To start this little story off... I want you to know that yesterday I spent an entire hour writing/uploading pictures to this particular entry. I was very proud of myself... when I hit "publish" it lost it all. Yep... every bit of it. So i'm starting over... with fewer pictures. If you would like to look at the over 500 pictures here are the links.
Stephen and I committed to this trip I guess back in January or February. We had been planning on a trip to Alaska, but after a sermon we heard from our pastor, we felt very led to look at how we were spending our money and where we could better serve. I have always wanted to go on a mission trip with Stephen so this was a dream come true for me! We stayed in prayer about the trip for the most part... I didnt really feel like I was whole-heartily praying about it though. I would pray the same prayer everyday, but looking back now, I was getting consumed with the world, and therefore my time with God was not as intimate and precious as it should've been. I feel like we were getting caught up in the wants and material desires that Satan loves to use to distract you.
Getting ready for the trip, we were (or maybe just me) a big ball of nerves, anxiety, fear, excitement. We traveled with a team of 26 people from Calvary. All of which brought something very different to the table. Talents and personalities were all different, but all essential and all hand picked by God specifically for this trip.
We started the trip off with a tour of Hope of Life. Carlos Vargas is the creator/founder of this organization. His testimony is pretty awesome. He has promised God that if he'll provide, he will devote his life to helping his people. He has since basically purchased a mountain, built an orphanage, a nursing home, a nutrition center, a school, a store, mission homes, green houses, tilapia ponds, a row of homes for the homeless, and is currently building a 5 story hospital. We were so moved/overwhelmed by his dreams. He told us that he never ever wanted to stop dreaming. When one dream was fulfilled, he would dream again and God would provide. He said when he stops dreaming, he'll be dead. WHOA. Kind of convicted us about what we are investing our time and money in... Retirement included. 
We visited the nursing home and nutritional center first. Can I tell you that I loved those babies so much? I did. I fell in love with Junior, a little 3 year old who was malnourished and very small because of it. He loved to be held and loved on. They all did. They would all stand up in their baby beds and look at you with those big brown eyes in anticipation. When you'd simply touch them, they'd grin from ear to ear. I'll never forget those faces and i'll also never forget the faces I saw when we had to put them back in their beds. Abandonment.Carlos described the Nutrition Center and the Nursing home as the "forgotten people". The people left to die because they can't take care of themselves. He has a special place in his heart for these people groups.
Next visit was the Orphanage. These kids came out of the woodwork to greet us. One after another they'd come running up hugging us "hola senorita" "hola senor". So precious. This was Stephen's favorite area. The kids loved him and he loved them. After working in the villages everyday Stephen would go up to the orphanage and play soccer with the kids. It was really really neat to see him in that setting, loving on children of all ages and to see the joy on their faces as they would flock to him. God has opened both of our hearts to adoption through this trip and we are currently praying about the plan that God has for us concerning adoption.
We then toured the rest of the property by bus... and stopped to see the houses that Carlos's teams had built for families who were homeless or living on hardly anything. Calvary's VBS kids raised $4000 in pennies and funded one of these houses which was built while we were there by some of the Calvary team, Carlos's team, and a team from another church. It was a very moving moment when we got to dedicate the house to a family who had just lost their husband/father and therefore lost their income. It may not look like much, and to our standards it's not. There was one room with a bunk bed and a twin bed, a table, four chairs and a section on the side of the house with a shower and a real toilet. Compared to what these people lived in before... this was nice.
Below are some pictures of the children who were running around in this area. They loved candy!
The rest of the day we separated medicines and stuffed bags with food to be distributed in the village that we would be going to the next day.
The next 72 hours were filled with a whirlwind of emotions. On our first trip to the village we arrived, saw the line and the mass amount of people and the bus grew silent. It was overwhelming. It was overwhelming to see how badly they wanted and desired anything from us. Whether that was material or physical. How they were grateful for back washed 
gatorade bottles, for our half eaten peanut butter sandwiches covered in flies, for half of a cookie, for hot bottles of water half empty, for a torn coloring page, for 2 crayons, for a pat on the back, or a shoulder to lean on, for someone to hold their baby, for someone to SEE them. At the end of the day we would leave a village, most of the time there were people left waiting to see the doctors and those people would wave goodbye to our bus yelling "gracious" and smiling. Telling us thank you when they haven't even been seen. Waving as we drove away going to go eat a hot meal and to throw away what we didnt want, as we left to go take showers with soap and hot water, as we used our bathrooms with toilets that flushed, as we went to sleep on our mattresses with our blankets and our air conditioners on full blast, as we rode in our buses, and vans, and cars to get from point a to point b. As I write this I can see the sights and smell the smells and feel the feelings of that trip. I can see those babies filthy dirty with no shoes, and only one meal a day. Those mamas with 6 children and pregnant with the 7th. Those women, men, and children wearing clothes 2 sizes too big or 2 sizes too small, those children who were passing worms because of lack of hygiene, the kids who grinned from ear to ear when we would give them a jolly rancher or paint their fingernails. The little girls who would stand in line to get their nails painted, wipe it off and stand in line again just to be touched by us. I can see and smell the people at the dump, who literally built their village, if you can even call it that, around a land fill. The grandmother who is trying to feed 12 grand kids by breaking glass and getting paid $3 a month. The baby girl with dirt covering her face and yet her eyes were smiling. The people digging in the garbage for anything and everything. Watching the children come running when we arrived with food... only to fill up their containers found in the garbage with chicken stock soup and a tortilla. Watching babies sit in dirt with no diapers and no clothes. Listening to a baby crying, sitting alone on the concrete, only longing for someone to hold him. Watching girls half my age walk into the clinic 6 months pregnant with their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th child. The little girls who followed me around just so they could hold onto my hand or my arm, the joy the people had when their church was rebuilt... they had a 4 hour church service that night. We get cranky when ours lasts over an hour and a half. The laughter of the little boys when i'd show them the silly pictures i took of them, the silence among the team when the reality of poverty hit us, the passion in Carlos and his team's voices. I pray that I will never ever forget these images, and sounds. The trip was truly life-changing. Stephen and I will be going back as soon as we can. God has softened our hearts through this and we are forever grateful for that.
gatorade bottles, for our half eaten peanut butter sandwiches covered in flies, for half of a cookie, for hot bottles of water half empty, for a torn coloring page, for 2 crayons, for a pat on the back, or a shoulder to lean on, for someone to hold their baby, for someone to SEE them. At the end of the day we would leave a village, most of the time there were people left waiting to see the doctors and those people would wave goodbye to our bus yelling "gracious" and smiling. Telling us thank you when they haven't even been seen. Waving as we drove away going to go eat a hot meal and to throw away what we didnt want, as we left to go take showers with soap and hot water, as we used our bathrooms with toilets that flushed, as we went to sleep on our mattresses with our blankets and our air conditioners on full blast, as we rode in our buses, and vans, and cars to get from point a to point b. As I write this I can see the sights and smell the smells and feel the feelings of that trip. I can see those babies filthy dirty with no shoes, and only one meal a day. Those mamas with 6 children and pregnant with the 7th. Those women, men, and children wearing clothes 2 sizes too big or 2 sizes too small, those children who were passing worms because of lack of hygiene, the kids who grinned from ear to ear when we would give them a jolly rancher or paint their fingernails. The little girls who would stand in line to get their nails painted, wipe it off and stand in line again just to be touched by us. I can see and smell the people at the dump, who literally built their village, if you can even call it that, around a land fill. The grandmother who is trying to feed 12 grand kids by breaking glass and getting paid $3 a month. The baby girl with dirt covering her face and yet her eyes were smiling. The people digging in the garbage for anything and everything. Watching the children come running when we arrived with food... only to fill up their containers found in the garbage with chicken stock soup and a tortilla. Watching babies sit in dirt with no diapers and no clothes. Listening to a baby crying, sitting alone on the concrete, only longing for someone to hold him. Watching girls half my age walk into the clinic 6 months pregnant with their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th child. The little girls who followed me around just so they could hold onto my hand or my arm, the joy the people had when their church was rebuilt... they had a 4 hour church service that night. We get cranky when ours lasts over an hour and a half. The laughter of the little boys when i'd show them the silly pictures i took of them, the silence among the team when the reality of poverty hit us, the passion in Carlos and his team's voices. I pray that I will never ever forget these images, and sounds. The trip was truly life-changing. Stephen and I will be going back as soon as we can. God has softened our hearts through this and we are forever grateful for that.
