My team and I are currently living at an orphanage called For His Children in Latacunga, Ecuador. This is a huge change coming from All Squad Month in Quito. 7 introverts getting their own space is a HUGE blessing!! PRAISE THE LORD.
Every day at the ministry, we feed the 28 kids three meals a day. We also plan activities for them each morning like walks, bubbles, games, and songs. Half of the kids who live here are special needs, ranging from autism and down syndrome to severe cerebral palsy.
For one of the activities that we planned, the kids got their faces painted and then we walked them down to a little river for them to play in. By walking them to a river, I mean 10 toddlers, two babies, two blind boys and a girl in a wheelchair were herded for one mile down a busy road to play in a creek for one hour. It was chaotically awesome.
Another part of our ministry is once a week, we go over to a place where the elderly in the community can receive food for one week. We dance with them, we pray with them, and laugh a lot. Don’t let them fool you. They may look sweet, but they are a bunch of trouble makers who pick on each other and play pranks. They may be in their 90s, but they have hearts and minds like they’re 25.
This kiddo has taught me so much here at For His Children. My heart breaks for him and his younger sister, and how they were abandoned, found, and brought here to live at this orphanage. I have been struggling with trying to comprehend how a parent wouldn’t want these two goofballs. I am learning though, that they don’t need earthly parents here to love them because that love could never ever come close to how their Heavenly Father loves them. I am also learning that it is a blessing that they are here. They are loved so well by the tias and they are growing up hearing about Jesus.
