Open Arms and Open Hearts

Dear friends and family,

I recently returned from my Orphan Helpers trip to Central America. My co-worker Roxy and I traveled to El Salvador and Honduras for 10 days. It was a trip that was filled with many blessings and hardships.

We started our travels by landing in San Salvador, El Salvador where we were greeted by our In-country coordinator, Edward and three girls from the Hope House. In El Salvador, Orphan Helpers works in 2 orphanages, 3 detention centers, and 3 halfway homes. Edward became our “tour-guide” and took us to each center to introduce us to the Orphan Helpers staff and give us time to bond with the children. All of the staff were extremely nice and welcoming. The children and teenagers in these centers were desperate for love and compassion, some wore their pain and heartache on their sleeves, while others were like closed books. Some of the children were very reserved and timid, understandably so, afraid to let anyone into their fragile lives. Others though, came running at the sight of us with outstretched arms ready to be embraced. I will never forget the nine girls who live at Casa de Esperanza (Hope House) in San Salvador. These girls welcomed Roxy and I with open arms and open hearts, not holding back a single ounce of their love and compassion. They shared with us their lives, their stories, their laughter, and even their dances. On our final night in El Salvador, we hosted a pizza party for them with pizza, soda, and ice cream and spent the rest of the night bonding with them as they did our hair, we painted their nails, they performed a dance for us, and we stayed up late talking. These girls will always hold a special place in my heart, and I can’t wait to return to El Salvador to visit with them again.



After three days, we took an 8-hr bus ride from San Salvador, El Salvador to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Orphan Helpers serves in 4 detention centers, 4 orphanages, and 2 halfway homes in Honduras. We spent three days in the capital city of Honduras visiting all the centers. The conditions were horrible and what to me seemed unlivable. However, many of these children know no other way, no other life. I tried very hard to see their life through their eyes, instead of through my “gringo” (white American) eyes. It was still hard and painful. During meal times, Edward would tell Roxy and I the stories of some of the children, how they were raped and abused by a family member, or mistreated from birth simply because they were born the opposite gender from what their parents desired.

The best memory from my time spent in Tegucigalpa was the three days spent with the girls from Hogar Torrech, a halfway home for teenage girls. In these halfway homes, Orphan Helpers staffs and manages the home 24/7 and offers an environment that acts as a transitional phase for the teenagers to come out of the orphanages and detention centers before being reintegrated back into society. One day, Roxy and I took the Hogar Torrech girls and staff to El Picacho, a park located on the top of a high hill which overlooked all of the city. The park and nature were beautiful and the scenic view was truly God-inspired. From the center of this park stands a tall statue of Jesus Christ overlooking all of Tegucigalpa. The view and the bonding time with the girls at that park are unforgettable to me.



Finally, after three days in Tegucigalpa, we drove for four hours to spend our final three days in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. After we finished visiting the last of the orphanages and detention centers here, we were able tour the ABC Center, which is a vacant center that Orphan Helpers will be reopening in 2011 and renaming it “Genesis”. This center sits on a plot of 10-acres of land and has multiple buildings that will be used for dormitories, school, administration, clinic, multi-purpose, kitchen, etc. There is so much potential and so much that God can do with this new center. I was excited to get a sneak peak view of the future of Orphan Helpers. As a final hoo-rah for our trip to Central America, Roxy and I traveled outside of the city to go zip-lining through a canopied forest over a beautiful waterfall. This was a great end to a great trip!



Thank you so much for supporting me financially and with prayers for my mission trip and giving me this opportunity to share God’s love with all these children. God willing, I hope to return to Central America in 2011 for another trip!

In His Name,
Lauren