Day 7 in Guatemala ~ Monday, August 17th, 2009

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Went to sleep happily replaying day 6 in my head and looking forward to our opportunity to take some of the girls shopping the next day. Woke up a few minutes before 5:00 and laid in bed until 5:30 listening to the soothing sound of the rain on the tin roof of the bunk house. The rain reminded me of Gods ability to renew and refresh us, but it also reminded me of the countless tears I had shed for the week. As I laid there I prayed to God to help me make it through the day and specifically asked Him to give me the strength to not let Lucia see me cry when it was time to go.

Before we left the bunk house Jeff asked me for a sharpie and told me that he had saved one of his mostly white t-shirts to have the girls sign it. I told him that I bought a new pack of white t-shirts before we left and wasn’t sure why I packed them until right at that moment. I put one on and gave Jeff one. The girls came down the hill in a light rain and we greeted them with smiles and hugs. Jeff and I asked some of the girls if they would sign their name on our shirts and names quickly turned into messages. A shirt I will keep for a long time and a memory I will never forget.

Lucia drew a heart over my heart and wrote the letters T.Q.M. (Te Quiero Mucho) in it and her name below it.

Morning devotion led by Amber and her mom, Diann, the question was can you give a phrase or word that described God this week from your experiences. Amber said God showed Himself to her as a Father & Mother, I said God was my Pillar of Strength.

We used the bulk of the early part of the day to finish up work projects and get our suitcases packed up for the early trip home the next morning. We took a break at 9:30 to enjoy recess for the girls and I was very grateful that the rain forced us to stay inside with the girls This provided an excellent opportunity to spend quality time with the girls get more signatures on the t-shirt and tons of hugs from the girls.

We finished up the last few touches on the work projects, showered, ate and headed to the mall. Amber, Austin & I brought Lisbeth & Lucia, Diann brought Roxana and Charles Brought Adela.

  

This was the first time Lucia had been shopping in the 13 months she had been at Prince of Peace, the first time Lisbeth had ever been to a mall or ever seen an escalator. When we asked Lucia what she wanted or needed, she very shyly and humbly asked for an outfit to wear to church.

Lisbeth wanted a dress for church as well and also asked if she could get something for her sister, Anay’s birthday as well. Imagine a little girl who had never been to a mall asking to get something for someone else, God showed us a lot that week.

After a lot of reassuring and convincing we got Lucia to let us know she could use a pair of jeans, so we bought her 2 pair

It was every bit as much fun as shopping for my other daughter Alyssa and I thanked God for Blessing us with the ability to shop for these incredible girls. We had a great time together, I can’t remember ever seeing people smile so much or being so happy and satisfied from a quick trip to the mall. The sincere gratefulness expressed by all the girls was amazing and fulfilling. The ride back to PoP was rewarding as well. As a Dad, one of the best feelings in life is when your kids fall asleep in your arms. It is reassurance that they feel safe and truly trust you. My daughter fell asleep in my arms on the ride back from the mall, until Austin decided to take a picture (or 2) with the flash on.

When we got back to PoP it was almost time for dinner, a light quick dinner of salad and a baked potato and then we had to face the fact that we only had about one more hour with the girls. we all had so many goodbyes to say in such a short amount of time. So many emotions had been experienced for the week, it was truly overwhelming. After saying my goodbyes to all the other girls that I connected with I focused on Lucia for the little time remaining

Under the tutelage of Diann, I was able to tell Lucia in Spanish, Quisiera ser su padre (I would like to be your Father) and Lucia told me I wish you were my Father too.

This would prove to be one of the hardest Goodbyes of my life as I also witnessed the tearful goodbyes that Amber shared with Anay, Lisbeth and Karen and Austin shared with Virginia.

Just when I thought I was going to lose it and that maybe God wasn’t going to answer my prayer to say goodbye without allowing Lucia to see me cry, 

God came through again. Several times as we were talking and saying goodbye, I would say something to Lucia and then say Compendre? and she would smile and sheepishly say no or ‘a little’ but her eyes would say not really, so I would ask Diann to help and she would. As I was grasping for something to say that would break the silence and stop the tears from flowing in what was to be one of our last father/daughter embraces of this visit , I said “Diann, could you tell Lucia that I will learn more Spanish and she needs to learn more English so we can talk easier next time” and as I finished talking, Lucia with her head buried in my chest, fighting back tears, started laughing and I said “comprende?” and she now laughing out loud said “Yes!” God had answered my prayer yet again and we shared our last laugh together for the week.

 

It was time to go back to the bunk house and let them go to sleep and as we climbed into the Mule truck to drive back down the hill, Lucia grabbed my hand and said “no, take me with you” and I truly wish we could have. I am excited to see what God has in store in the future for Lucia and my family. One thing I know for sure is that this story is not over. I wrote in my journal at the end of day 7…

 ”leaving at 3:30 a.m. to go home tomorrow. I feel so undeservedly Blessed to be going home to my life and my family, yet so helpless at the same time being unable to provide a family to Lucia. I pray for and trust God’s plan in this. I trust God will cause our paths to cross again. T.Q.M. Lucia”

I found out today (Sept 14th) that 11 of the older girls from PoP will be traveling to the U.S. this fall with Paul, Lana, Jim and Kay and we will have the pleasure of providing a place to stay for 5 of them in our house on Thanksgiving Day and the day after. What an awesome reason to be thankful! Please join us the Friday after Thanksgiving at Oaklawn Church of God in Hot Springs (www.oaklawnchog.com) and meet some of these awesome girls from PoP. For more details on this event, keep up with me on face book, if we are not friends on face book go to www.facebook.com/doug.westgate and request me as a friend. For more information on sponsoring one of the girls from PoP please visit the new website www.princeofpeacegt.com.

Thank you for reliving this experience with me, I hope God spoke to you through some part of this blog like He spoke to me though the entire trip. BE Blessed!

Please leave me a comment, I would really like to know who some of the 800+ people are that have read this blog and what you thought of it.

 

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