She has been through years of physical and speech therapy. She is now fifteen years old and can both walk and talk. She is one of the happiest children that I have ever seen. She loves to talk, play games, and just be silly. She is still kind of hard to understand when she talks and there are some games that she is not able to play because they involve running. She never lets anything stop her and she beat the odds. She was one of the first people that I met when I came to the City of Children. The past two years we have gotten really close. Almost every time that they would have play time she would hurry over to me and ask me to play with her. It is such a great feeling to make relationships like that and have them remember you, not just your face, but also your name.
Once you step outside of the City of Children gates, you can see the world from where those precious children came. Once of those places is a town just an hour away from the City called El Zorrillo, which means “the skunk” in Spanish. The name describes the place very well. There are dirt roads, limited food and water, and the houses are either small concrete rooms or cardboard boxes. Living in all of this filth are some of the most loving and Christlike people that I have ever met. I will never forget the first year that I had an opportunity to travel to El Zorrillo. We arrived on a Saturday, but we did not go to the church building until Sunday morning. I remember feeling really uncomfortable and not sure what to expect. Our mission team began to line up at the entrance of the church building and greet people. I have never gotten so many hugs in my life. They loved me and they did not even know me…that blew my mind. Every member would tell you that they were praying for you too and they meant it. In the Mexican culture, if a person says that they are praying for you or if a person says God bless you, they mean that with all that they are. It is a very serious statement. To know that I have people that live so far away praying for me continuously is such an encouragement to me in hard times.