Dear friends,

“A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. [Luke 12:15]” Things, things, things, things. I have never seen so many things in my life. In the front entrance, in the back hallway, in the back room, upstairs, things are everywhere. I had to move several bags of clothing to get to the computer. Generous donors have pity on these poor orphans, and have deluged them with things. Almost every other day a group comes and hands out presents. Thursday the patio was littered with wrapping paper from about seventy opened gifts.

What do the children do with this flood of generosity? A crawling doll was dismembered and the mechanics jerked out. I saw one of the boys banging his truck on the floor with all his power. The chutes and ladders game board ended up in the nursery, minus the buttons. Sandy threw her classy jacket in the trash, because she didn’t like it.

I do admit that some of the gifts are played with, hugged tenderly, hidden under pillows, and guarded jealously. But I think Julia expressed what all these children feel. After one flood of presents, I noticed she was crying. Suspecting that she didn’t like her gift, I asked her what was the matter. “I’d rather have my dad,” she said.

I thought this year I would have to miss out on Christmas dinner. Last weekend we went to Lebec, California, because Carolyn wanted to see her aunt who was visiting from Texas. Sunday they served us a bountiful dinner of turkey, filling, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, jello salad, butter horns, pecan pie, and raspberry pie. God even cares about spoiled missionaries :-).

Christmas day I felt rather homesick, knowing my whole wonderful family was at a cozy cabin in Juniata County. My family can be kind of crazy sometimes, but how I missed that craziness all day long. Being with Gordon and Janelle’s family and eating chicken cordon bleu and Gordon’s amazing chocolate chip cookies helped a little. The day before we had picked Sharmen up at the airport so she could be with us again, but Christmas morning she got a phone call that her brother Tom had a serious snowmobile accident, leaving him in a coma. She got an emergency one-way ticket to Michigan (which cost a whopping $1400, being it was Christmas day), and Christmas evening found us on the way to the airport once again to drop her off. The update on Tom’s care page this morning said that at midnight he was answering questions by nodding or shaking his head.

We did laundry this Thursday and Friday, filling all twenty ?? laundry lines each time. No one had done any laundry since the Friday before, so there should have been a lot more dirty laundry. One morning Michel was grumbling, “I want a shower.”

“When did you last have a shower?” I asked.

She started counting on her fingers, “Wednesday, Thursday, . . . Five days,” she said. When school is in session, they are allowed to take a bath every day. Not on vacation, for some reason. “It’s not fair right?” Michelle pleaded.

“No, it’s not fair,” I said. Why no showers? I have no idea. If I knew that my persuasion could change anything, I would use it to the utmost capacity. Have you ever tried to persuade a brick wall?

I am feeling a lot of culture stress recently. Pray that I could be gracious with haphazardness, disorderliness, carelessness, and randomness, and see the eternity in the hearts of these people.

A big thank you to all of you who are STILL praying. I got a Christmas card this week from my aunt Levina. “I pray for you every day,” she wrote. I was encouraged.

With my love,
Liliana

Dear friends,

(This was written almost a week ago, and just now remembered to post it).

Last week we went to Wal Mart with about 65 children, 10 moms, and us, all in one bus. It was not your typical trip to the Walmart. Obviously there had been no planning about who takes care of who, because when I got off the bus, Geno shouted, “Take one of the children.” I grabbed little Juan’s hand, and didn’t let him go. Each of the big children grabbed someone else’s hand, and in we went. Geno told me later she was afraid we would lose someone.

We were herded inside to the little eating place, and waited for a long time till the workers brought hot dogs and yogurt. The children at our table promptly started on the yogurt, and let the hot dogs untouched. When the cake was brought, Joselyn got such an amazing amount of icing on her jacket sleeve that I was almost embarrassed to be with her. We sat for another incredibly long time, in which Juan got really tired of sitting. Someone discovered that they could have a little diversion if they needed to use the bathroom, so we made numerous trips back and forth.

After about an hour, about ten shopping carts full of gifts appeared. Every child impatiently waited until their name was called, and they could finally hug Santa and get their gift. Each Walmart employee had chosen a child to give a gift. Later, we had a few tense moments while we waited outside until the whole group was safely back in the bus.

The teen girls are loving the story of Esther, maybe because she was an orphan, and maybe because I like it so well. This week they had no school, and I had grand plans of having talks with the girls every day. Then I got sick, and really couldn’t do anything for three days. I discovered that this place can run quite well without me :-). Thankfully, tonight I feel lots better. Just in time for the weekend :-).

Berta, the kitchen lady, left to live with her son in Tecate. For weeks her sad face in the kitchen has been haunting me. The next evening, I couldn’t find Lupita, her oldest daughter, when it was time to do her computer homework. Nobody seemed to know where she was. I discovered she escaped, taking the bus to Tecate to join her mom. Lis, the younger sister, has been walking around with a sad expression all week. Just now I heard her singing, so maybe she is finally getting used to the fact that she is here alone.

The pantry has been fumigated, so this week we put in the new donations. The pantry is getting quite stuffed, and all of it is donations that have come in the last six weeks. I am amazed at the amount of stuff that pours in through these doors, especially now at Christmastime. We girls are allowed to take anything that comes in, so we eat great food. Pop Tarts. Pineapple Juice. Macaroni and Cheese. Ritz Crackers. Cheese sauce. Corn muffin mix. Yummy!

Since the children are on vacation this week, we had lots of help putting the stuff away. Children kept coming in and asking, “Can I help?” Alex and Kevin did a great job stacking stuff on the shelves. All I really had to do was supervise. I wish we would have more things for the children to do. They were so happy to help.

“As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” Thanks to all of you who sent letters in the past few weeks. I feel so blessed hearing from you all back home. Someone asked if I’m dreaming of a White Christmas? I guess I’ll only be dreaming this year :-). We are not sure what we are doing for Christmas. Maybe we’ll spend the day at Gordon’s, or maybe we’ll head back to the orphanage in the afternoon. One of the moms said they drink Tequila on Christmas Eve, so we thought perhaps we’ll kind of be conveniently gone over that time :-).

God bless you all with His love this week.

With my love,
Liliana

Dear friends,

Some weeks I wonder if I will have anything interesting to write. Then something really crazy happens. Last week three-year-old Bobo somehow got his head stuck in the iron fence in the dining room. Julieta tried unsuccessfully to get him out. All the children crowded around, pushing and shoving to get the best view. Then Mother Virginia was called, and she hurried out. She kept commanding the children to stand back, but even her intimidating presence couldn’t quite dampen their curiosity.

“Get some oil,” she yelled, and it was promptly brought. The oil only made Bobo’s hair greasy. Mother Virginia shuffled off and returned with a saw. Bobo’s head was pushed down and covered with a blanket while Mother Virginia sawed the iron bar. I can imagine Bobo thought they were going to cut off his head. After the bar was broken off, his head came out easily. Mother Virginia wrapped Bobo’s head in her habit and held him close till he stopped crying. I am sure Bobo will think twice before he sticks his head in the bars again.

I keep thinking how fortunate Mennonite children are to have a mom and a dad who love them. One night I noticed twelve-year-old Julia crying. “Why are you crying?” I asked her. She told me that she saw some Christmas pictures, and they reminded her of her family. I feel so helpless at times like that. All I could do was hold her in my arms and cry with her.

The teen girls here are enjoying my little “platicas” (talks). They keep begging me to have them. Sometimes I feel it’s more like a gab session, because they keep interrupting with their questions and stories and comments. Some of them have quite a knowledge of the Bible, and like to let the others know. Please pray for wisdom in knowing what to share with them, and how to guide the discussion so they really get something out of it.

This week we painted the hallway back to the girls’ dorm. Before, the walls were an amazing conglomeration of garish pink and seasick green and brilliant blue. Now, it is one calm sky blue. The hallway looks bigger and brighter. I would say it is the best cosmetic improvement that we’ve made to the place.

This morning Mother Virginia heard Perla coughing (Perla is the two-year-old who has been sleeping in our room for a few months). She came to our kitchen while I was combing Perla and informed me that from now on Perla will sleep back in the girls’ dorm with her sisters, because it’s warmer back there. Perla’s personality has really come out since she spends some quality time with us. She laughs and giggles, and gibbers and jabbers. Hopefully she will not regress to the unresponsive child she was before.

If any of my readers have children that get bored on a rainy day, tell them they need to get a grip. Yesterday it was raining, and the children here didn’t have school. They have one big dining room to
play in. They can watch TV, play with a few toys, watch TV, run around the dining room, watch TV, talk to their friends, or watch TV. No books to read. No computer to play on. No Lego’s to play with. No cookies to bake. I took them upstairs to the homework room in small groups so they could at least read stories for awhile (they’re not allowed to go up there without supervision). At the end of the day, Joselin gave me her beautiful smile and a hug and said, “Thanks for taking me upstairs.” Moments like that are the reason I’m still here.

A big thanks to all of you who are still remembering to pray. Without those prayers, I know I would have gone home many weeks ago.

With my love,

Lillian