My Little [Honduran] Girl

The above picture is my new profile picture. It's of me [duh] and my little friend, Keyla[ pronounced like Kayla]. Keyla is six and is number four of five children.

The second day we were at the work site, she came up to me and talked to me in Spanish, but she knew my name. How cute is that? I played with her and her sister that morning, they are absolutely beautiful. When we got back to the missionary house that day, I learned that Keyla and her siblings live in a single-parent home. This home, however, is very different, these kids' mother left them. That is extremely rare, especially in Central American countries. Their father, Tino, is raising five children aged 12, 10, 8, 6, and 5. Three of them are girls, two boys. This news absolutely broke my heart. I don't have children of my own, but I do babysit quite a bit. How could a mother leave five gorgeous children that came from her womb? It made me angry and sad at the same time. What was she thinking??

The next day, we arrived at the work site two hours before VBS, which gave those of us involved in it a lot of free time. All of Tino's precious children were at the church when we arrived, shouting our names as the van doors opened. Keyla found me and wanted me to pick her up, which, of course, I did. I held her for two hours, no matter what I was doing. All I could think of during those hours was what she was missing in her life. She never has her mother to go to, to pick her up when she falls, to hold her when she cries, to care for her just whenever she needs it. Don't get me wrong, her father does a fantastic job raising his children, but he has five kids, a job, and cleans the church throughout the week. My guess is that they don't get a lot of individual attention, how could they?

God hit me with something that night when I went to bed that night. My dad had challenged the team at the beginning of the week to figure of what our purpose was on this trip. The ultimate purpose for everyone is to glorify God, but how specifically did we do that? I felt like God was telling me that Keyla was my purpose. Giving that little girl love is why I went to Honduras. Oh, I know that I did lots of other things while I was there, but nothing touched me more than Keyla. I feel so bad for her, yet I know that God has blessed her with lots of siblings and a godly father who is teaching her Scripture and the love of God. I love you, Keyla, and I am praying for you every day!