Hola! This is Sue Swerdfeger typing on behalf of the Compassion Team. The 5 of us are working alongside the teachers, cooks and students here at the Compassion School Site. The kids range in age from about 3-11 years. Compassion International funds this school.
Boy has this trip made me realize the importance of child sponsorship! I know it probably says it on the brochure, but it really is true that sponsorship can totally change the life of a child.
The teachers here love them, teach them, laugh and sing with them and tell them about Jesus. A wonderful, hardworking woman, named Consuelo, serves them a hot meal. Many of the kids come with plastic containers so that they can take home their leftovers. I'm thinking that it might be their only meal of the day.
Mindy, Scott and Carmen on our team each have a sponsored kid at this school. They have had the chance to play with them and get to know them. Their kids' parents have come up and embraced them and expressed their thanks. The feeling of love is so strong that it's pretty overwhelming. Scott's little girl is pretty feisty and it's clear that she is just craving attention, lots and lots of it!
The kids also get medical and dental check ups through Compassion. The last check up revealed that every single one of the over 200 students has worms. Compassion gives them medicine to clear it up, but it is bound to come back due to the poor water quality that they have available to them. They get so much rain here, but they lack a water system to collect and then get the water to their area. (There may be a blog from the Water Project team later in the week). Please pray for the Water Project to get the funding it needs to be completed. It's just not right that people can't have clean water in a place that gets 6 feet of rain in a year. In the dry season, water is collected from a dirty lake and the people have to pay about 1/3 of their income to get murky water to drink and cook with. There shouldn't be anyone, anywhere that has to do that.
It is the first Missions trip for my entire team, but we were immediately embraced by the kids. They have learned our names and we're working on learning theirs. Today we got to sing and dance with the 3-5 year olds in Senora Mira's room. It was so fun and I was really hoping to be able to show you a video of them singing a beautiful worship song, but it was too big to upload. :( We all got so teary watching them. I am loving this experience. I could go on and on, but my son, Evan, informed me that Blogs are supposed to be concise. Oops.
Anyway - if you've ever thought about Sponsoring a Child - I encourage you to do it. If you've ever thought about going on a missions trip - I recommend it. I'm here with my husband (Bruce) and kids, Evan (17) and Jenna (12). We've all felt totally comfortable here and I have no doubt this experience will be life changing for all of us.
Imagine 50 students seeking God for vision, realizing that He DOES have something for them, He can equip them and enable them to accomplish it. No matter what their circumstances, no matter what others have told them, if God has tapped them on the shoulder to do it, they will be able. Today we saw that happen in a very vivid way. It was powerful! As I listened to students share about how they felt God was calling them to impact their peers in the community who have had to leave school due to a pregnancy, as they spoke of reaching the many gang members in their community and building homes for those who have none, when what they have themselves is barely a home, I could not control the tears that rolled down my cheeks. As I talked with the young men and women God brought to this Leadership Training Program, it was powerful. Pastor Miguel shared with them his story how a simple man with a 2nd grade education, is now leading a church, a denomination, and driving the vision for clean running water for 10,000 people it helped them understand how God can use them. As we were down at the well/pumping station for the water project showing them the immensity of this project, God put on my heart to share with them about how God had Joshua build an alter once they crossed the Jordan rived and entered into the promised land. That even though they had many battles and struggles ahead, it was time to be remembered because they had chosen to cross the river and GO for it. So, we built an alter right there. Each student, that was ready to make this the defining day for them in terms of pursuing God's vision for them, placed a stone on the alter. Every single student did it, each teacher and leader did it, I did it. It was a huge moment for me. I was so caught up in it I forgot to get a picture, Sorry. Clearly a highlight for me today. When I think about the leadership potential in that room and how God can work it fires me up. What an amazing day. Here's the five groups of students working hard on their vision:
Boy has this trip made me realize the importance of child sponsorship! I know it probably says it on the brochure, but it really is true that sponsorship can totally change the life of a child.
The teachers here love them, teach them, laugh and sing with them and tell them about Jesus. A wonderful, hardworking woman, named Consuelo, serves them a hot meal. Many of the kids come with plastic containers so that they can take home their leftovers. I'm thinking that it might be their only meal of the day.
Mindy, Scott and Carmen on our team each have a sponsored kid at this school. They have had the chance to play with them and get to know them. Their kids' parents have come up and embraced them and expressed their thanks. The feeling of love is so strong that it's pretty overwhelming. Scott's little girl is pretty feisty and it's clear that she is just craving attention, lots and lots of it!
The kids also get medical and dental check ups through Compassion. The last check up revealed that every single one of the over 200 students has worms. Compassion gives them medicine to clear it up, but it is bound to come back due to the poor water quality that they have available to them. They get so much rain here, but they lack a water system to collect and then get the water to their area. (There may be a blog from the Water Project team later in the week). Please pray for the Water Project to get the funding it needs to be completed. It's just not right that people can't have clean water in a place that gets 6 feet of rain in a year. In the dry season, water is collected from a dirty lake and the people have to pay about 1/3 of their income to get murky water to drink and cook with. There shouldn't be anyone, anywhere that has to do that.
It is the first Missions trip for my entire team, but we were immediately embraced by the kids. They have learned our names and we're working on learning theirs. Today we got to sing and dance with the 3-5 year olds in Senora Mira's room. It was so fun and I was really hoping to be able to show you a video of them singing a beautiful worship song, but it was too big to upload. :( We all got so teary watching them. I am loving this experience. I could go on and on, but my son, Evan, informed me that Blogs are supposed to be concise. Oops.
Anyway - if you've ever thought about Sponsoring a Child - I encourage you to do it. If you've ever thought about going on a missions trip - I recommend it. I'm here with my husband (Bruce) and kids, Evan (17) and Jenna (12). We've all felt totally comfortable here and I have no doubt this experience will be life changing for all of us.
Imagine 50 students seeking God for vision, realizing that He DOES have something for them, He can equip them and enable them to accomplish it. No matter what their circumstances, no matter what others have told them, if God has tapped them on the shoulder to do it, they will be able. Today we saw that happen in a very vivid way. It was powerful! As I listened to students share about how they felt God was calling them to impact their peers in the community who have had to leave school due to a pregnancy, as they spoke of reaching the many gang members in their community and building homes for those who have none, when what they have themselves is barely a home, I could not control the tears that rolled down my cheeks. As I talked with the young men and women God brought to this Leadership Training Program, it was powerful. Pastor Miguel shared with them his story how a simple man with a 2nd grade education, is now leading a church, a denomination, and driving the vision for clean running water for 10,000 people it helped them understand how God can use them. As we were down at the well/pumping station for the water project showing them the immensity of this project, God put on my heart to share with them about how God had Joshua build an alter once they crossed the Jordan rived and entered into the promised land. That even though they had many battles and struggles ahead, it was time to be remembered because they had chosen to cross the river and GO for it. So, we built an alter right there. Each student, that was ready to make this the defining day for them in terms of pursuing God's vision for them, placed a stone on the alter. Every single student did it, each teacher and leader did it, I did it. It was a huge moment for me. I was so caught up in it I forgot to get a picture, Sorry. Clearly a highlight for me today. When I think about the leadership potential in that room and how God can work it fires me up. What an amazing day. Here's the five groups of students working hard on their vision:
