Recap - Monday in La Cuenca

Our final morning in La Cuenca was the most impactful hours our Seniors have spent on this trip. Tears were shed by many and hearts were broken, as we walked deep into this refugee camp to spread the love of Christ.

We gathered as a group and divided into 4 small teams of 7-8, as the homes we were visiting were quite small. We did not want to overwhelm the families we were visiting. Each group carried a large bag of food and other necessities to give to the family.

We were accompanied by Hugo, Nathan and Melanie who all work with Smiles with Hope, the ministry located in the middle of La Cuenca. Carlos who has been with us all week was there with his guitar, as was Alfonso with his recorder (which he plays so beautifully you would think it was a flute).

We walked deep into La Cuenca, stopping at different homes along the crazy twisted paths of the area. At each home, a team went in and met the mother of the household. We played music and sang Psalm 23 to each one, just to bring a small amount of "light" into their dreary surrondings. The bag of food was given. It seemed like such a meager offering, but was received with joy and appreciation. We asked about things to pray for and spent a few moments praying for each mother and household.

My group stopped first and met a mother named Sandra, her little daughter Brittany, and her older son Julian. Julian is working on his studies and later bragged to me that he had made a 90 on his last English exam and had never made below an 80 in any of his classes. Julian is trying to learn to love the Lord in the midst of his broken world. He followed us the remainder of the time we were walking through La Cuenca. He stayed at the back of our group, on the edge, listening and watching. I can only hope God used our presence today as another way to witness to this young man, that even though he feels invisible to the rest of the world, God sees all, knows all, and loves all, enough to send a group of Americans into Julian's world to pray for him and his neighbors.

 Sandra asked us to pray for her other son, who had fallen into a gang. As I stepped up to pray for her, I had Carlos ask her if she wanted him to interpret my prayer. She said no, that God hears all languages. I prayed for her, her family and for her son. I shall forever be praying for Sandra.

We returned to the ministry building, to talk about what we had seen and how it had impacted each of us. The message to the Seniors was that what they had seen was not to make them feel guilty, nor should they shrug and think "oh well, too bad for them". More important were the questions "What are you going to do about it? Now that you have seen how bad it can be, how are you going to change it? All that we have and all that we are given, including our gifts and talents, are a blessing from God, to be used in service to others.  Make much of your blessings and make much of God."

We praise Hugo and his team for the life changing work they are doing in La Cuenca. May God bless and protect them in a mighty, mighty way.

Lori Horton