begins to break. You realize how important your being there with the children really is when what they desire most every day is your attention. You also realize how great their need is to be loved. You see it when two of the young boys come to help you dig a trash pit because they just want to spend time with you and learn from you. You see it when one of the teen girls comes to your room late at night to talk to one of your teammates because she needs someone to relate to. You see it when one of the children yells at you from his house, “Where is Sabrina?” (one of my teammates) every time you walk by. You see it on your last full day with them when they ask, “When are you coming back?” After a month, your heart is broken.
Knowing how I felt as I was about to leave, I could only imagine how the children feel every time missionaries have to leave. Missionaries come and go often for these children. My hope is that the seeds planted in their hearts will be nurtured by God. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”-Mathew 19:14
What if we were bold enough to let our hearts be broken for the children of God? What difference would that make? Would they see God’s love for them in us? I believe so. I challenge you to be bold. I challenge you to see the needs of the children in your life and in your community and to act on them, even if it breaks your heart.
