My heart: from shallow to shattered. pt 2.

My last post was Tuesday, our first day at Hope Of Life. In relation to the rest of the week it pretty easy going. Of course it was just the beginning.

Day 2 at Hope of Life.

Our team was able to get the official tour of the campus with Carlos Vargas, the founder of this amazing organization. I could write about what an amazing individual he is, but I will save that for another post in the near future! As I reflect on this day, looking through the pictures of our tour, was the inspirational and simple words from Carlos. "Don't just be a dreamer, be a dream maker." Of course, he also told us not to hang out with losers otherwise we'd soon be losers too. Which I truly believe we become like the 5 people we spend the most time with... Carlos just reminded us of that. This was his dream. He, along with God's blessing, made it a reality by being a dream maker. It started on one acre of land... and now it's a 5,000 acre campus. How remarkable. How absolutely inspiring it is to know He gave his life to God, and has touched thousands of people through his ministry of Hope Of Life. Literally saving and changing lives.

The Hope of Life campus has several facilities to it. The orphanage, the baby rescue center, the home for the elderly, Kelly's house, several houses with rooms for the interpreters and families of the rescued babies if they come with them, the school, the Hope of Life village, a few warehouses, etc. We toured and heard Carlos' heart behind everything. A cherished memory.

The next pictures are of Kelly's house. Kelly's house is a special needs house donated by the family of Kelly Gourley, who wanted to keep her memory and spirit alive after she passed away from cancer. Her two cousins, Katie and Shelley, were on our team and this was a precious moment for them. I'm glad I got to hear about Kelly's legacy from her family and how it's helping the special needs children now. I'm so happy to have gotten to know Katie and Shelley. Kelly's memory will always be alive, even to those of us who didn't have the pleasure to meet her. Love you both! We are thankful for your family and the lives you changed by building this house.

 Next we met some kids at the orphanage!

Next stop was Hope Of Life village. This village is a place for abused women to come and live in a safe environment on the Hope of Life campus. At this moment, it was hard to take in all the faces and sweet women and children we met along this walk. I am happy they have a safe place to live, but am heartbroken why they are there. A bunch of kids walked with us, held our hands, and touched our hearts.

 In the above photo is where we learned if the kids have brown or blonde streaks in their hair, it's a sign of malnourishment. As you can see in this photo, she has brown streaks all throughout her hair but she has dark roots which means she's getting the nutrients! Great news.


Next, we went to work! We bagged over 1700 bags of food, 5 bags within 1 bag per family, which totaled to over 425,000 servings. We packaged up paper towels and other toiletries. We moved hospital beds and medical equipment. It took a team of 31 to get this done and  we all worked together, making friends, and having conversations as we served. I even almost got clonked on the head by a soup can when unloading the bus haha! :) This was our first getting our hands dirty experience. It was a true blessing to serve and help where help was needed on the hope of life campus.

When we had our free time, we got cleaned up and were able to go and visit with the elderly and baby rescue center. I'm going to make a post specifically for the baby rescue center because of all the stories would take up this whole page, but I can't even emphasize how big of a blessing it was to experience this day with this team. We really lucked out with the best hardworking group of people to be together this week.

My sweet new friend Kristina and me that night. We had a beautiful view from our missions house, had a great day, sore arms, and a lovely time. To end my stories from day 2, I can just simply say. I am blessed to be a blessing. 

Philippians 2 "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men."