Life Changing Trip

To say that my life was changed forever after my first trip to Mama Tara’s orphanage would be an understatement. Oh, I thought that it was very noble of me, and brave to “rough it” somewhere in a third world country. “Everyone should go on at least one missionary trip “,I told myself, never thinking that I would go back, or much less, want to go back.

That first trip to Puerto Lempira, Honduras was unlike any I’ve been on since. Little did I know that when I came home, I’d never be the same again. What an adventure lay ahead. I had walked into part of my destiny and didn’t have a clue, at least not right away.

The first team down was in June of 2003. I believe there were 18 of us altogether. How we all crammed into that shell of a building that was the orphanage, I’ll never know. I was afraid that the extra weight of our team, along with about 50 other women, children, and babies, would cause the structure to collapse. Mama Tara greeted all of us with hugs. We felt her love and compassion with her warm smile and embraces. The children began to sing a series of songs, as we all looked around in sheer disbelief that people could live in such primitive places. We saw babies and old women lying on the floor and food being cooked on a make shift stove, while kittens were scampering around trying to scavenge for food scraps while trying to avoid being stepped on. It was quite precarious to say the least.

There were pieces of the floor missing and we had to be very careful as we walked around, so as not to fall into the water below, as the house itself actually was on pilings over the lagoon.

So when was I changed on the inside? Perhaps it was as we began to get to know the children, playing games and doing VBS with them..Maybe it was that warm summer evening when we had just brought all the children to the Baptist church in the center of town, to see the “Jesus” movie that was done in the Miskito language. Walking home that night, holding the hands of small children, looking up at the sky, wondering”, How did I get here and why do I feel so alive?” Most likely the change came as I spent many days interviewing the children for case files. As we listened to their stories, my heart would ache for them. I felt such love for them, I’m not sure I had ever felt it that way before. We were privileged to be able to pray for them one at a time and I fell in love with them, one at a time.

This story is not over; not for me. I’m hooked for life.

Cathy Cantelli