Have you guys been following Jessica’s and Matthew’s blogs this week? I have. And they have broken my heart over, and over, and over again.
In a good way.
In that way that makes me realize I have such first world problems. I’m struggling with how to maneuver my laptop on my bed so I can type with less pain. But to struggle with that, it means I have a home, electricity, a bed and a computer. I am so overwhelmingly blessed to have such problems. Jess and Matthew are in the Dominican Republic this week, blogging for World Vision, and I can feel in their words that they have been changed. I am so proud they are my friends and that they are so obedient to the urging in their hearts to look beyond themselves and serve.
As Jessica has said, she simply wants to teach their son Elias to love God and love people. She is absolutely teaching him by example this week.
I had a hard time choosing a post of theirs to put on here for you to read today, so when you finish, go click on their names at the top of this post and read all they have written. And let it break your heart so it has room to fit in the children of the Dominican Republic.
A Mother's Story
It is hard for me to know where to begin.
The impact World Vision has on communities is astounding.
They provide means of generating an income.
They provide medical care.
They provide educational opportunities.
They provide hope for the future.
They provide love.
I have so many stories to share, but as a mother, this is one that really struck me, and I feel lead to share it with you tonight.
World Vision helped to provide the materials necessary for a small community to build stable housing and sanitation facilities. They took extremely unsafe homes that were made of dilapidated boards and built new homes like this:
We were welcomed into one of these homes by a single-mother named Olga. She is the mother of seven children ranging from ages 4-21. Five of her children are sponsored through World Vision.
She has lived in the small community her whole life. She told us that before World Vision came, the community was like a garbage dump.
A garbage dump.
Her family lived on the street.
But because of World Vision, she now lives in a safe, structurally sound home. She sells fruits and vegetables in a small stand on the side of the road to make an income and provide for her family.
Thanks to World Vision's child sponsorship program, her children have access to medical care. She said that her daughter was once very sick, but because of World Vision, doctors were able to find the treatment she needed.
Can you imagine caring for seven children, while living on the street?
What would you do when it rained?
How would you feel safe?
Thankfully, Olga feels safe now. Her children are sheltered. They have access to medical care.
World Vision gave this mother and her children hope.
And hearing her story gave me hope too.
Will you give hope to a mother like Olga and sponsor a child through World Vision? Child sponsorship doesn't stop with the child. Its impact spreads to families and communities. $35 a month is nothing to most Americans. I spend that on going out to lunch a few times a month. But that small amount can literally save a child - a family - from so much suffering.