Compassion, action and the future...

http://www.elsauzal.org/

I've just returned from my mission trip to Mexico. It was a very challenging trip for me both physically and mentally. Like the same with previous mission trips to the orphanage, we tried to build relationships with the kids through different activities. These orphans were left here by their parents because they couldn't afford to raise them anymore. Many of these orphans have been there for a long time, especially the older kids. Sophia for example, is about 17 years old. I am discouraged of the fact that the government will not support health care, and university education for these kids. Also, when I look at these kids, I wonder what their future holds for them, only God knows. One of the kids was born deformed and he needs surgery, but cannot afford to pay for only the expensive fees, his only hope is to find a doctor who will perform it in California for a reasonable fee. On the flip side, there is a young man who attends University there and who is studying to become an engineer. His funding comes from somebody from the States who has compassion on him.As I think about how I can love them, I think of building relationships with them, providing for their needs, and providing a future for them. I may not be there for them next year, but I can certainly give financially to them and pray for them.The challenging project we worked on was to build a bathroom for them. It was more of a mental challenge for me, since working on bathrooms and toilets was not the ideal thing for me. It was indeed a very challenging task for me, since I had to overcome the psychological factor of working with toilets. Some of us even had to clean old toilets so that we could install them into the bathroom for their use. But thank God! after a week, we finished the bathroom, and the kids are now using them. Praise God!I'm so thankful for the relationships I have built with my mission team members, and hope that we can continue our relationships even now.I thank God so much for reaffirming my burden to work, help, and love people from different cultures and nations whether it be through a career or volunteering.

Through this trip He reminds me the importance of compassion, action and comfort. His word says:

James 1: 27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

2 Cor 1: 3-7Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

I don't think we always encounter orphans and widows, but God's heart is full of compassion and He wants to provide comfort for those in need. Wherever we are, we can do that for people He puts in our way. His compassion moved Him to heal the sick and the lost and to die for all of mankind so that we can have eternal life. It is critical that we have the same heart as Christ for His creation.