One Heart Heard
Vanessa’s Story
Being in a Spanish speaking country has been amazing. I have learned a lot of new words and have fallen in love with my new family. However, there is one downside to not being able to fully communicate: We can not share our hearts and stories.
We received a huge blessing last night. Pastor Rafael invited a local missionary, Pastor Mark, from the States to come and help us communicate with each other. We sat up our white plastic chairs in a circle, and while the kids went to get us a 3 liter of coke and crackers, we began talking. It felt like a breath of fresh air to hear the pastor and Vanessa, our Ecuadorian Madre, speak.
Vanessa was the first to give her testimony. She began her story where every story should begin: at the beginning. She was dropped off on a strangers doorstep when she was only 8 days old. She was left in a cardboard box that puppies are kept in. She said she was blessed to be left with good people, because they took care of her basic needs. However, when she was only 12 years old, her father, the one she assumed was her real dad, died of alcoholism (extremely common in Ecuador). That is when she learned that she was abandoned as a baby. After her father died, her mom treated her harshly and made her work extremely hard, thinking she would hate her and take all of the household belongings when she turned 18. Vanessa said her life was hard as a child, but it all changed when she met her husband, who was a Christian. Her husband concealed his true identity for a while because Catholics in Latin America are told that Evangelical Christians are demonic. Vanessa’s husband didn’t want her to leave him. When he finally told her that he was a believer in Jesus, she went to church with him. He first had to gain her trust before sharing his faith. She was a believer for a number of years until her mother-in-law began trying to turn her husband against her. Vanessa quit going to church for 5 years because she didn’t want to have anything to do with a faith that involved someone like her mother-in-law. Six years ago, she and her husband were driving past our little church and decided to visit it together. She said she felt at home here because it was small and the people were family… She has remained in the church ever since.
Thank God for this church. Vanessa has blessed our lives so greatly and she will always have a special place in my heart. She cried the entire time she was telling her testimony… and so did I. Her heart breaks because she doesn’t have a mother. We are never too old to want to be loved, cared for, and adored. We are never too old to want a mother and father. Vanessa just found out who her real mom is one month ago. She has not met or seen her, but wonders if she should.
This morning, Vanessa was a different person. She entered the church singing and floating around as if she was on air. I know she felt relieved to share her story with us last night, and we felt relieved to express our love for her. I got to tell her that she doesn’t only have 2 daughters, she now has 8… She laughed, smiled, and said, “Ok, I guess I have 8”.
