Estrellas y Luciernagas

Friday night (viernes 25 de Julio)
When I was a little girl, I thought about magic alot. I found many things to be magical (and still do), two of which were estrellas (stars) and luciérnagas (fireflies). Yet the magic of these things is never quite as strong as when one stops to gaze upon them and wonder about from whence comes their mysterious beauty. Something must have bit me, because I´ve had this sense of wonder, these stars in my eyes, all day. Today I did not teach inglés. The kids had the day off for the Festival of the Dia de Lempira in the park (which sadly I had to miss because of my other job.) I spent a quiet morning with the Lord, reading and walking in the national forest that surrounds the Hospital Evangelico where I live. Then after lunch I went to La Carita de Angel.

This is a school for students with special needs. In total they have over fifty students with a variety of needs, the severly mentaly handicapped, physically handicapped, autistic, the blind, the deaf, some with mild learning disorders, and I´m sure more that I am unaware of. This is one of those places, where you go and you almost feel the presence of something Sacred. Mother Teresa says that “we cannot do great things, only small things with great love.” I sense the truth of this statement when I visit La Carita de Angel. There really are not good schooling options for people with disabilities in this city. The mothers that started this program have been through excrutiating battles with the government to keep the school in existence and run by caring people who have the best interested of the child in mind.

I´ll admit that I was really nervous upon arriving at La Carita. My Spanish langauge skill is very, very basic. I was concerned that I wouldn´t be able to help in the ways they needed. Yet I really wanted to be there, just to soak in the work that God was doing in that sacred place, and be changed by it. God is always faithful to show me that He is far greater than my fears. Despite the language barrier, the teachers and moms graciously let me help out with the kids. We only had 7 students the afternoon I was there. I got to play playdough with a little girl named Yulissa. Yulissa is almost completely blind and severly malnourished due to neglect by her caretakers. I also got to run around in the backyard with a cute little 8 year old boy (Melvin) who is deaf and mute and Melvin´s younger brother who is functionally fine, but refuses to talk because his older brother doesn´t talk. I met moms and young teenage sisters, who go to La Carita de Angel everyday with their son or brother. They give one on one attention to help their loved one learn new things. One young girl learned sign language from a book so that she scould teach the class at La Carita for the deaf. She is only 16. She taught me some signs so I could talk with my buddy Melvin. We made a pact that I would teach her English and she teach me sign in Spanish so I could help her in her class.

When I returned home, I played with Daniel and Diego (my host family´s gradnsons, and two little boys who´ve stolen my heart) for a couple of hours. We had a family dinner. Then we (Norma, Doris, and the three kids, Daniel, Diego, and baby Allejandra) spread a blnaket out on the drive way to look up at the stars, and the flirty fireflies that are everywhere at night. Thats when I remembered the magic of estrellas and luciérnagas. It was another sacred time of quiet and reflection. I thanked the Lord for the day and prayed for my friends at La Carita de Angel.

I wanted to share this day with all of you and once again say thank you for your prayers and for sending me here to Siguatepeque. Please keep La Carita de Angel, PRODIM (where I teach English) and the Hopspital Evangelico in your prayers.
Con todo mi amor,
Tecuida y Dios Te Bendiga!