After traveling with a child from Honduras to North America for life-saving heart surgery, the interpreter reflects on how the trip also changed her life.
A man I very much look up to once said, “Your life is the sum of all the people that have affected you.” Sometimes it’s in a positive way, and sometimes it’s in a negative way. I couldn’t agree more.
On my second trip with Children’s Heart Project, I was given the opportunity to travel from Honduras to North America with baby Nestor and his grandmother Irma. Our host family, the Crofts, and The Calvary Chapel church opened their doors and hearts to us for yet another rewarding adventure.
In my short experience as an interpreter for Children’s Heart Project, I have learned many things that would have taken me years to realize otherwise.
I have learned that God doesn’t need us to come from the wealthiest background to help someone in need, but He needs us to be willing. He provides and takes care of the rest. The Croft family was so full of love and support of us. They gave us more than just a place to eat and sleep; they became our family and our home away from home.
I also learned that God sees all of us who are willing to accept Him as our Savior as His children. Irma took the challenge of coming to North America as Nestor’s guardian given that Nestor’s mom is about to give birth to a baby girl. She has such a clear understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what He means for her.
Irma has taught me the most in this few weeks. She used her moment of weakness while her grandson was undergoing surgery to comfort others in the waiting room; she knew that it was God opening this door for her family.
“This was the time that God had prepared me for,” she said. “Both my husband and mother passed away so that I could be ready to come here. I would have not done it otherwise”.
She has a heart full of love for others, faith in Christ, and much patience for her grandson, who after recovering from his successful heart surgery looks like he’s been fed with batteries for breakfast every morning!
Irma, Nestor, and Marcia enjoy spending time together near their host home in North America.
Nestor was a shy boy before the surgery. He would not let go of his grandmother. With a lot of love and the right amount of time, he has learned to open up more and now loves to play with the family. (We are yet to meet a person he won’t high-five.)
Finally, the most important lesson I learned is that these children are not only the future of this world, but it is in their present that so many people are brought together to serve a greater purpose (doctors, nurses, families, churches, organizations, etc.). We are able to not only give them a better life but also to see the hand of God in each and every single person who takes a moment to pray, share with the families, or is in some way involved to become one of God’s many divine connections.
I thank God for Children’s Heart Project and everyone involved who has affected my life in the most positive way. May He continue changing the children’s hearts as well as ours.
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are …” 1 Corinthians 1:27-28 (ESV)
