Lourdes

I've sat down to do this post several times and haven't been able to do it.  Lourdes is the toughest one to write about, she's the one that I lay awake at night wondering how she is and how she will be.  

As I have mentioned several times, when I was there in 2004, I worked in the kitchen with Lourdes and Jenny every day.  I cannot say enough that I spent hours every day there, preparing meals, cleaning and just spending time.  Lourdes was pensive, but quick to laugh.  Playful, emotional.  She was very sensitive but very loving.  She was the "cook" in charge of the kitchen and made food to feed 40 girls three times a day.  She was good at what she did and she was also had a mean aim with a can (aimed at a "raton" - mouse - that had happened to get itself stuck in the bottom of a barrel).  That mouse definitely saw it coming but didn't stand a chance!  As I'm writing all of this, the memories come back in flashes.  I see pictures of my time there.  Making pizza over the fire from a kit that had been sent to me in a care package.  Sharing candy my mom sent.  Hanging out in "la sala" after the kids were in their houses.  Looking at pictures, listening to CD's.  Singing at the top of my lungs.  Being silly to make them laugh.  They're so easy to love, so easily loving.

Lourdes is one of five children.  Two of her sisters are still at the orphanage.  I was able to spend a good while catching up with Doris.

Lourdes left the orphanage in September of last year, and made her way into Tegucigalpa to try to find work.  In Honduras, one third of the people are underemployed and 60% (!) live below the poverty line.  My friend is out there in that job market, trying to make it.  And it scares me for her.  I have been praying for her, trying to figure out a way to help her.  But I am coming up seriously short.  I have had some ideas, but I don't want to do anything that will not help her get on her own two feet, and I am so far away and have such infrequent contact with her, that I cannot make any headway.  Its so frustrating.

I have contacted several ministries in Tegus to see about putting her in touch with them to get help with some job training or finding a job.  All but one of the emails I sent went completely unanswered.  Ignored.  I finally got in touch with someone by phone, and gave Lourdes her email address and I haven't heard whether or not she has contacted them.  The last contact I had with Lourdes she told me that she can't get on the internet very much because it costs money and she was going to have a small job to do but it wasn't much.

I have run the gamut in my mind from trying to fly down there to help her in person (not likely!) to trying to fund a salary for her through one of those ministries there that would give her a job.  I know that for her to be successful long term she has to learn how to really live on her own, including life skills such as budgeting and keeping house, etc.  I have checked out Compassion, but they only help children and pregnant or new mothers.  So, if she were pregnant she could get assistance.  Go figure.

What I do know, and what I keep coming back to, is that my God loves Lourdes far more than I do, and He knows her intimately.  He knows what He is doing in her life, and she is ultimately in His hands.  But I will continue to pray and seek out ways to help her.  Its just that I am so completely limited.  And that is hard.  But, HE is not limited.  And she belongs to Him.

Lourdes met us at the airport on the day we were flying out.  That was a huge blessing, just to be able to hug her and spend a few minutes talking with her.  I have missed my friend.

Please join me in praying for her, that God would regard her situation and look upon her with favor.  I know she is but one of millions of people there trying to make their way in life.  But she is the one I care most deeply for, and she is the one I will pray for.