“Let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen and Amen”
(Psalm 72:19)
I met Olga today.
I don’t even know what to say after that.
My mind and my heart are excited and exhausted, and to sum up our day into a single idea feels trite and impossible. It hardly felt like real life.
The storyteller in me wants to talk about how I felt like the biggest wimp walking Olga home from school.
(They warned me it was a thirty minute walk, but it wasn’t. It was a thirty minute vigorous hike up the biggest, most beautiful mountain I’ve ever climbed. We were winded, y’all!)
The mother in me wants to tell about how we transcended our double language barrier with a blank pad of paper and a box of crayons.
But my position as a daughter of the King – with a Kingdom vision – that is the part of me that has my brain and my heart swirling.
Climbing the mountain with Olga gave me a new perspective of Seoguis and child sponsorship.
When we decided to sponsor a child in Guatemala, it was mostly about answering a call to send money to meet very real, practical needs (schooling, food, clean water, etc.). But meeting Olga and her family on the top of the mountain today, looking into her eyes and overlooking the entire village of Seoguis, I finally understood that we now have a stake in her, and an entire community.
Not only do I feel my care for Olga broadening across her community, but it has extended far into the future. Olga’s mother was too sick to come out of her bed to meet us. Her brothers were getting married. Her siblings (she is one of nine) are learning to read and write and eat nutritiously. Spending those hours with them made me realize that this is the little girl who will grow with us. This brown-eyed beauty is the Olga my own children will pray for and send letters to. I will be able to check on her mother’s health and ask if her siblings are working hard in school. She will be a household name for the next ten years and so far beyond.
It’s real. Flesh and blood, dirt floors and bagged water real. And she’s ours.
Charles Spurgeon said of Psalm 72:19, “To intercede for a whole city needs a stretch of faith, and there are times when a prayer for one man is enough to stagger us. But how far-reaching was the psalmist’s dying intercession! How comprehensive! How sublime!”
Friends, I encourage you today to consider child sponsorship. In the small community of Seoguis, there are 160 children eligible for sponsorship, and 128 of them already have families who call them “ours”. Sarah and I had the privilege of visiting the first grade classroom today – some of these children need sponsors and one of them could be yours.
This link will take you to children only in the village of Seoguis. 32 of them still need families. Intercede with me on behalf on this community. Make one of these children a household name, that Christ might be theirs! Make the stretch of faith – it is indeed “sublime”!
“Let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen and Amen”
(Psalm 72:19)
What a beautiful little girl. Thank you for sharing this with us. I’m gonna talk to my fiancé tonight. Even though we’re saving for a wedding (two actually) we can give. I’m always reminded that when we give, we receive in ways beyond our imagination. Enjoy the rest of the trip.
Hi Raechel! When you get back, could you post a bit on the sorts of things you send with your letters to Olga, how often you write, things you say in the letters, etc… I always struggle with this and feel like I can/should be doing so much more. Would love to hear your ideas, especially now that you’ve been and seen! Thanks!!
I LOVE this idea, Susan! I totally will!! (thanks for the suggestion!)
What an amazing impact you have being in Olga’s life!
So…..are you visiting Haiti next to see Kendy? =)
Hey Amy! We have definitely asked about it! Unfortunately, it’s a little trickier to get into Haiti as a team with FH at the moment. It sure would be amazing to meet him, too!!