We started off this month with the assignment of working in a children’s home. It was not your ordinary orphanage. It was a family – an unusual family. Four of the children had a history of being kidnapped by a gang and watching their parents killed. We were told that they were abused and forced to do things that they are unwilling to talk about. Their aunt and uncle had also been part of the gang, but gave their lives to Christ, and are now hiding from the gang, while working at that home. Another girl in the home had been used by her parents to make money through prostitution. There was also a little 5 year old who had been brought to them, near death due to starvation. This family was unusual, but seemed to love one another. The missionary family running the home seemed to be learning and figuring out how to reach the kids, and they spoke of their commitment to raising all the children as a family in the love of the Lord.
We were there for 1 week, getting to know everyone, 18 in all, and we grew to love each one.
Then one day things changed.
A family meeting was called, to which our team was asked to attend. The purpose of us being at the meeting was for them to request that we be more intentional about spending quality time with them. But during that meeting many family matters were brought up, revealing a family history we did not understand and knew nothing about. There were many tears and hard words spoken. At the end of 2 hours, the family still had unresolved problems but decided to revisit the issues later.
I went to sleep that night, still feeling the tension of the unresolved issues amongst the family. When I woke the next morning, my team leader called me into her tent to talk. Apparently while I had been sleeping, the entire family and all my teammates had been up until 2am. All the kids had told the parents that they were leaving and the parents had been working hard to keep them from going. Somehow my team got caught in the crossfire. In the end, everyone had gone to bed.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen this morning,” Brooklynn said, “but we might be leaving today.”
A few hours later, all my team stood at the gate in tears; calling goodbyes as we watched all the children, plus the aunt and uncle, walk away with suitcases in tow. We don’t understand the where the truth lies in how this situation came about, but we are praying for everyone in this. I ask that you pray too. There is such brokenness and pain here.
And so, the Lord has led us to a new chapter in our ministry here in Honduras. We are asking the Lord what He would have us do. Please be praying for our team as we seek the Lord. Pray that we would be united, that we would hear Him clearly, that we would love one another well, and that we would be quick to obey in each step of the journey.
