HI, FRIENDS !
I know that I haven’t posted an update all month; but I’m finally here to recap what ministry has looked like for our team here in Quito, Ecuador and to give you a small glimpse into the heart behind the ministry we served, Camp Hope.
Camp Hope is a center for children and adults with various mental and physical disabilities. Several of the children who come to Camp Hope are transported to the facility from a nearby orphanage, and a small number are dropped off and picked up by family.
Partnering with Camp Hope will break your heart in all the right places, a deep-rooted desire for justice and restoration stirring in your soul after spending just one day with these beloved Children.
Arriving at Camp Hope, our entire team anticipated working with the children but were told that the organization needed help with other things; things like sanding, painting, cleaning, pulling weeds and food prepping. Just two of us would be working in a classroom during that first week, and it was decided that Allina and I would be the first to do so.
I have no prior experience serving those with disabilities, so I was nervous to work in the classroom that week. The Children we served had various diagnoses, but the common diagnosis was mental paralysis. Most of the children have little to no ability to move or speak; so Allina and I helped feed them, change them and do sensory stimulation exercises by rubbing different texture boards on their skin or playing different sounds in their ears.
To put it simply, serving at Camp Hope was hard. It felt like I wasn’t forming deep relationships. It felt like I had much less opportunity to share the Gospel. It didn’t feel natural to build relationship when the children couldn’t talk with me or play with me, or even perceive me in some cases. All I could focus on was this ache in my heart for their earthly condition and the fact that there wasn’t much I could do to change it; and then the ache drifted away.
The Lord prompted me to see with my heart instead of my eyes. A heart that still longs for restoration, but that recognizes the gift of love and laughter and diversity in the midst of brokenness. Getting to know the quirks and personalities of each of the Children we worked with painted a beautiful picture of the Gospel. Of bringing literal brokenness into Light. Of counting it all joy. Of looking heavenward towards the promise that what is broken will be made whole.
I can honestly say that I have a special place in my heart for each of the Children in that classroom. Sure, Alexander can become agitated easily; but music makes his heart soar! Martha has a perpetually mischievous look on her face, but she is more loving than she would ever have you believe; and Sarahí is the definition of diva, but she is absolutely beautiful in every way. While it was difficult to get to know Karlita (she has the most severe paralysis), what I do know is the Lord loves her so much more than she could possibly imagine.
And although Alexander likes to test my patience when I feed him lunch; although Martha hit me in the stomach three times one afternoon; although Sarahí refuses to open her mouth so I can brush her teeth; and although I’ve walked away with the knee of my pants soaked in urine, I’d do it all over again if it meant I got to see Kevin smile when I tickle his feet, to hear Susana laugh when I speak poorly in Spanish, to have Martha hold my hand ever so tightly, and to earnestly pray over each and every single one of these sweet Children.
I remember being younger and having my grandma tell me that I have piano fingers. Long, slender fingers perfect for playing. As I was rubbing her hand and fingers with a texture board that day, I couldn’t help but to notice that Mariuxi has piano fingers as well. I felt the urge to pray over her in that moment, my heart yearning for Eternity where I have no doubt she will be practicing her piano concerto with an air of grace and beauty; and when I pass through those pearly white Gates myself, I want a front row seat to her grand piano performance. I can hardly wait.
It’s obvious I could go on for paragraphs talking about Camp Hope and its children and staff who so graciously invited us into their family for the past month, but I’ll leave you with one last memory from our last day of ministry: the day I was asked to wash Martha’s feet.
I honestly couldn’t imagine a more perfect ending. As I struggled with the tough questions of suffering and consciousness and bringing Kingdom this month, washing my Sister’s feet placed everything into perspective. All I needed to do was be Jesus to her, to all of them, regardless of their ability to understand why.
And so this month, our team did bring Kingdom; sometimes this looked like squeezing limes for four hours or sanding a metal table all day or painting a child’s bedroom. I’m thankful though that the Lord allowed me to start and end this month working in that classroom, another piece of my heart now broken off and placed there for safe keeping.
I would say that I’m sad about leaving Quito, but the Lord has given me peace. I just know that He has sweet things in store for us in Peru as well.
Until next time,
Nichol //
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
