Our last day of work yesterday was everything we could have hoped and more. We spent the morning doing what women do best - holding babies and entertaining little ones! We were at the Hospicio de San Jose, which is like an orphanage for HIV+ children. Unlike the others we've seen this week, they are physically well cared for in this beautiful facility, which is sponsored by the Rotary Club. But they are missing out on the love of their parents, and most of the outside world here is afraid of them. They are just in need of human touch, and we were happy to provide that, along with prayers for their physical healing.
The closing session of our Precepts Bible study with the women at Pastor Saul's church blew us away. We in the U. S. take these studies for granted, but it was life-changing for these women. In my group, all the women were there all week, except one whose son was so sick he had to be hospitalized. She called Layla crying because she couldn't return to class, and asked her if there was any possible way she could still keep the study book. They gave one tear-filled testimony after another of how God's Word came alive for them this week. Many made new commitments, stepped out in decisions that God had convicted them to make, and finally realized God's love for them on an intimate level. They committed to continue meeting in small groups and to study the Bible like this starting this Sunday!
Many thanks to those back home who provided the funds to sponsor these women this week. At the very end we handed out the food bags to each one, which held rice, beans, sugar, salt, flour, oil, margarine, seasoning, soy protein, and eggs. Afterward they lavished us with gifts they had made, letters they wrote to us, and personal thank-you's said with streams of tears. Until you have experienced it, there's no way to describe how humbling it is to be that vessel that God has used, and be privileged to be the one receiving the thanks for what God has done through the Holy Spirit. To say "it's not about me" doesn't even begin to describe it. It's about something larger than I can even wrap my mind around - how on earth was I chosen to be a part of it? Hallelujah!
"I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. [You asked,] 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. Job 42:2-3
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