Yesterday our team of 11 visited Mama Carmen’s Orphanage in Guatemala City.  Our hope was to share Christ with the children there and to deliver the backpacks donated by our KVNE and KGLY listeners.

We are learning that a key word when on mission in a foreign land is flexibility.  We were surprised to find that the children were not at the orphanage when we arrived.  They were on a field trip to a local church…to play soccer and run around like normal kids.  A rare treat!

We quickly realized that this orphanage was very small for 65 children!  They have an indoor room which they use as a play area that is only 600 square feet!  And no place to play outdoors!  We also were distressed to see a gaping 8 foot hole in their makeshift roof.

Since the children were not there, we did whatever we could to help Mama Carmen who directs the orphanage.  We took down Christmas decorations, prepared crafts for our Bible lesson, cleaned the orphanage and organized food that we brought to the orphanage.

Many tears were shed during our most moving time…time spent in prayer in each room of this tiny, very basic facility.  We even prayed on the roof where we navigated many clotheslines full of clothes…Nearby two young ladies washed more clothes by hand, as they do for countless hours, so that these precious little orphans can have something clean to wear.

We also gathered enough backpacks for each child and left them with Mama Carmen.  We will put the name of each orphan in their very own backpack tomorrow.

Please pray that God will go before us as we visit a Christian pre-school run by the Mayor’s wife.  It will be a time of crafts, a Bible story, play time and giving backpacks to more precious children!  Because of listeners like you, we are making an eternal impact in the lives of little orphan children a world away!

Troy