visiting Jesus

Our day began at the leper hospital. Dr. Feliz Batista, who has worked with the patients there for 30 years, greeted us with these words: "These patients are very dear to me. I see Jesus in every one of them. When you get to heaven, Jesus will say to you, 'On January 5, 2012, you visited Me'."  

After visiting patients in their rooms, singing with them, laughing with them, and touching them without hesitation, our students presented a program of music, puppets, dance and Bible teaching. Each patient and nurse was then given a Christmas gift bag full of donations that were organized before we left last week. We'll let the words of the students tell the rest of the story from our morning:

"They have so little, but they are rich. We have so much, but we are poor."

"Before we went this morning, I prayed: 'I want to see through Your eyes; I don't want to miss anything.' Then, when we were singing to a woman in a wheelchair, I saw her joy and felt God's amazing love that we've been talking about all week."

"We were grieving for the ones who had died, but celebrating at the same time, because we realized how awesome heaven will be--they'll be there. And right now they are completely healed. I can't wait to run with them in heaven."
(When we arrived today, we found out four of our good friends had died since our last visit.)

"I had no idea what to expect, and I was kind of scared. But I was holding a woman's hand who had no hands and I lost it. My heart broke, yet I felt God at the same time. I think that's one of the reasons God wanted me on this trip."


In the afternoon, we went to the village of Quito Sueño, a place that is virtually unreached by any church or organization. We walked the dirt roads, and people looked at us suspiciously, some staying in their homes and peeking around doorways. When we invited them to a Vacation Bible School, we didn't think many would come. We can't begin to tell you all the details God arranged for us, but 30 minutes later, more than 150 children, teenagers and adults were laughing at the first puppet show they had ever seen. It was the highlight of the trip for many of our students. The pictures can tell the rest of the story of this amazing day, when God and His love were the biggest realities for each of us.

(The most random sight of the day was the woman cooking over an open fire in the middle of a dirt road in Quito Sueño, in the middle of a puppet show.)