It´s hard to explane everything that goes on here. I´m not a big writer. Unless you are here, doing what I do with these amazing kids, then you cannot completely understand the feelings and heartache that goes on. I wish I could convey all that goes on in words, but I can´t. I am currently looking at my lasts. The last Friday here in Cuenca(today).My last shopping trips. My last talks with my roommates. My last tastes of Tutto Freddo´s unbeatable Limon ice cream. My last days with the kids I love. Here the weeks pass far too quickly and the month I have spent here has felt like a short moment. Time is not wasted. The time spent in service is savored more than the moments alone. 9 hours a day. 7 days a week. Out the door by 7am, and asleep by 10 pm. People tell me what I am doing is hard. But for some reason it does not feel that way. I enjoy waking up for the day ahead of me. I am excited to explore and create with the ones I love. I get to experience the joys of improvement in the growth of children and all those around me. I become more humble each day, because I recieve so much more than I give back. I am endlessly loved. I will admit that it is easier to do and serve here. All our other decisions are made for us. We don´t need to shop for our food. We don´t need to worry about school. We don´t have outside distractions. So it is easy to become absorbed in the service that we do. But most of the enjoyment and ease come from the kids we work with.
About half of the kids we work with have special needs. For most we are their temporary hands. Here on earth they cannot do what they need for themselves so it becomes our job to help them. They are so incredibly perfect that they serve us each day by letting us help and serve them. I was almost suprised by my joy when I found out that one of the little boys I work with, Denny, is getting a feeding tube surgery today. I´m not positive but I believe he is 4 years old. Ever since he was a baby, he has stuggled to swallow anything, and is practically skin and bone. He cried anytime he had to eat, and would almost always throw half of it up. But now because of the work of one of my roommates, Abby, and many donations, I am able to see a miracle.
Another child that has had an impact upon my life is Jacob. He and Denny are both at the orphanage we volunteer at in Azogues. Jacob also struggles to eat. We had hoped to provide Jacob with a feeding tube as well, but one of the doctors said that he does not need one. We are now hoping to put the money raised towards a speech therapist that will help him learn to swallow. The part of him that has changed me and my outlook is his endless happiness for others. The first time I met him, I immediately saw his smile, and since then I have seen that he smiles for others more than himself. Whenever I work at Azogues I always want to see Jacob. Most often he is sitting in a carseat on the floor, watching the other kids play. He smiles when he sees you smiling. He smiles when he hears a child laughing. He smiles because he´s happy that others are happy. His joy is endless because he is able to find joy all around him no matter the circumstance he is in. I want to be more like him, because if everyone were more like Jacob, the world would be a much better place. As I look towards my lasts, I hope to remember all the memories made with the amazing kids, and give back as much as I can in these last precious moments with them.
*note that names of the children &/or orphanages have been changed to protect the privacy of the children.
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