Hearts Broken. . . A Sad Goodbye
Early this evening as I (Ted) left the village I was stopped by a woman in the village, Vilma Suchite, who waved me down to tell me that she and her husband Nelson and their four children, her sister Vilma and her two children were all leaving the village. Three of her children attend the Bible Club and the English classes at the mission: Delmi, Denilson, and Merlin.
She told me she had enough of the politics and fighting and rumor mongering amongst the people. She said that someone shot her dog with a gun last week in broad daylight on the street in front of her house. I had heard that this had happened. This is the same road the mission is located. I was taken aback at first, not knowing if I should believe her or not, or if she was pulling my leg to get a response. We had seen already that many of the cousins of Delmi and her siblings had not attended any of the programs the last couple weeks. We were told they all had left. Vilma and Nelson were taking their family to southern Mexico to live and work. They explained to me there were more opportunities for work there and they had lived and worked there before. I was immediately saddened, and my eyes welled up with salty water; I called Kim on my cell phone to let her know what I had learned.
This family has a storied history in the village, and at times was even directly at odds with us, and even threatening to take a machete to me. They were prime suspects in the robberies that happened at the mission in February of last year and again this past November. Despite these possibilities, we did the only thing we knew we were supposed to do: love them through it all and despite any circumstances. We continued to invite them in and invite their children in to participate in the Bible Club and other learning activities. And why wouldn't we? Isn't that the kind of love that Jesus has asked us to give to one another? It brought us joy to have them at the mission, because we saw real life change taking place. They needed to be shown and given the love of Christ, the love of a caring teacher, the love of even a parent ( or at least a mother-like and father-like figure).
Delmi, Denilson, and Merlin have been coming to our learning activities since we began in the village. Shyly coming with their Aunt Zulma who was pregnant with her now three year old son. Zulma would sit and watch as I gave a short Bible lesson. They would bring various members of their extended family. Grandma would come sometimes with different cousins. And when we had our first short-term mission team come from the USA, from our home church, they fell in love with everyone who came, and especially Kim's sister, Paula. Delmi, has asked us constantly since that first team came at the beginning of 2009, when Paula was coming back to visit.
What was really wonderful for us to see was how the children were growing and changing, even how Vilma had changed toward us and our presence there in Villa Hermosa. Vilma was the first to come to the Learning Center with the new registration forms filled out and even a donation of 5 quetzales per child (about 75 cents U.S.) to help toward the work of the mission this year. Only one other family in the village offered to help in this way. The children were very well behaved at the Bible Club, Delmi improved her reading and writing, Denilson began to do much better in his studies and little Merlin quietly worked on her coloring sheets during the English classes while her brother and sister learned more words in English.
I wondered why they had not come the past week to English school and why the missed our Family Night last Saturday where we showed "The Prince of Egypt". Their mother told me they wanted to, but because they knew they were leaving and also because of problems between their family and others in the village, they stayed away and cried. She told us the children wanted to come see us today, but we were away with doctor's visits and running errands to complete our residency process.
So, after talking to Kim on the phone, we knew we had to come back to the village this evening to say goodbye to the children and their parents, and allow them to say their goodbyes. God bless those of you who send us materials to bless the children here. We made up bags for the three older children, Delmi, Denilson, and Merlin with a book about the story of Jesus, coloring books and activity books, crayons, some cookies and a small hand-held game. The younger children all received small pillows, which were hand-made by our friends back in the USA. We gave the family drinks and snacks for the road. We basically spent the evening with the family, until the children had returned from a church service. We talked to them all, and told them how proud we were of them, that we loved them, that Jesus loved them and had plans for them. We asked them to continue to be good boys and girls for their parents and to continue doing well in their studies so that they would be able to do great things in their life.
Tears swelled in our eyes, as I choked out what I felt God wanted me to say to them. We presented them their gifts and gave them a framed picture of us to remember us by. Vilma cried as the children hugged us and said their goodbyes. We took some pictures and gave them our mailing address at the post office, encouraging Delmi to try to write to us. They gifted us a small male puppy named Boxer, whose mama was killed last week and then we took in their other dog, Bobby so that he would not be left to just wander looking for food. They will be good doggies to help protect the mission and be brothers to Tiberius. We told the children we would care for the doggies. It was now 9:30 in the evening under a pitch black sky in the village without electricity, streets lined with tin and wood shacks, the poorest of the poor. I wondered if we did enough to help this family. We prayed over them.
The children's last words between Kim and I was a small English lesson, that they all repeated with me: "We love you, Jesus loves you, We'll see you later." They will be missed.
Kim and my heart broke a little this evening.
Humbly giving our lives to serve Him,
Ted and Kim
This family has a storied history in the village, and at times was even directly at odds with us, and even threatening to take a machete to me. They were prime suspects in the robberies that happened at the mission in February of last year and again this past November. Despite these possibilities, we did the only thing we knew we were supposed to do: love them through it all and despite any circumstances. We continued to invite them in and invite their children in to participate in the Bible Club and other learning activities. And why wouldn't we? Isn't that the kind of love that Jesus has asked us to give to one another? It brought us joy to have them at the mission, because we saw real life change taking place. They needed to be shown and given the love of Christ, the love of a caring teacher, the love of even a parent ( or at least a mother-like and father-like figure).
Delmi, Denilson, and Merlin have been coming to our learning activities since we began in the village. Shyly coming with their Aunt Zulma who was pregnant with her now three year old son. Zulma would sit and watch as I gave a short Bible lesson. They would bring various members of their extended family. Grandma would come sometimes with different cousins. And when we had our first short-term mission team come from the USA, from our home church, they fell in love with everyone who came, and especially Kim's sister, Paula. Delmi, has asked us constantly since that first team came at the beginning of 2009, when Paula was coming back to visit. What was really wonderful for us to see was how the children were growing and changing, even how Vilma had changed toward us and our presence there in Villa Hermosa. Vilma was the first to come to the Learning Center with the new registration forms filled out and even a donation of 5 quetzales per child (about 75 cents U.S.) to help toward the work of the mission this year. Only one other family in the village offered to help in this way. The children were very well behaved at the Bible Club, Delmi improved her reading and writing, Denilson began to do much better in his studies and little Merlin quietly worked on her coloring sheets during the English classes while her brother and sister learned more words in English.
I wondered why they had not come the past week to English school and why the missed our Family Night last Saturday where we showed "The Prince of Egypt". Their mother told me they wanted to, but because they knew they were leaving and also because of problems between their family and others in the village, they stayed away and cried. She told us the children wanted to come see us today, but we were away with doctor's visits and running errands to complete our residency process.
So, after talking to Kim on the phone, we knew we had to come back to the village this evening to say goodbye to the children and their parents, and allow them to say their goodbyes. God bless those of you who send us materials to bless the children here. We made up bags for the three older children, Delmi, Denilson, and Merlin with a book about the story of Jesus, coloring books and activity books, crayons, some cookies and a small hand-held game. The younger children all received small pillows, which were hand-made by our friends back in the USA. We gave the family drinks and snacks for the road. We basically spent the evening with the family, until the children had returned from a church service. We talked to them all, and told them how proud we were of them, that we loved them, that Jesus loved them and had plans for them. We asked them to continue to be good boys and girls for their parents and to continue doing well in their studies so that they would be able to do great things in their life.
Tears swelled in our eyes, as I choked out what I felt God wanted me to say to them. We presented them their gifts and gave them a framed picture of us to remember us by. Vilma cried as the children hugged us and said their goodbyes. We took some pictures and gave them our mailing address at the post office, encouraging Delmi to try to write to us. They gifted us a small male puppy named Boxer, whose mama was killed last week and then we took in their other dog, Bobby so that he would not be left to just wander looking for food. They will be good doggies to help protect the mission and be brothers to Tiberius. We told the children we would care for the doggies. It was now 9:30 in the evening under a pitch black sky in the village without electricity, streets lined with tin and wood shacks, the poorest of the poor. I wondered if we did enough to help this family. We prayed over them.The children's last words between Kim and I was a small English lesson, that they all repeated with me: "We love you, Jesus loves you, We'll see you later." They will be missed.
Kim and my heart broke a little this evening.
Humbly giving our lives to serve Him,
Ted and Kim
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