that we are working with here went to visit an orphanage in Puerto
Barrios. I could tell there was something off, right from the
begining. It wasn’t like any other orphanage that I’ve been to
before. The kids didn’t come out to play, they hardly even seemed to
care that we were there. In other places I’ve been to the kids flock
to you and won’t let go. After awhile though they did warm up to us a
bit, playing soccer and letting us paint their nails.
The orphanage just felt dark, really
dark. Come to find out from the lady that works there something
happened about 3 months ago and the kids changed, “ugly”, as she
said. We also found out that there are a lot of legal problems there.
We don’t know the extent of the problems but we do know that two
catholic men started the orphanage as a “good dead”. They don’t
keep it up or take care of the orphans. There is another big
orphanage somewhere near by that has tried to send food and clothes
to our kids, but the two men intercept the gifts and sell them for
money.
The orphanage was just out right
disgusting. It was completely taken over by weeds and tall grass,
trash everywhere, clothes with poop and pee in them all over the
place, dead birds, an d bathrooms that were hardly even fesable. We
decided to clean the place up-as much as we could anyways! The grass
and weeds were taken out with machetes, the loads of trash picked up
and thrown away, and lots and lots of sweeping and bleach! My
teammate Courtney MacLellan and I found a little side playground that
became our own project. There were nasty things all over the place
including an old wet and moldy matress that smelt like it had poop
inside that had been hiding for years (Impossible? I say not!). On
the side of the playground we found steps leading down to an old
bathroom that we so cleverly named the death closet. We were almost
surpirsed that we didn’t find a dead body down there it looked so
bad.
A couple of the girls on our teams
found a girl named Elsa with Downs sitting in the middle of her room.
They said she looked like she was beeing tormented, looking around
like she was seeing things. She was terrified. They asked her if she
liked it there and she said no. They asked her if she saw things, she
said yes. Like I said this place is dark, very dark. Satan is trying
to do something at this place, and we don’t like it. After days of
cleaning and visiting the orphanage, we decided that this is where we
should spend most of our time. Yesterday we held a carnival there! We
started out with a dance/skit inviting them to a party with God. We
had games and face paintng and candy-every kids dream! After the
carnival was over Courtney MacLellan shared her testimony with the
kids. She told them about how her mother died when she was 11 and her
story of growing up with her father. She explained to them how she
didn’t understand it for a long time and didn’t want it for a long
time, but how God is our father. The best daddy ever! We also prayed
over the oldest boy, we found out he is sexual harassing 3 of the
girls on a regular basis.
There is also a handsome little boy
there named Julio that I just fell in love with! He has some sort of
mental disability and can only walk if assisted. The first time I saw
him he was in a wheel chair leashed to a wall in a room with no
lights and few windows, where he spends most of his time. But!
Yesterday at the carnival we got Julio to come out! He sat in a chair
with the rest of the kids and we included him in everything. I got a
piece of candy and showed it to him, and for the first time ever I
saw him smile, then laugh. He LOVED that candy! I started interacting
with him more and saw how much potential he had, he is so restricted
but could learn so mucch. These next two weeks much of my time will
be spent with Julio, playing with him and interacting with him all
the while praying over him and declaring him to be the boy and man
that God created him to be!
Already we can see a change in this
orphange. It doesn’t seem quite as dark or creepy, the kids are more
welcoming and interactive, and it’s clleeaaaannn!!! Jesus has come to
the orphanage! Woo hoo!! One of the girls on team Rhema said she was
praying about how she didn’t want to get close to the kids and then
just abandon them. She said that God told her that our role was to
introduce them to Him and that he would take care of the rest.
Our contact here told us that the
orphanage might be shut down but that another one would be built for
them, which is so needed. I don’t know the details of that, I only
know it’s a possibilty. Pray that it will happen and please please
pray over the kids, over the two catholic men, and over the workers.
God is doing so much there and I know that he has a good and perfect
plan for each of those precious kids.
