A day I will never forget.

Ed here - there is so much to tell and so little time. Today was day two of our visit to the projects. Today was project 268 they call it the House of Diamonds. The church plant was started a few years back - their facility was modern by Teguc standards and compared to project 235. But the needs are still very evident. Children have an amazing resilience and even in the face or poverty have smiles that would warm even the coldest heart. They love to have visitors and they love even more to have their pictures taken. We did not actually go into the dump itself but were on the outskirts of the dump, where the project is situated.

This was a particularly hard day for me, but in the face of the difficulties I was also able to witness a new friendship. Joselin and Emily met! Joselin was very shy at first but Emily was able to pull her out of her shell and she and Emily spent the day hand in hand smiling together, playing together, without a word being spoken. Joselin has a special friend at the project and her special friend has a direct tie to our special friends back home. Dave and Shelly, Joselin’s friend is Jennifer. Emily, Joselin and Jennifer were like glue all day. Cannot wait to show you our pictures.

The hard part of the day however came at the home visit. We had seen some very amazing conditions up until this point, but Joselin’s home was the last on our list. Tears are on my cheek now as I type this! First off we had a very steep walk up to their home and the path was covered in glass, broken metal, and other sharp objects. It was very dangerous. The House of Diamonds seeks desperately to ensure they children and their families are able to hold their head high in such adverse situations (I can see why they are a good fit with Compassion and its mission).

We were unable to take many pictures of Joselin’s home out of respect for her mother, who on several occasions noted she was “ashamed” of her home and was visibly embarrassed to have us in their home. Christina, Emily and I had a hard time pulling ourselves together in order to share with them the pleasure it was for us to meet them, even for a brief moment. We balled out eyes out once we were back in the bus. This home had to have been in the worst shape of all we had seen to this point. We wanted Joselin and her madre know that we pray for them every night and that we were honored to have them as part of our extended family. I seem to have run out of words on this topic for tonight. But I know God knows our heart, our desires and our abilities.  I just wish I could pull them out of that situation!