In my last blog I shared a picture of Mercedes and her family from Honduras. We were lead to her house one day while out surveying the village for a food program. We visited her and her children several times throughout the month and each time we would pray for the family and play with the kids. By the end of the month they had wiggled their way into a special place in my heart.
Through our broken Spanish and some translation help from our awesome squad mate Nicole, we learned that Mercedes has some form of cancer and Emy, her youngest, was born with both male and female genital parts. Mercedes was very passionate about getting surgery for Emy so that she could be a girl. Before we left, we as a team told Mercedes to go see Gracie at the Corazon de Cristo ministry on February 10 so that she would not be without help after we left. This way Gracie could help figure out the exact situation and possibly help the family find the right doctors and what not.
We recently heard the outcome of Mercedes’ visit to the ministry and it blew us as a team away. It turns out that Mercedes has 7 children (we only met 4 of them). One passed away at the age of 3 after falling into a pila (large basin of water) and drowned. One has a hernia, one is mute, one has Downs Syndrome, and Emy has her condition. Mercedes herself has uterine cancer. We had the privilege of meeting Davy, the little boy with Downs, and he stole our hearts. He would blow us kisses and give us a “Davy thumbs up” as we call it…such a sweetheart. We had no clue that Mercedes was dealing with so many more issues in her family than we had seen in our short time in Honduras.
After she came to Heart of Christ, Mercedes was visited at her home by Lana (a Heart of Christ intern), Milagros (one of the Honduran girls that lives there), and several World Race A squaders (they came to Honduras in February). While there, Milagros was able to minister to Mercedes and guess what…Mercedes rededicated her life to Christ! Praise God! Her family is going through so much and have more than their fair share of trials, but she still trusts God and has faith in Him to see them through. And now she will pass this down to her children and I pray that they all grow up to love and serve Him.
It blesses me so much to see God take the seed that my team and I planted in Honduras and bring so much life out of it! Not only do I know that Mercedes and her family are hooked up with a great ministry that will check up on them and care for them in this world, but I know that Mercedes’ eternity is secure and I can look forward to seeing them all in heaven someday!
Next up is a recap of my month in Guatemala so that should be coming soon! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement!
Rita
