Go Therefore!

Two years ago on a Sunday morning, I was listening to a sermon at Esperanza, where I work and serve. During that sermon the Lord was convicting me to become more involved in missions. Immediately, I began researching opportunities to work with children in Peru. The first name that popped up on google was for a group called Corazon de Esperanza. I was intrigued because of the shared name of this ministry and my church. It took two years but God opened the door for me to serve in Peru with that ministry this summer. It was an incredible experience that I wanted to share with you!

Corazon de Esperanza is an American 501c3 that works with an organization called Luz de Vida in Trujillo, Peru to serve young men and women who have been in orphan care. This ministry is focused on helping orphans in the transitional period between living in an institution and living on their own. Most children are taught by their parents how to cook, clean, budget, grocery shop, and apply to schools or for jobs. Children who grow up in an institution rarely know how to do these things, yet are left on their own at 18. Luz de Vida provides a home and this training for three years to young men and women who have been in orphan care. Most Luz de Vida leaders are associated with a local church in Peru and the program provides mentoring that continues beyond the three years in the home. Individuals can sponsor a young man or woman to provide the funding needed to keep this program running. The leaders are very aware that orphan care is a huge and complex issue. They are currently developing a foster care program to continue to improve how they serve these young men and women.

I had the great blessing of traveling to Trujillo with two board members from Corazon de Esperanza. We stayed in the house with the girls in the program and ate dinner together every night. We built relationships with them and some of us from the team have continued to volunteer over zoom to cultivate those relationships. These young men and women simply need encouragement because many come from backgrounds that involved abuse, where they were constantly torn down. It was amazing to watch their mood change as we told them “you are beautiful,” “you are smart,” “God loves you,” and slowly they would open up about their lives. We even got to hold a youth group session where I got to teach about God being their creator and shepherd who wants to have a relationship with them. And one night they all hung around after dinner to sing praise songs with us!

We also worked with two different orphanages. We scrapped mold off walls and painted them to protect them from molding again in hopes of creating a safer and more beautiful environment for the children living there. We sang with the kids and did a theatrical presentation of the fiery furnace. We spent time helping the kids with a few crafts. It was moving to see how such little things deeply blessed the children and the workers. There was one wall we were unable to put a second coat of paint on, by American standards, we didn’t finish the job well. But the staff and the children were elated that the mold was gone and that we had given them an ‘accent wall’ so they could have ‘beautiful pictures’ at the next birthday party. And spending just one afternoon making paper butterflies with the kids, blessed their souls. It was amazing to see!

My absolute favorite moment on the trip was getting to throw a birthday party at the Luz de Vida home. I sponsor a young lady there named Rosita. She was very slow to open up to me over the course of the week but as I spent time talking to her every day she told me more and more. Our trip leader got to spend a considerable amount of time with her one night talking about Rosita's birthday, which happened to be the day after we left. Rosita was rather upset because her birthday was on father’s day and her relationship with her father included a lot of bad things. While we were there she found out that her siblings were still at home being abused and all these thoughts were weighing on her. Our trip leader encouraged her and prayed with her but at the end of the week we got to throw her a birthday party. And the smile on her face when we had chocolate cake and gave her a couple small gifts was such a blessing. Getting to encourage these young men and women who have had nothing and no one to take care of them for the majority of their lives was a blessing from God! And I intend to go back soon.

If you would like more information about this ministry, contact me! Also, if you would like to hear more about what God is doing at the church in Del Rio or just chat, please reach out!

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.