Day Two: July 27th

Originally published on Facebook July 28th, 12:51 am

Life demands that you hold both joy and sorrow. You can try to hold just one of them but the effort will destroy you. You must learn to hold both at the same time.

Today began with an excellent breakfast of pancakes (with Nutella!), sausage, eggs, cereal, fresh peaches, and more. This detail may seem trivial, but waking up to good food when you're far from home is a real blessing. The ladies in the kitchen are loving us well! What's more, Andie, Laura, and Christine ensure that every one of us has a full stomach.

Sarah, Sadie, Ellie, and Lidia lead the rest of us through the first day of VBS with an intense kickball game. Joshua made two dazzling catches, Dawson kicked a grand slam, and Asher hit Lydia in the head with the ball… Lydia was all smiles and ended up taking home the sportsmanship award for her great attitude (no award was actually presented). Best of all, the girls LOVED it.

Travis shared a wonderful message about the trials of life and used the book of Jonah to help us all see that we all can call out to God from the belly of the whale or worse. Following the message were more crafts and plenty of laughter — so much laughter. At one point, I witnessed Bowdrie, Zach, Caleb (both), Micah, … okay, save time here… all the boys getting their hair braided. Jacob's cornrows were especially impressive! Not to be outdone, Rylin had a pretty remarkable "waterfall" braid done by one of the girls. They love Rylin's hair! All the activities were such a hit that we ended up with more to do than time to do it! That is a great problem to have.

After VBS, it was lunch (Chicago-style Hotdogs with fires!) and then some free time. Soccer, Basketball, braclets, and more took up the hour.

Mid-afternoon, we all gathered in our team's meeting area. It's a beautiful room with floor-to-ceiling windows that open to the garden and provide a nice breeze. Mela asked if she could share some of her stories and brought three other girls to share as well. I'm confident I'll be unable to effectively communicate the profound nature of Mela's story here with so few words or hours left in the day (currently 11:39 pm). She began with how she and her late husband Hilario had met through incredible circumstances (think miraculous prison release) and their shared passion for bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the abandoned, abused, and broken children God has entrusted to them. She told of walking away from a very comfortable life (her Father was a lawyer, and her Mother was a teacher) because God had told her in his Word to find the children who needed help and help them. In the 25 years that Mela has faithfully obeyed God's call in her life, she has cared for more than 2000 children. You can see in her eyes the JOY she has in serving. There is no doubt Mela's life story has made a deep impression on many of us. She is a different sort of Hero, not the sort you'll read about in the paper or on ESPN. She's the sort of Hero that matters. Perhaps one day, many of you will get to meet here, too!

Three girls also shared. Each of their stories were filled with so much sorrow. Abuse from parents, abandonment, separation from siblings, substance abuse, pregnancy, motherhood… the sorrow these young girls, (15, 15 and 18 years old) have already endured is unfathomable to most of us. Still, each talked about experiencing the Love of Jesus through the Fundaćion, understanding and embracing their need for the Gospel, and experiencing the peace of Christ in their lives. Interestingly, the common factor that helped them move forward was looking back and forgiving. It's evident how Mela and the staff's discipleship is bearing fruit in the lives of these girls. Yet still, what sorrow.

Shannon (15, fake name) was one of these girls. She has only been here for two months and has recently been separated from her sibling (government mandate)—the one she's been raising since she was a child herself. Yet, amid such sorrow, she is filled with hope and joy. That joy was on display as she celebrated her quinceanera.

With tables decorated beautifully by Sadie, Lidia and Ashely, a group of guys (Caleb, Zach, Caleb, Asher and Jacob) adequately trained for a waltz (thanks to Sarah and Joshua, Rylin, Jordan, Ellie, Kaitlyn!), and a whole house of visitors were ready to celebrate. Wes' message to the girls was beautiful, and the boy's dance moves did not disappoint. They stepped, turned, twirled, and dipped to the applause and screams of the whole audience. These boys' willingness to step (way) outside their comfort zone made the girl's night!

As the night went on, the music just got louder. Before long, everyone was on the party dance floor, and the five quinceanera girls were living their dreams — dreams they all thought would never be reality! What Joy!

Ali led our team-time worship, teaching us a new song from her time as a camp counselor and also sang Firm Foundation. The lyrics of both songs were comforting and challenging to us all. Andi led us through a time of reflection, during which life's joys and sorrows came to the forefront. The two sides of life were on full display today: tears over a 15-year-old's family sorrows AND tears over that same 15-year-old girl's quinceanera joy.

A mural hangs in my church office, which captures the tension of the day so well. One of the students asked about it as we closed our day. It reads

My deepest need

and my highest joy

In a world filled with sorrow (not to mention our own sin), Jesus is our deepest need. Today, we felt that and saw that on display as our hearts ached for a 15-year-old girl. What's more, Jesus is also our highest joy -- we celebrated that! How beautiful that He—this King of ours—would be the answer for both the sorrow carry and the joy we long to embrace.

He is what makes holding both -- joy AND sorrow possible!

Prayer requests:

Tomorrow, we will travel to join the girls as special guests at a local professional soccer match. This activity is sure to be a real highlight for many. Pray for rich conversations while driving safely.

Pray we do not become complacent as we experience many great times together. Pray we seek him and experience his transforming, healing grace.

Pray for good rest tonight (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday), as tomorrow will be another long day.

Blessings to you all,

Mike (on behalf of the team)