This post by Mickey

I told my mom a million times I wasn’t gonna go on this trip. I argued and argued and argued. I was 99% sure I was not going. But a couple months before leaving I felt something that pushed me to say yes. I still had doubts, I tiptoed the line between wanting to go, and staying home. But the second I stepped off our off-road bus adventure, and saw the homes, the church, and the children’s faces I knew I was in the right place.

Today started with a stop at Walmart, buying presents, for the seniors, and children, sponsored or not. We were hard at work on the baptismal almost immediately upon arrival, as well as grading dirt, getting the church ready for the weddings due to happen tomorrow. Around noon we got to meet all the people our church sponsors, I also met those without sponsors. I was touched by the unsponsored children and seniors, they seemed so happy, yet I knew from days before the harsh living conditions they are subjected too. A vast difference in comparison to the sponsored children, while their living conditions are still harsh, the impact $35 a month can have on these people attests to the unbelievable level of poverty they live in.

Near the end of the day I gave a child I had bonded with while on this trip his present I had picked out earlier that morning. A soccer goal, ball, jersey, and a watch, his parents told me he would love. I gave him his presents and he stood there in silence, after a long pause he started murmuring something I couldn’t understand in Spanish as tears welled up in his eyes, I wrapped him in a big hug and told him I’d see him in the morning. Earlier this year my selfishness almost kept me from going on this trip, but now, the connections I have made are pulling me to stay.