God’s Protection over His Children

Living here at Casa Betesda has provided the opportunity for us to get to know the kids and to see them every morning. It has been an absolute blessing to wake up to giggles and children’s voices outside your room in the morning. What’s better?
 
There are about 20 kids here at Casa Betesda ranged from about 4 to 14. So much responsibility is placed on these children with chores, yet, at the same time, there is great freedom here. Once the children are finished with their chores, they are at liberty to do what they please. This environment is just so peaceful and provides such love and opportunity to the children here. It is a pleasure to see the family that they have created. The older kids play with the little ones, help them get ready to eat, fix their toys, and help them handle certain situations… it’s beautiful! The little ones just run around and bring pure joy to everyone. All in all, it’s phenomenal.
 
On Friday, July 13^th, three extremely joyous and precious boys here at Casa Betesda decided to run away from the orphanage – Pedro, Oscar, & Michle.
 
Pedro is 14. He had many opportunities to with some older boys out in the field with Pastor Eduardo. I worked with him and 5 other teenage boys one day cutting down trees and peeling the bark to make houses. Pedro and I had a few conversations that day, but mostly he kept to himself. He admitted he struggled with reading and wanted to learn. “Deal! It’s a date!” I said (in Spanish). And, I filled up with excitement as I thought it would be true. When I would seek him out, he had a chore to do or he merely did not want to sit down to read, other things were more important. Thus, the reading task failed. We had a few brief interactions aside from the reading attempts, but he never really wanted to open up or I failed to find the proper connection with him to get him to open up.
 
Oscar is 12. This boy probably said 30 words to our team the entire time we interacted for about 3 weeks. He was extremely quiet, but still very loving and bold. He would walk up behind you and hug you, put his hands over your eyes until you guessed it was him. He would look up at you, squint his eyes, in attempt to determine what you were thinking. There were certainly some interesting interactions, but they all included joy and laughter. He was always smiling with the most beautiful smile and always brought such a calming presence.  150% adorable. 

Michle is Pedro’s younger brother. He is also 12 and just rocks all around. He and Oscar were great friends.  The three boys speak a separate language, called Miskito, which they learned from growing up in an area by the coast. Oscar and Michle used this language frequently when interacting with one another. Michle was a typical 12 year old boy. He climbed to get mangos out of trees (or just whacked a tree until one fell), dug holes, hit bug nests with rocks until they started flying everywhere and then ran away, and just seemed to enjoy life. Love it!
 
It is so difficult to think about these three boys leaving as they have left such a glorious place. Surely there are struggles and difficulties, as there will be anywhere, but all in all – there is so much potential and life for the children here. It frightens me for what is on the outside of these doors. I find myself asking: 
 

 
Then I am reminded:
 

 
I know regardless of where these boys are, they are under God’s shield. I pray that they draw closer and find refuge in Him. Friends, please pray for the protection and safety of Pedro, Michle, and Oscar. Pray they have meals, they find homes, and they find security.