Debbie Smith

You know that saying that you hear over and over, before you leave for a mission? You know that one that everyone says…..”This is going to change your life forever!”….Well, it NOT just a cliché…. It’s the TRUTH!

Where do you even start to describe what happened over those ten days? Are there even words for it? Probably not but guess I will try….just to make John happy!

I left the states with all these pre-conceived ideas of what I would see and what the people would be like. After all I had been to Mexico in March and had traveled in land from Puerto Vallarta. I had seen the poor conditions there. I had met the locals. It was, I’m sure a lot like that…..Right? Wrong!!!

In Mexico we did not have to stay within the confines of a fenced in, guarded area as to not put us in harm's way. In Mexico we had seen lovely areas…..but not the beauty of the rain forest of Guatemala!

I also had prepared myself to fall in love with the children…but was not prepared for what ended up happening to me! I did fall in love with the children….how could you not? But what changed my life forever were the eyes! The eyes of the young women feeding their nestled babies at their breasts, the eyes of the teenage boys, standing off trying to not show that they wanted to still be a child, the eyes of the men when you handed them a single piece of candy….and the eyes of the wise grandmother! See after all, I too am a grandmother.

As she stood among the children, watching, not speaking a word, not that I could have understood her anyway, right? As the day progressed so did our unspoken bond. Our eyes would lock, we were communicating, communicating the love of the children surrounding us, the love of Christ our Lord, just love. I will never forget those eyes and that day, it will be imprinted in my heart forever!

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