“Love is a universal language. It knows no race, no speech barrier, no walls, and no prejudice. A touch, a hug, a laugh, a kiss or even a tickle means the same thing across the globe. My heart has been touched in a new special way, by serving the orphans of Costa Rica this week.
Our second day here, we visited a large government run orphanage housing with maybe 100 children. The kids eagerly swarmed our bus, more desperate for attention and affirmation than the toys we brought with us. As soccer games, basketball matches, Frisbee contests and nail painting broke out, I was drawn to one special little girl coloring all alone. I came and sat beside her and got her name and told her the picture she was drawing was pretty (via our translator). We never really spoke again, but there was no need for words. We colored for over an hour! Occasionally, I would look up at her and smile and she would just glow. She gave me one of her pictures and I will treasure it forever. When it was time to leave, I asked her for a hug and held out my arms and she squeezed me tighter than anyone ever has – aside from maybe my own mother! She took my hand in her tiny fingers (as she was probably no more than four years old) and I walked her back to her little house.”
-Jessica, 28 (Mississippi) Costa Rica Trip November 7-12, 2011
“‘Impact’ is the best single word I can use to describe the last five days with Good Goers. The impact on my life has been a tremendous focusing on what God’s Will is for my life both short and long term. This has brought a tremendous amount of renewed energy and peace.
The greatest impact however, is the impact we have been allowed to have in the lives of widows and orphans. To walk through a squatter village and talk with, pray for and distribute food, has a powerful impact on their lives. To see the light in a woman’s eyes, when you simply assure her of God’s love and that she is not alone or forgotten no matter how difficult her circumstances. In a place with open ditch sewage, housing made from old skids, children who become sexually active at age 11 years old, breaks your heart and certainly the hearts of the women living in these conditions. While we cannot change their circumstances immediately, we can move forward with God’s love and be part of mending their broken hearts.
My biggest commitment is to pray daily for these families that they will not be forgotten by me and certainly never be forgotten by our Lord and Savior. One week can change a life – yours and a widow or orphan who needs to be simply reassured that God cares.”