Working at Camp Hope was such a special experience for our whole team. We felt especially blessed to have been the team that got to serve with them! Here is a link to an article that one of our squad members wrote. He and a couple of others used their gifts in photography/videography to create a new video for the organization to help raise awareness of the center and God willing raise more funds! Please read what he had to say…it’s fun because it features our team and gives you a beautiful glimpse of what we were a part of!
One of the last days was so special! It wasn’t special because anything amazing happened. It was special because I had some one on one time with a boy named Damian and we connected. Damian was one of the boys in my class that I got to work with every day. He has severe autism. He’s such a smart boy and I loved going over flashcards of different items that he had to repeat with me. It actually helped Me learn new Spanish vocab words! But this day… we went to the park to play. Like many days he started throwing a tantrum, screaming, throwing himself on the ground and trying to scratch me. He threw his shoes off…so in that moment I did what our teacher in our room does when he gets out of control….i sang. I didn’t know what song to sing, so I started singing “ Mi Dios es Grande, Mi Dios es fuerte…nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah naaaana ” “Mi Dios, Mi Dios…..” that is the only line I could remember(the nah nah’s was what I sang when I couldn’t remember) in Spanish haha. So, the beautiful thing is Damian didn’t care. And he becomes so calm when he hears singing…he got quiet and then the most precious thing, he started humming the song!! And he also let me put his shoes back on! Which felt like such a victory! It was just a special moment that God allowed and it encouraged me that I was able to understand how to react in the moment and connect with this sweet boy. Days later he was still humming that song with me! God taught me how to be patient everyday at Camp Hope! I will always cherish those days in Ecuador with Damian and all the other kids in my class!
