My family and I have done this for years and, although we were told that these boxes would go to needy children all over the world, I admit that I didn't really think about them once the box left my hands.
That is forever changed now after I was able to participate in an event that distributed these very boxes to street children and orphans of Guadalajara!
I didn't know it when I agreed to come help. All I knew is that I was going to wake up at 7:00 to take a long bus ride to a park to help (on my last Saturday before returning back to work after Christmas, mind you...). Charla and I got to the park very quickly, which meant that we were there at 8:15--the time we were told the helpers should arrive. Now, some of you may know that, in Mexico, when you are told to arrive at 8:15, that means nothing will start until 9:00, if you're lucky, and that you would have been better off coming late. Well, we still can seem to shake our American punctuality, and we got there super early.
I'm not complaining, though, because it was a great surprise to see huge trucks pull up and unload the Samaritan's Purse boxes. It was fun to help set up the carnival games, and to say hello to most of the Christian community we've met since moving to Guadalajara.
Charla and I were posted at the "Pulseras" (bracelets) booth with some Lincoln School staff members, Ruben and Sylvia. We helped teach kids a bible verse "El Señor te guardará de todo mal. El guardará mi alma." Psalm 121. And they made the bracelets with the different colored beads that represent different steps in the story of salvation.
I will admit that I felt some pangs of guilt, telling these children that God will protect them from all bad things. The truth is that, as a Christian, God doesn't promise to take all the bad away. But he does promise that he's always with us through it... we just have to know where to look. I hope these kids can come to learn that, as their lives are surely full of more struggles ahead.
Above: Sylvia telling the children the meaning of the beads.Left: The speaker giving a message to the children.
I have sponsored a child through Compassion Int'l now for about 8 or 9 years, and though I am diligent about sending my payment, its one of those things that too, I do not think that much about.
ReplyDeleteOne family, the one I have written about that lives in Danli, are super poor. SUPER. Dad(s)are not there, mom was a prostitute who died of AIDS, little brother contracted it also and died, and the 5 kids live with the aunt who also has many kids of her own and I have no idea how they make money of any kind.
Compassion Int'l took two of the kids from this family and they have sponsors, and Compassion built the family a little simple house with not much more than a toilet, concrete floors and a roof, but its such an improvement. Its really nice to see that organizations you support really do benefit the people they say they are benefitting. I'm so glad you got to participate in something like this. You'll remember this for the rest of your life.