Below is a story written by one of our sponsors, Loretta Yeager, about how sponsorship has impacted her life.

-Ret

Most people who have been on mission trips will tell you it changed their lives. My husband  and I are no different.  We belong to Connection Church in Canton Michigan which made the commitment to sponsor a village in Guatemala. Our village is El Cruce.  After our first mission trip to the village to build a church, we fell in love with the people in our village and returned home anxious for the next trip.  Meanwhile we learned that we could sponsor children from Guatemala to make their lives better. Many of us wanted to do this, but our church worked out a plan with Hope of Life for us to sponsor children from our own village of El Cruce.  We had about 65 kids to choose from and we chose a beautiful little 4 year old girl named Maybelin. We wrote letters, sent pictures and packages and looked forward to seeing this little one in person on our return trip in 2014.

Our next trip to El Cruce was to build a school.  We scanned the crowd for our little Maybelin and had an interpreter help us find her and introduce us. She was very shy.  All of us on the trip who had sponsored children were able to invite them and their families to HOL for a party at the end of the week.  Maybelin came with her sister Ingrid and one of her brothers. It was here that we learned that Ingrid was not sponsored so we made arrangements to sponsor her as well.  The party ended with all the kids going into the pool and that was the ultimate ice breaker. Most had never been in a pool and they were so happy and excited. It was a delight to experience.

During that week, there was another little girl who attached herself to my husband.  Julisa. Every time I turned around, there she was, little arms wrapped around his neck and a big smile on his face.  We learned that the day the bios were taken, she was gone, so she was not one of the kids to be sponsored. It was a no brainer, we added our third little girl and felt like proud grandparents.

Between our second visit and our trip in 2015, we wrote more letters, sent more pictures and more presents.  We received pictures of them and letters from our girls.  As we planned our third trip to El Cruce, I cannot possibly explain the enthusiastic anticipation we felt.  Several children were sponsored in the days and weeks prior to our trip by eager team members, knowing they would get to meet and hug and love on their sponsored children.  We went to Guatemala last September knowing that 67 children in our village were sponsored and it was a great feeling to know that the lives of those children and their families would be made better.

Now comes the best part…

As we all rode the bus to our village for the first time this year (building restrooms at the school and putting in a playground), the buzz on the bus was palpable.  For my husband and I, we didn’t know whether to expect the shyness we’d seen previously, or open arms for hugs like we get from our grandchildren at home.  As the bus pulled up to the school yard, we could see a large crowd gathered, signs of welcome and firecrackers ignited as we got off the bus.  Tears streamed down my face. We had no idea. I looked up to see Julisa running to my husband with her arms open wide.  Her mother told us she could not sleep in anticipation of our arrival.  As we spotted our sister girls, they had big smiles on their faces, clothes on that we had sent them and were ready with welcoming hugs and kisses. That was pretty much our days in the village this year, 1, 2 or 3 girls clamoring for hugs and kisses and laps to sit on. We couldn’t have asked for more. These girls were OUR girls, as beloved as our own grandchildren.

Now comes the hard part…

Leaving.  They were sad.  We were sad. And no one wanted to let go.  But we had to and it was with great reluctance.  Julisa was beside herself with grief.  David had the responsibility of getting everyone on the bus, many of whom were saying tearful goodbyes to their sponsored kids.  So, he put Julisa on my lap and we hugged each other and tears were still streaming down her face.  I tried not to cry, but it was impossible.  We left even more of our hearts in El Cruce this year, but look forward to next year’s visit and more hugs and kisses.