Dear friends,

Please do not donate your old blooming onion maker to an orphanage. Or two tiny little boxes of corn muffin mix. Or one jar of Thai paste. Or one box of Chinese crackers. This week we were cleaning out the pantry and found all kinds of crazy stuff. I asked one of the mothers that live here about all the strange stuff in the pantry, and she said they have no idea what some of it is, or how to make it. We organized everything, and put all the unusual stuff on a shelf, and called it the “missionary shelf.” We are allowed to get anything from the pantry for cooking, so we are having fun using up all the stuff they will never use. By the way, the mice kept us company while we were cleaning the pantry. We cleaned up a lot of their dirt, too. Working here is not for the squeamish. That’s an understatement.

They have tons and tons and tons of clothes. Clothes are everywhere, and there seems to be a very disorganized system for them. When they take showers, they have to root around in barrels till they find something their size. Dirty clothes are here and there and everywhere. Coming up with a good system for the clothes would take weeks, I’m convinced. Just this morning some groups came and brought guess what? More clothes. I almost fainted (just kidding). This place does not need more donations. Only hands.

On Thursday I cried for the children. They were so happy. A youth group from central California brought a carnival to the back patio. The children could jump in the bounce castle, eat donuts dangling on a fishing line, shoot water into a wooden clown, throw hoops over tin cans to win candy, eat cotton candy, and more. All morning we could smell hamburgers grilling, and at lunchtime they served the children a delicious hamburger dinner. The day before, we had picked up all the trash on the patio, but when the carnival left, the patio was covered with candy wrappers, cotton candy sticks, and sticky lollipops. That evening, I picked up the trash with a lot of joy.

Yesterday the mothers had a holiday. They disappeared upstairs for about 4 1/2 hours while the DIF (the social services) talked to them. We girls helped take care of all the toddlers and babies. When the ladies came down, they had this dazed look on their faces, as if they had been in some other world. They do not get a break from this place like we do. They are with these children 24/7. I wish I could do more from them. I talked to Margarita (the mother in charge of the nursery) this week. She said her husband left her for another woman. Then she told me about a strange dream she had on Sunday. In the dream she was fighting with God, asking Him why all these bad things are happening if she never did anything bad. God told her that she has not been searching for Him. I told her I think this dream is from God. I wanted to show her the verse in Jeremiah about searching for God with your whole heart, but I haven’t gotten it done yet. She seems very open. Pray for me that I would have a good opportunity to talk to her.

We girls are taking turns in the nursery for about seven hours of the day. We split that into two shifts, because it gets a little boring. We sit in a little room and try to entertain about seven toddlers. I discovered they enjoy looking at books. And ring around the rosy. I am trying to be creative in doing things with them. Linda and Perla love to be held. Dora sits in her corner and looks at me with her big eyes, and will not let me hold her. Miguel and Bobo are constantly trying the gate to see if they can escape out to the big world. But Mother Virginia would scream at the mothers if they would let them outside. She did say that we are allowed to take them out on the patio sometimes when the bigger children aren’t around. We haven’t gotten around to doing that yet.

Alexander is still sleeping in our room with Christina. Every morning I gave him his medicine, and he seemed to hate it worse every morning. But the medicine is gone now, thankfully. I gave Christina a break one night, and he did pretty good, only waking up twice. Hats off to all you moms with little babies!!!!

Every evening we get back to our rooms about 7:00 and take showers in the boys bathroom quick before the boys get back. One of us guards the door while the other one showers. We finally housecleaned the bathroom this week, so taking a shower doesn’t seem quite as gross. About 8:30 the little boys come down the hall and look into our kitchen. We let them stand at the door, but we do not let them come in. “Good night,” they say in English. Late we’ll hear them again from down the hall, “Good night.”

Gordon and Janelle (a family who is here in Mexico helping orphanages) brought beautiful brand new tables for the dining room. Sometimes the tables get washed off after a meal, and sometimes they don’t. Carolyn and I try to wipe them off if we see nobody else is doing it. We certainly can’t keep this whole orphanage clean, but we can at least make sure the children can eat off a clean table.

I had to think of some of the ladies at my church (Weavertown) this week. When I was in Paraguay, they had given me a huge Betty Lukens flannel graph set, and I used it this week. They even got together for a few days to cut out all the pieces. God bless you ladies!!! I’m sure you had no idea how far reaching your labors would be. The children were enthralled with the pieces that could be pasted anywhere on the board. I am starting with the Creation story, and am planning to use some of the main stories that are used in the “Creation to Christ” series. Some of them have heard the stories before, but I don’t know if they all have or not. One of the little boys stopped me later and said, “I really liked your story.”

One of the moms told me that she had been listening on the stairway. I said I really need someone to help me make sure the children behave, so I asked her if she can help me next time. She was excited about that, and I was, too, but not just because she can help me with the children :-).

Luis Angel follows me around. He hangs over the banister when I’m sewing, or presses his face against the bars of the nursery, and begs me to sing to him. I’ve sung “El Pajarillo,” to him more times than I can count. Yesterday I saw his naughty side for the first time. I don’t even remember what he did, but he got this really pouty look on his face; it was actually quite funny.

The children are amazingly happy. They never complain of being bored. And they have a lot less toys than some children I know. Toys that are around get broken rather quickly. In the early evening I like to go out to the patio and read stories to them. They enjoy that. They are not allowed to use the books in the library because they need supervision. We would like to take small groups of them back there sometimes so they can read the books.

Mother Virginia and all the moms yell at the children constantly. That makes me sad. I wish I could teach them a different way. I’m sure they’ve never seen a different way.

Last Sunday evening Mother Virginia stopped in our room, and she started telling us her life story, and she stayed for almost three hours. I felt like we were finally connecting with her. It was a huge answer to prayer. I wish I could remember all the details. She took care of AIDS patients for about a year. One AIDS patient that came to her had not had a bath in eight months. He had been lying in his bed in his own filth for all that time because everyone was scared to touch him. The grandmother that stayed with him fed him, but that’s it.

Mother Virginia also lived in a cave in solitude for about four months. She lived an hour away from the nearest ranch, and two hours away from the nearest town. The cowboy at the ranch had had an infection in his eyes for years, and Mother Virginia suggested that he go to a pharmacy for medicine so his eyes get better. The eyes got better immediately, and the story spread that she could do miracles. People started coming to her, walking from far away and with bikes, hoping to get her healing touch. Once two buses of people came and lined up to see her. She got so tired of this. All she wanted was solitude. She says her dream is to live in solitude once again. I guess that’s how a person would feel after living in this crazy place.

There must be about ninety children. I am making lists of the children’s names, but this morning I saw some more children that I know I don’t have names for yet. My goal for this week is to finish learning every one’s name. I think I know all the toddlers and babies, the mothers, and most of the teens, but not nearly all the ones in between.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Gordon and Janelle’s for an English church service at their house. They live in a little compound along with another couple, Amy and Jacob. They have been very helpful to us. Today they came and fixed the alternator in our vehicle. We appreciate them immensely.

A big thank you to all of you who have sent e-mail or left comments on my blog. It is a tremendous encouragement to me. I check e-mail every day on the computer at the orphanage, but we come here to town to do our “big” e-mail.

God bless you all with His presence this week!

Enjoying Mexico,
Liliana

Dear friends far and near,

In case anyone doesn’t know, I’m in Mexico, working at a Catholic Orphanage. Here is my latest update.

I feel so far away, somehow. And I feel like I’ve been gone for at least two weeks. I could write an epistle, but I won’t :-).

We found this awesome internet cafe about a block from De Volada’s. It is extremely clean, and we each have our own computer, and it costs only 8 pesos an hour. That’s about 75 cents. I helped the other girls set up their account on gmail, and now we are all working away :-).

Curtis picked us all up at the airport Tuesday, then we went over to Shining Light to pick up our vehicle, a purple Explorer that they call the eggplant. That evening we got settled in at La Hacienda, the land of barking dogs and dirt and children. Lots and lots of dirt. More dirt. And children. I love the children. I really love the children.

Carmen (age 13?) with the keys around her neck who lets people in at the gate and leads the children in prayer at mealtimes. She always has glitter around her eyes. The teen aged girls take good care of their looks. I see them preening in the mirror. It’s a very dirty mirror in a very dirty bathroom. But somehow the girls manage to stay neatly combed. They are all quite beautiful.

Corazon (about 10) with the beautiful brown eyes (most of the children have beautiful brown eyes, really) who gives me lots of hugs. I love to sing to her, “Mi corazon contento esta, mi corazon contento esta, porque Jesus ya me salvo.” (My heart is content, because Jesus saved me). She loves it.

Chavella (about five), a very unlovely little girl who pushes and shoves and demands. I need God’s love for her, because I sure don’t have it in myself.

Jose Eduardo (about 14) who threw his plate the other day because he was angry. One of the moms yelled at him and made him clean it up. He is really quite gentle. I’ve talked to him often since then, and he loves the attention. This morning he came over especially to say good morning. I wish there were some good role models (fellows) for him here.

Alexander (five months) who sleeps in our room with us. Yes, really. Ana, his mother, hit him over the ear a few nights ago because she was angry. Mother Virginia ordered her to leave for a few days, and now he sleeps in our room. Christina was saying how she wished she could have one of the babies with her, so I guess she got her wish. She does great with the baby. As soon as he squeaks a little, she gives him a bottle, so for the last two nights he did not keep us awake. In the mornings while Christina gets ready, I change his diaper, and give him his medicine with a syringe, and give him his bottle. He is such a cheerful little man. He spends the rest of the day in the baby room.

I was scrubbing up the dining room floor and using a knife to clean scrape the gum and gunk out of the cracks between the tile, when this little boy came to the doorway. “Tengo sed” (I’m thirsty), he begged in a very whining voice. I went to the kitchen and got him a glass of water. “Come te llama?” (What’s your name) I asked him. “Jesus,” he said. And I’m not making this up.

I am slowly learning everyone’s name. I ask them over and over again. I think they get tired of me asking. And I’m learning all kinds of new words in Spanish. I love Spanish.

The baby room is very much improved from when we were there in January. The TV is out, the sun streams in the window, and it is not filthy like some of the other areas. There are only four little babies that stay in the room all day. The other toddlers sleep in that room, but during the day they go across the hall to a very cheerful room with carpet and toys and a wide open door that leaves in fresh air. The toddlers seem a lot happier. Margaret (one of the mothers) does an awesome job in the baby room as far as I can see. But the other day she was accused of hitting one of the babies, so Mother Virginia ordered her into the kitchen to work. She was very unhappy in the kitchen. This morning Mother Virginia told me that Margaret is now reinstated because the bottles were dirty last night, etc. and she is giving Margaret another chance. I had thought Margaret was doing an awesome job, but of course I didn’t see everything.

We worked on cleaning the kitchen this week. Oily, gunky dirt. Eggshells. Cockroaches. Grease that we scraped off with a knife. They said it hasn’t been housecleaned in ten years, and I believe them.

I find communicating with Mother Virginia a challenge. She is really hard to find. And when I do find her, she is almost always being interrupted by some person or another. She is often in her room. There are two intercoms that we can use to call her if she’s in her room, but I always feel like I’m intruding.

The other two girls with us are not from Minnesota, like I had thought. They are from Shippensburg, and their names are Carla Hege and Christina Gatewood. I had never met them before, but of course we are getting to know each other quite fast :-).

We have been drinking bottled water so far. Two days ago the ladies in the kitchen offered me an oatmeal drink and later a melon drink, and I haven’t gotten sick on it. They have a spigot in the kitchen that has purified water, so I’m going to try to wean myself off the bottled water and use that. We’ll see what happens.

Thank you to everyone who is praying. I know you’re praying, because I can feel it.

Well, I could write all day, but I should run along. I’m going to post these updates on my blog, so you read them on there as well. My blog is lillianstoltzfus.com How easy is that?

God bless you all. I am finding many challenges here, so please keep praying.

Sincerely,
Lillian Stoltzfus