This trip was not a missions trip. It was a trip where WE received. Yes we took some toys and we left a little money. But the end result of the few days we were there was a CHANGED perspective, mind, thought process for both Ellie and me. It was amazing to be able to do that with my dad and my daughter.
The kids at the orphanage left marks on us....they were some of the godliest people I've ever been around. They knew they had nothing, yet they had joy. They knew they were going to eat the same thing for dinner that they had for breakfast and lunch, but food was nourishment and kept them alive...and it was GOOD. They loved Jesus. They were grateful for the truth and the life that God gave them when they were RESCUED from their previous life and taken into the orphanage.
These people in Managua, Nicaragua have nothing. They literally have nothing...the kids in the orphanage are significantly more blessed than the families an individuals living outside of their gates. More than half of the city has no electricity or running water. They walk in knee-deep mud in their front yards. They hang their clothes on clotheslines that are also supporting the walls of their homes...
the highlight of the trip for Ellie was when two of the girls stopped us as we were walking to the van to leave. Both of them went into their cubbies in the bathroom and grabbed one of their only toys (a barbie doll, a pair of hair accessories and a lion)...and they insisted that she take them with her. She instantly became emotional and didn't even know how to respond. As soon as we got outside of the orphanage, she began sobbing. Ellie felt it. She got it. She knew that those kids had nothing and yet GAVE, to her. What a lesson to learn for a little peanut from Sylvania, OH.
