Internship @ Pan de Vida in Querétaro, México

We recently returned to Guadalajara from a 3-day internship at another Christian orphanage in México.  We traveled to Querétaro which is about 4 hours away from Guadalajara to visit an orphanage called Pan de Vida (Bread of Life).  The orphanage has about 80 boys and girls.

This is one of the best run orphanages that I have seen.  They are so organized and orderly.  The majority of the orphanages that I've been to are either super organized with a very strict regiment and almost military style schedule or the complete opposite with no structure at all.  We want our orphanage to have a healthy balance between the two styles.  We want structure, order and organization, but also want it to be balanced with times to relax and hang out as a family and bond.

The first night at this orphanage was what most impacted me.  I got to spend the night with the girls.  One thing that I definitely miss is working with girls (the 2 orphanages we work with in Guadalajara are all boys).  Before going to bed, we all stood in a circle and held hands and took turns praying.  It was so amazing to get to hear a little 5 year old girl pray.  The prayers of a child are so simple but are truly from the heart.  I loved it.  And then one of the girls wanted to sing, so we started to sing with all of the girls for a good 30-45 minutes.  It was so much fun.  After singing one of the older girls said that we should all sit down and share our life-stories.  So we all sat down in the circle and went around sharing about our pasts and how God has changed our lives.

We sat in a circle.  5 year old girls. 10 year old girls.  18 year old girls.  All of them so different.  Coming from different pasts.  Some of them raped as young girls.  Some of them beaten by their parents.  Some of their parents in prison.  Grew up in poverty.  But all of them one family.  In all of these girls you can see one thing in common.  The presence of Jesus in their hearts.  I have never seen children like this.  Children who really love Jesus.  God is truly working in their hearts.  His work is evident in their lives.  These girls are real.  They are genuine.  I walked out that night talking with the other girls on my team and I kept repeating that "these girls are so real".  My teammates laughed at me.  But it is true.  These girls are real.  They are transparent.  They are genuine.

During the trip we were also able to make contact with another Christian orphanage in another city about 2 hours away from Guadalajara.  They invited us to do an internship with them, most likely in January.  Overall this trip was incredible for us to really continue forming our vision of how we want our orphanage to look like.  Taking the pros and cons of each orphanage and mixing together what we feel is best and most effective for the children.