Guatemala: #1

“When Jesus Landed…”

We arrived in Guatemala City, the capital, a few hours after midday (between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m.) and went from there directly to our first stop. No time to relax! We visited Casa Aleluya Orphanage, which was started 19 years ago and is run by a very dedicated couple — a member of the Baptist clergy and his wife from Arkansas. It is a very beautiful place. There are approximately 230 boys and girls living and going to school there, and they seem to be very happy. They refer to the couple that runs the orphanage as “Papi” and “Mami” and they show the couple a great deal of affection and appreciation. It’s a very large orphanage with facilities for residences, schools, sports and a cafeteria for a large number of children.

As we walked around the expansive orphanage facility, we were told stories of the unhappy background of these children. Many of the girls had been sexually abused by their fathers, uncles or other adults in their families. They come to the orphanage to heal and to feel whole again. Many of the boys come from very poor surroundings and, all too often, homeless situations. These desperate children at long last find a place of shelter, refuge and love at this orphanage.

One of the stories told to us by the gentleman who runs this place really touched my heart. He was talking to a group of girls, perhaps not really conscious of his audience, trying to convince them of the value of presenting themselves to their husbands as virgins. One of the girls started crying very pitifully, saying that she would not be able to do this, because her father had raped her repeatedly. The gentleman who runs the place was left speechless. At this time, God inspired a little 12-year-old girl to stand up and speak. She approached the girl who was crying and told her that she really could present herself to her husband proudly, because she did not give anything away, but rather, it was taken forcibly from her. This was a great comfort to the young girl who was so upset, and it reminded me of the biblical quote, “Out of the mouths of babes… you have perfect praise.” As He silenced a well-intended adult in this situation, God spoke His truth through an innocent child.

Food For The Poor is doing a water project at Casa Aleluya Orphanage. We have dug a well and will be providing power to a pump to send water up to a large cistern at the top. Gravity will then supply clean water to various areas of the orphanage and school. We are happy to be able to do this in order to help this very worthwhile place.

As we were walking back toward our bus, we again saw the masses of children who lived there. They were well nourished and healthy. How happy they looked! I thought about from where they originally came and how fortunate and blessed they were to be cared for by people who were inspired to have a ministry that saves children from a very tough life. In these countries, orphanages are not the places of horror that we read about in our literature — where children are abused and mistreated. In the countries we serve, our orphanages are places of joy and happiness where the caretakers truly love the children and take wonderful care of them.

After our visit to the orphanage, we went to Antigua, possibly the best-preserved colonial city of the New World. We were staying at a beautiful place called “Centro Luterano” (Lutheran Center), which is used as a retreat house for Lutherans. It is a Spanish-style building with a lovely courtyard in the center. The rooms, both dormitories and dining rooms surround the courtyard. The grounds are expansive and beautiful, with a great view of an active volcano from the front, and ancient, partly buried Mayan ruins in the back. They are going to do excavations of the ground to uncover what is buried there and learn more about these natives of Guatemala. We had a delicious dinner that night and met the very energetic woman who runs the facility (Nury). We enjoyed some very interesting presentations that were given, including the history and work of Lutherans in that country.

We also visited their peaceful little chapel and had our first reflection meeting there. Pastor Dave Mueller, who actually prepared everything and used the same biblical quote every night to inspire us, led these every evening. We then had discussions relating to what we had seen and how we felt about our experiences. The quote was: “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14) — This simple quotation was our spiritual north throughout the pilgrimage to lead us from awareness to action to advocacy.

We retired for the night in our very modest but comfortable rooms. The temperature there was cool, and I really enjoyed our night there and hope to visit again.