A lesson on generosity

I wish I knew how to do make this blog better and add pictures, but since I don´t I will just have to describe it.

There are 4 cement walls and a roof. Outside there is a mattress against the wall, a wooden peice of  furniture and clothes everywhere being dried. Every possession this family had was soaked from the rain we received on Friday. They had to move it all out and everyone was working on cleaning up the place.

We give these 2 children their gifts and have them open it. The little girl received gummi worms as part of her package. Immediately she opens the pack and before even thinking of eating one she stands up and offers all 6 of us and her family some. What! I´m pretty sure if I had received that package I would have taken out the dress, the doll, the shirt, the crayons, and all else that didn´t have to be shared and then have waited to eat gummies all on my own. Maybe I would have a more giving heart, maybe I would have given my brother a piece.

An hour later we are working with young girl who has what would appear to be cerebral palsy but it´s not bc she wasn´t born with it but could be a stroke and now a right hemi. Regardless she was malnourished confined to a bed for 5 years and was in very bad condition. 3 years ago our team found out about her and has been working with her since. There house is about the size of master bedroom, shared by 5 people. No AC of course, or running water. There are about 15 of us in this house bc all the small kids want to come watch what we are doing. We work on therapy type things, adapting her wheelchair making a low tech communication device etc. Before we leave they ask if they can make us coffee. Of course they want to go out and buy bottled water for coffee, even though there are days they can´t even eat for lack of money. We graciously say no, and so her older sister comes and gives me these 2 sets earrings she had. One for me and one for the other OT.

Stories like these could continue. I am constatnly seeing the generosity and selflessness of adults and children as young as age 3 all around me. The ones who have nothing want to give the most.

Why is that sharing a brownie can be so difficult for me sometimes. Pathetic yet true.  Why is it that the more we have the more we want and the less we give...

Some of the lessons in life are so simple yet so hard to put into practice. Thank God he shows us in many ways and different situations and that even though we fail so many times, His love doesn´t.

And the greatest commandment is...

Since a very young age, God placed in my heart the desire to do mission work. I didn’t have an agenda for what I would do when the time came to go to third world countries. I didn’t have a goal of building houses or teaching English, etc. I just wanted to go love on the little ones. The orphans, the destitute, they needed to know they were loved by God, and I just wanted to be the instrument of His love. His greatest commandment is to love Him, his second, to love your neighbor. But my heart has always broken for those who do not have a family to show them love and I fear they will grow up feeling abandoned by God. When I came on this trip, I quickly forgot the desire of just loving. It was replaced by the ambitions of my heart, fed by the success and goals we love to have. Sure there was pressure that this is part of my internship for my degree; therefore, it needed to be “successful”. These last few days have been a struggle. Nothing has gone according to plan. I have yet to be able to evaluate a child. Teachers are absent, preschools are being ran by a 13 year old= total chaos. Today it has rained so children don’t go to school. My project is short of being a complete FAILURE. What a scary word! By last night I was ready to go home, be back in my safety net and just write a fancy literature review to feel some accomplishment. But since that wasn’t an option, I was forced, and yes I do mean forced to go before God with true humility and surrender.  Ok God, whatever you want, whatever your will, but please just show me. This morning He spoke to my heart. Remember the desire I put in your heart. Remember love? Even if it’s one child for one day.  I received flashbacks of the little 3 year old boy who began crying at school yesterday. When I asked him what was wrong he said he wanted to go home, he was sleepy and tired. He looked exhausted. Wouldn’t you be, if you were 3 feet tall and expected to carry a gallon of water and bottles in your pants back to your family so you could bathe and drink, amongst many other chores? Mind you there are steep hills and rocks are everywhere. I then began a game with him, before long he was drawing me pictures and asking to have photos taken. Later that afternoon in another preschool class I was holding a little 3 year old. She begins to cry. She tells me she’s thirsty and wants water. It is almost 90 degrees and the school is not air-conditioned. I ask her teacher if there is water, but they ran out. Guess what, I can’t just get her some faucet water. She is so thirsty. I can’t solve the problem; we had all forgotten our bottled water. Instead I spin with her and throw her up in the air. Soon she is having fun and laughing and forgets her thirst. These are not miraculous stories. I have accomplished nothing, not even provided these children with what they really needed. All I have done is loved them. That is after all what I wanted to do, before my own will got in the way. You see, had our group not been there, those children would be left to just cry for hours because 30 three year olds under the supervision of a 13 year old cannot receive the attention they need. And if it means that I am here to just love these children for an afternoon, and entertain and play so they may forget their hunger, thirst and fatigue for an afternoon then to God be the glory.   

My first

Hi to all and thank you for wanting to be a part of this journey with me. This is my first time to blog, and I am by no means a creative writer like many of my friends, but I have created this blog in effort to share my experiences in my upcoming Dominican trip with family and friends. My trip will last only 10 days, but it's my first mission type trip. I will be going with Children of the Nations organizations (think World Vision on a smaller scale). As part of my doctorate project I will be conducting a needs assessment of their preschool, specifically motor and cognitive development in 3-5 year olds and the impact it has on their education.  Best part of it is getting to spend time with the little ones. As many of you may know, this is something God put in my heart my sophomore year in college. I had been planning on going to Africa, but God's plans were different, as they usually tend to be. In efforts of keeping this short I will simply say that this trip and doctorate internship is nothing short of God's specific plan in my life. It's not just an answered prayer, it's a prayer He planted many years ago. I have no expectations of this trip. I'm excited yet nervous. I'm constantly doubting. But God spoke powerfully through scripture 3 years ago to me in the book of Isaiah. 
As the rain and the snow
       come down from heaven,
       and do not return to it
       without watering the earth
       and making it bud and flourish,
       so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
  so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
       It will not return to me empty,
       but will accomplish what I desire 
       and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 
I am encouraged and hopeful in his promise. I know His plan will be accomplished. I wonder at what price though. True surrendering, it's rather a scary thought. But He asks us to do it. What will that look like? Only He knows, but for now I will rejoice in the opportunity given to me at the Dominican. Join me on this adventure! Living fully, growing in Him, and sharing the journey! 
~V