So since we have been stuck in Guatemala for an extra week we have been able to have our debrief here in Antingua, Guatemala with the October ‘08 squad. My squad went to a special needs hospital for two of the days. It was such an awesome experience to be able to go and minister to the kids and adults there. There were about 4 rooms of kids totaling almost 100. There was also a whole other section of the hospital where the dozens and dozens of adults lived. Most all of the patients in this hospital, kids and adults both, were diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. I loved going and playing with the kids because they have so much joy even when they have so little. Most of the patients in this particular hospital are with out families and have been abandoned. Those with families live at the hospital and get to go home and see their families twice a year for “holiday”. What excited me the most was the fact that they had an actual room for Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, and it was really big and nice, which surprised me. It was so nice to see the kids getting the treatment they needed instead of being forgotten like a lot of other hospitals around Guatemala. We were able to help feed the kids and play with them as well. My favorite song that my squad sings is the song “Hosanna” by Hillsong.
“Heal my heart and make it clean,
open up my eyes to the things unseen.Show me how to love like you have loved me.
Break my heart for what breaks yours
, everything I am for your kingdom’s cause.As I walk from Earth into eternity”
That verse is my favorite part, particularly because when it comes to sick and abandoned kids my heart does break and it is very difficult for me to see the things that most people in America couldn’t even dream about.It is always going to be hard for me to visit clinics and hospitals overseas, but I know that the Lord has given me the burden of being heartbroken and upset when I see these conditions for a reason. I know that I would not be left in tears when I leave these hospitals if I wasn’t supposed to be doing something for these kids. Lately I have been realizing that perhaps the reason is because I am meant to go back to school for something in healthcare and to use that as part of my mission experiences after I return from the World Race. I know that my mother would be more than pleased to know that I was contemplating the option of going into nursing, especially since my entire life I have been very adamant on never becoming a nurse. Of course I am still in the beginning stages of the World Race and have no idea what this next year has in store for me or what the Lord is wanting me to do after I return to the States. If it is going into nursing, physical therapy, or if I am supposed to go into something completely outside of healthcare, I have no idea. All I know is that I am so happy of what the Lord has been doing in me during this last month of ministry and can’t wait to see what he will do over this next 10 months.
