Guatemala with Compassion International Day 1

I have been meaning to write about our trip for a while now. With all the craziness, I just haven't had a chance, so here we go! It is going to be a long one...
Adam partnered with Compassion International back in the summer sometime. We have been promoting them at all his concerts trying to get children sponsored through this awesome organization...except we really didn't know how truly awesome it was until this January.
Everything about the trip was organized perfectly from the travel book we got in the mail before the trip to every bite of food we put in our mouth . The staff were amazing and so helpful the whole entire trip. They had 3 translators ready for our visits to the projects, when we met our sponsored child, and just for everyday communication.
The first night we stayed in a hotel in Guatemala City, which was up in the mountains. It was beautiful. The next morning we got up early to drive about 3 hours out to our first project visit. This project was not near any big city. We turned off a rural road into a little village made up of tiny little shops where people sell things trying to make a living. Once we arrived, the project teachers and administrators had a presentation ready for us telling us about their country and individual church/project (each project is run through a local church in the community). After the presentation, we headed over to where the children have school. They had lined the driveway and were cheering/singing/clapping to welcome us as we walked in. It was very moving, they were all so happy. We then served them lunch and sat with them as we ate too. Adam and I ended up sitting at a table with little girls aged 4-6. I will never forget one little girl, Jessica, who just kept talking to us even though we had no idea what she was saying! Our high school Spanish classes only allowed us to ask a few questions. We found a translator and got her to help us figure out what she had been asking us the whole time. She had been asking us if we sponsored a child. We told her about the little boy that we sponsored. Then she replied "I don't have a sponsor." Adam and I wanted to sponsor her right there. These kids know what that means, they know how important a sponsor is in their lives and they are so appreciative when they have one.
After the meal, the kids performed for us and then it was time to go on a home visit. This is where we actually went to the home of a student who attends that project. There were about 28 people in our tour group, so we broke up into 3 groups each visited a different child's home. Our group somehow got the short end of the stick and had to walk about 35 minutes (one way) to our child's home. This 7 year old boy walks this by himself everyday, sometimes more than once, to get into town. His brother used to walk with him, but had recently been injured after falling out of a tree while collecting fruit for his family(more on that later). We had been walking down this long, rocky road surrounded by farmland when we finally reached a spot cut out of what looked like corn stalks. We thought we would go through the cut out stalks and see the house, but that wasn't the case. Everyone kept joking that it reminded them of Field of Dreams. So, we went through the tall grass and found ourselves hiking through a forest. We came up to a stream where we had to use rocks to cross to the other side. Luckily, no one fell in!Once we crossed the stream, the same stream in which they bathe and do their laundry, we arrived at their home. We were greeted by the child's family, which consisted of about 13 people. Their home consisted of an outdoor space with a dirt floor and topped with some vines. The room where they all slept was also made of dirt floor with wooden walls and a tin roof. The mom and grandma just kept telling us thank you. We were able to ask them questions to see what Compassion meant to them. It is very apparent how much they value sponsorship, school, and church. We asked how we could pray for them and the mother responded that we could pray for their son, Juan, who is now in a wheel chair. Through Compassion, Juan is able to receive medical care and attends therapy twice a week so that he might be able to walk again. When we got to thinking of the long, rough and rocky road that we had just walked on, someone asked how they got this 13 year-old to therapy. The mom told us that she carried him on her back since the wheelchair was unable to roll on the terrain. This realization blew our minds and really opened our eyes.
We ended the visit by praying and singing Amazing Grace with the family before saying our goodbyes. I hope we were able to bring some hope and love to that family that day because I know they certainly touched our lives in a special way that we will never forget.