It was early Saturday morning, November 10th that a group of seven met at the Vancouver airport to embark on a week long adventure to Colima, Mexico.
Our destination: Hogar de Amor y Proteccion al Nino A.C.
Our mission: To serve in whatever capacity necessary to support the orphanage.
After a full day of travel and a good night’s sleep, we awoke to the delightful sounds of young children laughing and conversing in “espanol”. You see, we were staying at the Casa Cuna or loosely translated, the Baby House.
It was Sunday morning so after breakfast, we followed the children’s bus to the Grupo Amor De Mexico church where our fellow traveler, Pastor Wayne delivered the message through an interpreter, at both morning services. The children sat in the pews ahead of us and you could tell, we were already hooked. They kept turning to catch a glimpse of us and we kept smiling back. It was love at first sight.
Over the course of the week, we learned much about the church, the orphanage with its many faceted houses; Casa Cuna (age 0-5), Casa Matriz (6-12), Casa Leonel (teens and siblings), Casa Famoso (one whole family of 8 children), Casa Adolescentes Varones (house for teenage boys) and Casa Senoritas (home for girls). We also traveled to another orphanage in Tecoman, about 40 minutes southwest of Colima where they currently have 8 children, and are growing. We visited the site where they are building a new school, Instituto Adonai, where all the children can attend (due to open in January) and we visited Solo Para Valiente (in english means "Only For the Courageous"), a rehabilitation house for men. And we saw the healing hand of God at work in the lives of many children, men and women.
We spent countless hours playing with children, we had a juice and cookie picnic, a “moose” hunt, made crafts, spent one morning visiting McDonald’s with the youngest and entertained 90 kids for a hot dog party. We painted a new apartment for the caretakers for Casa Matriz and cleaned rooms that were generously covered in dust sticky from the humidity. And we fell in love again.
You see, the whole trip was an act of love, for the children, the caretakers, other volunteers and each other; the Father’s expressed through His children. And we were blessed.
Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard a voice of the Lord saying “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
We are already planning the next trip to Colima for Spring Break 2014. We invite you to seriously consider joining us for an adventure of a lifetime!
Submitted by Tamara Williams, Missions Trip Participant