Written on Saturday, September 11, 2010
Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. Spending the day with my new Compassion child, Stefanie, was amazing. I did see some hard things during the day, but I gave myself permission to feel the joy fully because I knew what was coming next on the agenda.
This morning I woke up with a bit of a weak stomach. I knew we were visiting the city dump and the people who lived and worked there. I wanted to see it – well, sort of – but I was very nervous. I had a mental image of myself wandering through the homes in sackcloth and ashes and wailing at the top of my lungs. I wasn’t sure what that was going to do for anyone. I was also a little concerned about losing my breakfast in front of the team. That was a real possibility. My mom and sister have both been down that road before and I didn’t want to complete the humiliation triangle.
Our team got on the bus and immediately started chatting away. Somehow we got on the subject of weird foods and I was repulsed to the point of nausea by something about sheep brains on toast. I could have gone my whole life without hearing that, I thought. Moments later I was asking Shaun Groves to sing along to A Whole New World, which was playing on the radio. (Remember Aladdin and Princess Jasmine?) Shaun still hasn’t blessed us with his vocal talents and we’ve been giving him a hard time.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at the settlement on the dump. Why would anyone want to live on a garbage pile? That was the question on my mind and you’re probably wondering, too. The people who live there don’t pay any kind of rent or taxes on the land. They only pay for power and water. It is very cheap, but they pay a high price in countless ways. The families who live there arrived in desperate situations. Eight years later, they are still living in dwellings made of tin, cardboard, and blankets.
We had a very tough visit with one family and then began walking to another home. On the way, I saw a light-headed girl Annabeth’s age in the alley that we were walking through. She was very dirty and was playing with a filthy plastic doll. She never turned her face to me, so of course I pictured my daughter’s. I could have gone my whole life without seeing that, I thought. Ironically, within those few minutes we heard A Whole New World playing on a radio again.
We ended up driving to a cemetery where we could look out over the dump and get a better view of the settlements where 20,000 families dwell. The cemetery itself was fascinating. All of the graves were above ground, so it was just tomb after tomb after tomb. I’d never seen anything like it in person. It was ironic that the dead were housed better than the living people we’d just met.
A short walk took us to a cliff that overlooked a sea of filth. Below us, trucks were driving in and out and men were unloading trash at a frenzied pace.
The tombs were all around us and vultures were resting in groups on top of them. Hundreds more were circling above our heads. I was so thoroughly freaked out that I hid under the overhang of a sarcophagus. I could have gone my whole life without seeing this, I thought. I feel like I’m in hell. Thankfully, because of Jesus, that was the closest I will ever get to it.
I was desperate to get back in the van. I couldn’t take any more. The smell, the horror flick reality, the freaky birds, the desperation, the children living in the dredges of a sinful world. Stick a fork in me, I was done. When we finally returned to the van, I pressed my forehead on the back of Ann Voskamp’s seat and cried.
What if I had gone my whole life without seeing that? What if I anesthetized myself so much with wealth that I was convinced this wasn’t so? It needs to be known.
My original title for this post was “To Hell and Back,” but I didn’t think anyone would stick around to read it. If you’re still here, please stay with me because I want to take you to the “and Back” part.
It was time to visit the Compassion Child Development Center that serves the children who live on the dump. We were put to joyous work right away, serving lunch to the children and workers. The children eagerly approached the serving area where Lindsey and Lisa-Jo filled their bowls with rice and soup and Ann ladled lemonade into their cups. I was in charge of handing out tortillas. Dos o tres tortillas? I asked. The tortillas were very warm and so was the atmosphere. My sadness and hopelessness began to fade as the joy of doing something to help took its place.
Our leader, Patricia, brought bags of shoes to be given to the children in this community. I had brought a few of Annabeth’s shoes from home and stuffed them in the bag with the others.
At one point I heard someone calling my name and motioning for me to come. It was a mother holding her baby girl who was wearing Annabeth’s black mary janes. Oh, thrill of my heart! She was absolutely precious and medicine to a homesick mama’s heart.
We were invited to visit each of the classrooms and interact with the students. There were boys and girls ages 3 to 16 spread throughout the building. As we walked through the halls, it was like a breath of fresh air. The church was clean and spacious. The children had room to play in safety, under the watchful eye of loving adults.
We entered the room with the teenagers. Most of them were boys. I was thankful to see that because boys in these neighborhoods are very likely to join gangs. The child development program is a HUGE deterrent for them. We had met a handful of strong, godly fathers during this trip and seen a big difference in the disposition of their children. I have hope that these boys will grow up to lead their families in strength and godliness.
Before we left, we had the pleasure of hearing the pastor’s testimony. He said he had lost seven years of his life to drugs. When he was 21 years old, he came to faith in Christ. He sought out a church and during the altar call, he laid on the floor and surrendered his life to God. When stood to his feet, the need and desire for drugs had been completely taken away. Now he only needed and desired God. He has been a pastor for ten years. His wife is a doctor. Can you imagine what a great team they are? The pastor has a heart for the people of this community because he knows what it’s like to live in desperation. He knows what it’s like to live in redemption.
God is at work in the desperate situations. Honestly, when we were in the dump today I couldn’t see Him. I was blinded by buzzards as Satan hissed in my ears that God is not powerful enough to deliver these people. That He must not really love them. But when we walked in the doors of the church the lies were dispelled. We saw the salvation of our God.
Did you know that on average, 500 Compassion children around the world give their lives to Christ every single day? Isn’t that mind-boggling? You can be a part of giving spiritual, physical, and emotional hope to a child living in a desperate situation. Please consider supporting a child through Compassion International. If you’d like to change the life of a child from Guatemala, click here.
Amanda,
Thank you for this awesome work and for allowing God to shine through you just as your Momma does. My heart aches for these babies, I mean literally aches. All glory to God, I just signed up to invest lunch (@$4.00/per day) into 3 of these beautiful children. Emmanual(10), Pitri (11) and Karla (9). I am too blessed to pass this opportunity by. This is God’s Kingdom we are investing in here. I AM SO HONORED! I love all you siestas.
Vickie, thank you for blessing these three children.
O.M.Goodness,you will not believe what I just did. I just ask ALL my facebook friends and family if they would consider sponsoring a CI child. Why the heck not, I ask you? I’m sure they’ve all heard about it….I just put it out there again. A mere $1.26/day to bless a child. Seriously, how can we not! Yep, that’s exactly what I ask them too. I’ll keep you posted….please pray for their hearts to be open to bless others. Have a great day!!!
Oh, I hope I don’t get tears on this. It is heartbreaking and makes you want to get on your knees right then and say Thank you Lord for all you have given us. Yet, how many children in this country are going hungry today. I hope not but I was at Mcdonald’s a few years ago and a Mother and her three children were sharing a meal, just one meal. I asked her if it would embarrass her if I bought her children a happy meal. She told me no with tears. They were living in their car. I was overcome. She was getting help she said but I wondered. So many people in need. How blessed you are to be helping. How we all should be helping more. Thank you for sharing with us.
Oh, Amanda, I should not have read this at work – I had to close my office door I was crying so hard! God is so good but how my heart aches for the precious little ones and their families who do not have sponsors. How could anyone look at these photos and not have a broken heart – we have so much to be thankful for. I may not have a huge amount of money but it is obvious that I don’t give enough.
My little compassion boy lives in Thailand – how I would love to meet him in person. What a blessing you had to get to spend the day with your sweet little girl and her family!
Thank you so very much for sharing.
Even with all the information you gave about the situation you made my day. Thank you for being Jesus’ hands and feet.
Thank you so much for allowing me to see what I have not believed from mere reports elsewhere. I struggle with knowing I have been hypnotized by wealth, illusion of peace and security. Thank you for faithfully going where He has led you-and praise HIm that He is able to redeem from figurative and literal dumps! God richly bless all of you. Anxious for your safe return and reuniting w/your family. Thay will be forever changed by your being forever changed.
Amanda, wow. What a beautiful post. I started out weeping through it and ended up just praising our mighty God. Thank you for seeing it. Thank you for sharing it.
How amazing that God would orchestrate a scenario for a baby girl to wear Anna Beths shoes! Your face shows it all. Thank you to the photographers who took time to capture your moments to share with us. Dedra@DFW
Keely Scott was our photographer and she was AMAZING! She truly ministers through her work. And she is really fun, too. 🙂
The whole time I read this post I was singing to myself that Chris Tomlin song…
‘You’re the God of this city, You’re the God of these People, You’re the Lord of this nation, you are.
You’re the light in the light in this darkness, you’re the hope to the hopeless, you’re the peace to the restless, you are. For there is no one like our God, there is no one like our God…. Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city’
Your posts stirred up in me to make it a point to write my sponsor child in India more often!!
Amanda,
You know this is a blog that is truly a safe place, I mean even though everyone in the world could see our comments, its just a place to go to speak your heart where you can’t do it in other places online.
Sunday’s message at church was so humbling…something my Pastor said really hit my heart, ” God is limited to how He can use us when we enslave ourselves to other things.”
Well, I saw deeper into it…”when we enslave ourselves to others.”
I mentioned to you about not tithing at church, because I was afraid my family would find out, but I have been…and not putting my name on an envelope..how can I let that fear engulf me like that? Well, I put down that fear after the message on Sunday, because I have wanted to sponsor a child in the past, but again…scared. I remember giving to the radio station before, and then hiding the mail when it came…wow.
Anyway, long story short…I did sponsor a child yesterday, and before I did I asked my Pastor if I could use the church address…and he was totally fine with it:)
God is good, beyond all my fears…His love is strong enough to conquer it.
1 John 4:18
Angie, you are going to be so blessed by this little one, even if you never get to meet. Knowing the kind of writer you are, your letters are going to mean the world to him or her!
Wow. Thank you.
I’m excited about it:)
Thank you so much for these posts Amanda. I have had a hard time commenting because of the depth of emotion they have caused. My heart literally hurt looking at the pictures of the dump, and then did a complete flip and was about to burst with joy at the sight of those angelic smiles. Wow. Even now, my eyes are filling with tears. Thank you for making these people real to us, thank you for caring enough to put yourself through that range of emotions firsthand. Just thank you.
There’s a lot to be said about a young mom who takes time away from her littles to serve the Lord. It’s a “break” but it’s not a trip to Tahiti. Way to go Amanda! One day you’ll be taking them along w/ you leaving behind an amazing legacy for the Lord. Thank you Lord for all of our comforts here in the U.S.A.!
Amanda, I have been to that dump and like you I was sick. We were passing out bibles and had to climb down a hill. I was praying the whole time for strength to get down the hillside where people lived in shacks or whatever. Human filth was running down the hill into a ravine (Not a pretty site or smell when one was praying not to Barf all over everyone).
Anyway, the very last shack we came to a woman came out and burst into tears when we handed her a bible. She said she had been praying for a bible for ten years! Wow! Talk about God making it worthwhile!!!
I prayed my way up the hill, somehow made it and even got a to a western toilet soon afterwards!!! (if you know what I mean!!!)
Praying for a Bible for 10 years?!?! Whoa. Thank you for sharing this.
Amanda, Thank you for sharing this. I’ll admit, at first I was tempted to skip over your posts because I’m sure I shy away from stories and images that make me cry. I’m so thankful that I read anyway. I think we are about the same age, and my first son is 8 months old now. I feel like I can relate to your perspective. Everything I see about children suffering makes me cry, but I was so glad that God is using Compassion to bring relief and healing. The little girl that I’ve sponsored since I was in college through Compassion lives in Nicaragua, and I’m thankful that I’ve been reminded what her life may be like and why Compassion is so important. Thanks.
Brie
Amanda,
God used your blog post to help me make a phone call today that will change my life forever. My husband and I are going to a meeting next week to learn what we need to do to become licensed foster parents. I have been putting off scheduling that meeting because of fear. I’ve decided, like you, that I don’t want to live life anesthetized.
Praying God will use our family to bless a child in crisis and give us the strength to have our eyes opened to the hurts around us.
Bless you,
Carla in Central PA
Carla…wow. That is really wonderful. I’m saying a prayer for you and your husband right now. God bless you guys.
In one way, it makes me want to visit the children we sponsor in Uganda and Guatemala. In another way, it makes me NOT want to visit. I just don’t know if I could be brave enough to face the reality those children live in. Amanda, you’re a brave woman.
Amanda – as i read this post, i very vividly relived my mission trip to Nicaragua almost 2 years ago. It was my first – my husband has been on about 7. I was overwhelmed at the condition of the living situations for many families. Horrible. Wretched. Mind-boggling and heartbreaking to say the least. I wanted to take every child home with me!
i saw things that i couldn’t even have begun to imagine. poverty. filth. sadness. but when we offered them Jesus? When we sang worship songs with them and shared with them? oh, my..nothing but pure joy on their faces! It was amazing!
We built a church for them the next year and are going back in January to dedicate it and I am so excited. I hate to fly. Have only flown the one time, so it is a real big deal for me to get on a plane again. But I can’t wait to see those faces again….
thank you for going Amanda and for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us Amanda. I think everyone who claims Christ as Savior and Lord should take at least one trip like this. It changes your heart and changes your perspective. It’s not that we don’t all know people who need Jesus, it’s just that here in America it doesn’t seem quite as compelling. The visual reminder burned in the brain on a trip like this fuels the fire for the lost at home as well. We may not live in dumps here, but make no mistake, we are just as poor and desperate. May God continue to break our hearts with the things that break His.
Amanda,
Thank you so much for going on this trip, it is amazing how seeing how people are living around the world opens your eyes to the reality of your own life. You are a wonderful young woman and a blessing. I loved the picture of Annabeth’s shoes on the sweet little girl there. 🙂
karen:)
Amanda,
Thank you for taking this trip and then sharing so much with us. I was so struck by the true heart connections between children and sponsors–that at its core, this is a relationship ministry. The past ten years have been brutal for me and my five children in many ways and the result has been that much of my “ministry” was spent on them. My life was turned more inward than it had ever been before. But I have felt the Lord lifting my face and beginning to turn me out again. Even at times when I’ve been able to give big, I never cared much for just writing a check, and now even more, do I long to see the work God does and be a part of it. So I am contacting Compassion today about sponsoring a child. My daughter (with whom I did your mom’s Breaking Free study this summer) is a junior at Stanford and is headed to Cape Town to study this winter so I am going to see about the possibility of sponsoring a child near there. She has already been to Africa once to teach English and would LOVE to meet a sponsored child.
But (and I’m sorry this is so long) the other cool thing that happened is that I found a website called HOPEtels.com which basically routes people using normal travel sites that we’ve all heard of, so that part of their trip cost is donated to the non-profit of their choice. Compassion wasn’t on the list so I added it yesterday, along with a theatre I love here in Kansas City. The story of the founder of HOPEtels is terrific, so I hope people will use the site! Here’s the link if people are interested.
http://www.hopetels.com/boom.php?charity=compassion
Bless you and thanks again for all you shared.
Kate
Kate, thank you for investing in the life of a Compassion child! I’ve never heard of HOPEtels.com before. I’ll have to look into that. Thanks for sharing!
Amanda, Thank you so much for sharing as much of your trip with us as you could. My husband and I have sponsored a few children since we’ve been married, through Compassion. They are so awesome. We LOVE them. I always wish we could visit them, too. Especially to understand better what their ‘world’ is like, but for now just letters and pictures.
It was so good to see pictures of other children in the centers and programs, too! I think sometimes, even though I know and read letters, it is real easy to feel a bit disconnected with how these little ones live. Thank you for sharing!!
What a great post! Thank you for sharing with us. God Bless them all.
Amanda,
Between your and Ann Voskamp’s posts, my heart hasn’t been the same. Even tonight as I headed down an emotionally familiar “woe is me” path due to our large financial debt and work stress, the memory of your words and pictures brought me sharply around. Yes, my home may need repairs we can’t currently afford but we have an actual HOME. It has bathrooms and running water and protection from storms and all that the luxury of a home affords. Good heavens, in India there would be 60 people living in my house not 4!!
I cried to the Lord to make my heart rich in the things that are important to Him. I want to be different. Thank you for making yourself vulnurable by going on this trip. Thank you for encouraging us to be more than we have been and go where God is working. Bless you.
Thank you for sharing this, Faran. Blessings on you and your family!
Amanda,
What a beautiful journey you took!! I have been reading and crying… it touches my heart so much!
I am the mother of four precious children all born in Guatemala… coming home to us here in the US at different times and ages… Guatemala has such a precious place in our hearts! The conditions that you spoke of that people have to live in and deal with are so commonplace there… it is truly heartbreaking. Thank you for opening your heart… and for taking time away from your own precious family to go and be a blessing to the people of Guatemala.
I can’t imagine the joy it must have brought yoy to be able to meet your sweet sponsor child! How wonderful for both of you! I can assure you…that will be a life changing event for her as well… but I venture to guess that your life will never be the same again either.
Thank you for sharing so much! I feel as if I was right there with you!
Bless you for your sweet spirit…your very big heart…and for being the hands and feet of God to the people of Guatemala.
God Bless you!
Jennifer, I could not believe how beautiful the country was. The people were very humble, loving and gracious. I hope to go back one day. God bless your precious family!
Unbelievable that 38$ will change a childs life. I’m all in!!
Bless you, Ruthie!
Very humbling to see we just don’t know how good God is to us in this country until we leave it. If only everyone could come together to end this kind of suffering for all humans.
I didn’t even finish reading the complete entry before clicking on the link and signing up to sponsor a child. It was like trying to choose a pet from the pound – I wanted them all. I couldn’t pick one with all those other sweet faces staring at me, so I asked God to choose one for me and signed up to sponsor a child who has waited the longest. I haven’t received my packet yet, so don’t know who my child is or where he/she lives, but I’ve already begun praying for him/her and all the other children. The sadness and suffering in this world is just too much sometimes; how comforting it is to remember that Jesus will return and one day the suffering will end. Praise God!
Paige, thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping to rescue a child from poverty in Jesus’ name.
Dear Amanda,
Thank you so much for sharing your mission trip with us!!! Your comments and the pictures made it a vividly sad & joyful experience-pulling at my heart strings!! Your witness has encouraged me to sponsor a child thru Compassion because I can see that they have truly helped children!! So I’m praying my husband will be in agreement! I get so caught up in my own concerns and daily trials – I’m glad to see what good I could help with!!!
Thank you again for your posts and to all you siestas who have posted your own experiences. It hurts so much to see all the hurting people in the world – I don’t know how God can stand it!! But now I know of at least one good organization that truly helps!
lovingly, Barb
Barb, God bless you for sponsoring a child!
I was so inspired by your pictures. I have been to Guatemala on two mission trips, but we were mostly working in Huehuetenango. I have been holding off on sponsoring a child, but today God told me to stop waiting! I will be sponsoring Rose from Kenya. I cannot wait to send letters and pictures to show her how special and loved she is. Thank you for sharing God’s truth, even when it was difficult to take in.
Katie, thank you for blessing sweet Rose!
After reading you blogs about your involvement with Compassion International, I went to their website. I had read your sister’s blogs about it, too. My husband came home from work and I showed him the pictures you’d posted. We went to the CI and looked around a little. he said, I would say that we should pray about being a sponsor, but I’m not sure that’s even necessary.” That’s not to make light of prayfully seeking God’s will, oh no ma’am. What he meant was this: Here we are surfing the internet on a computer, watching netflix through the wii on our tv, ordering a pizza for dinner…what is there to think about? Now we are by no means what you’d call rich. We rent our home, both our cars were bought used and are now 13 years old, and we rarely do things like go to the movies or eat out (by the way the computer and wii were gifts from grandma!). But compared to the majority of the world’s population, we live like royalty. And I guess in a way we are because our Father is the KING. More impressive and important, though, is that He was a Servant King. We knew in our hearts He wanted us to sponsor a child. And so today I got to write our first letter to Jairo in Esquipulas, Guatemala. It was a Happy Birthday letter. He will turn 11 on October 5th, as will our son, Braeden. We plan to tell Braeden about the sponsorship on their birthday as a gift. Thank you for sharing your experience. You have played a part in Jairo (and hopefully many other children) getting a sponsor.
Amber, that’s wonderful. Thank you so much for investing in Jairo’s life. It will mean the world to him to hear from your family.
Please be praying with my hubby and I as we pray over this tonight! We love Samaritan’s Purse and have been so blessed to contribute to that ministry, but we want to seriously put Compassion before God and ask Him if this is what He’d have us do right now.
Those pics, Amanda…they really got me! What precious, precious children and families! The little girl with big brown eyes, in the pink shirt…good gracious, girl. I could just squeeze her!
Blessings siestas!!!! 🙂
Praying now, Kristi. Did you know that Living Proof Live partners with Samaritan’s Purse? Blessings!
i was so moved by this post that i forwarded it to some of my friends. Thank you for sharing Amanda
Amanda,
Thank you for your willingness to go and be stretched by God and for taking us along. I read almost all of the posts from all who went on the trip. At the beginning of each school year I ask God for a prayer that will heip me be a better teacher. This year He gave me “Break my heart for what breaks yours.” I think He has been working overtime as it has affected every area of my life not just school. After being broken by your posts I knew I had to sponsor a child and just needed to sit down one evening and search for the right one. I was positive that would be a child from Guatemala. I was going to do it as soon as I got home from church Wednesday night. When I turned on my computer at school that morning it opened to my home page which told a story about an 8 year old boy in Kenya who was the sole financial support for his family. He makes a penny a day for dragging a goat many miles to the slaughter house. I was broken again and torn between choosing a kid from Guatemala or Kenya. You guessed it I now sponsor Zoila an 8 yr old girl from Guatemala adn Bondiface a 5 year old boy from Kenya!
Thanks for opening my eyes to a need.
Lisa
Lisa, that is so awesome! You made my day. Thank you for blessing these children!
Wow! That was really powerful! So happy to see first hand what Compassion is doing – I live in Colorado and have sponsored various kids in the programs for almost 15 years. For everyone out there who is thinking about it – it really is one of the best programs out there. I had a chance to go see my first sponsored kiddo in India who is a teenager now and I couldn’t go this year – not my season! I was so sad about it – I really wanted to go and visit her. Good for you getting out there and experiencing it as hard as it may be!
I just signed up to sponsor a little boy in Uganda named Edward…..I am overjoyed!!! I can’t wait to get my packet in the mail. I told my four kids about him and they are interested in helping me help him. What a great way to show God’s love. Thank you for making me aware of Compassion International..I had never heard of it until this posting. Your trip was worth it. I was sitting on the beach in Hawaii on vacation when I read your post. I was immediately overwhelmed and started to cry. Thank you for making us aware of the enviroments people live in. We are so spoiled here in America, me being one of them.
Joni, thank you for blessing little Edward! He will be so thrilled to hear that he has been sponsored and I know he will be eager to hear from your family. Bless you!
Dear Amanda,
You have no way of knowing what a blessing this post was. My own darling daughter-in-law went to Guatemala as part of a mission trip from her grad school at Fuller in California. When she came home I mentioned to her that I would like to sponsor a child in Guatemala but neither one of us knew how to go about that process. And lo and behold in catching up on the blog I find a link…and so I now have a sponsored child in Guatemala named Yimi.
Isn’t our God just plain awesome!
Leslie in Utah
Leslie, that’s so cool! Thank you for blessing Yimi.
Thank you for this post. It was so real. I liked how you did not gloss over your true feelings about the dump, and how you honestly felt like you were in hell. And how you then brought it around to hope. I also loved hearing the detail about the boys. As a mom to 3, I am passionate about raising up godly men to lead their families & I’m encouraged that my support of Compassion is helping do that across the world. Thanks!
I just wanted to let you know that I loved your post on your trip to Guatemala. It so expresses the reason why my family and I are now living in Guatemala as full time missionaries. I grew up in Guatemala but as a kid, my eyes were not open to see all the hurt. It was just normal for me to see kids in the dump and begging on the streets. When I brought my family back on a mission trip with our church, I saw Guatemala in a whole new light, through the eyes of an adult and my heart wanted to be back in Guatemala. It took awhile for my husband to get on board with the idea and I had to be patient that the Lord would put the desire in his heart as well. After 8 years, He did and now we have been in Guatemala for a month and LOVING it.
If you want to see more about our ministries….please go to our website and we ask that you pray for lives to be touched and changed.
Many Blessings to you and your ministries!
I’m saying a prayer for you guys right now. May God bless your ministry in Guatemala!
Amanda,
Thank you for sharing your trip with us through these posts. To get to see the joy and love in the faces of these children because of Compassion International, just thrills my heart. No, to see the LOVE OF CHRIST on every face in every picture you have shared Thrills me the most!! Oh our God is such an Awesome God… and to see the work that He is doing in the lives of these children and families in a poverty stricken land and Just How Much He Loves Us His Children, well, it leaves me filled with joy and breaks my heart all at the same time…. is that even possible?
I’m speechless now, as I try to comprehend His Love for us!
Much ♥,
Hollie
Your quote “I could have gone my whole life without seeing this” and how it evolved into “What If I had of gone my whole life without seeing this?”– thank you for sharing your journey with me via these words and pictures. I read this the week you posted it, and now have read it again, and it has reminded me of a time that I walked onto a mesa in arizona, i was a hurting and hungry 19 and it was my first time viewing people whom lived in the rocks in rock houses, and i have never been made to feel so welcome as i was into their homes. some fellow students i was with had some off- remarks, but for me, it resonated something within me that i hope i never forget. thank you for helping me to reflect…
Can’t wai to see you at Ridgecrest….If you get there early ….take a trip to Topps Shoes on Lexingron…that is if you like shoes