Reunited (Honduras 2014, Part 4)

Almost all of my teammates had met their sponsored children.  I arrived back to the sponsorship center that morning with high hopes that my Melania would be there waiting.  As children arrived, I became so anxious to see her.  No amount of time I spend with Melania will ever seem like enough when I have to leave a few days later, so I hoped and prayed she would be there soon.

I was playing with some other children near the doorway when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a few people walk into the center.  This had happened so many times that morning that I honestly didn't even turn around to look this time.  That is, until I heard my friend Bella exclaim, "Megan!", and I turned around to see Melania coming through the door!  Then, this happened...



This was it.  This was the moment we had both been praying for for all this time.  I was reunited with my sister, my heart.  I was stunned by how grown up she was compared to last year.  She was just so beautiful. 

We sat and talked laughed at the fact that we had no way to understand each other, because there were no translators nearby.  We literally sat like this with our arms around each other, smiling and saying nothing, for a good twenty minutes.  Finally, I flagged down one of my teammates who was fluent in Spanish to help me so Melania and I could say a proper hello.

We talked about how much we had missed each other and how excited we were to be together again.  We talked about our families.  I informed her that Bella and Estefani would be coming along on our fun visit day (our team members were split into groups of two for the fun days; so the rest of the team went elsewhere for theirs), and that we would also be bringing Dayana.  Thankfully, she was excited about this plan.  She gave me some precious gifts, including some beautiful handmade jewelry, a jewelry box filled with candy, and some of her amazing artwork.  The one that touched my heart the most, was this drawing.  In the individual hearts, she wrote my name, her name, and the names of my siblings- Aden and Amy.  

From the first day we met, I have told Melania that we are sisters in Christ.  And from the first day we met, she has reminded me that I am now a part of her family.  When I saw this drawing, I knew that was exactly what she was trying to say.  I pointed to her, and then to myself, and said, "hermanas" (sisters).  "Si, hermanas!" she agreed.

I also gave her one of the gifts I had brought for her (and saved the rest for later on).  If you happen to remember, last year, I was so impressed when she told me that her favorite verse was Isaiah 1:17, about doing good and helping the fatherless. That verse had led me to go to Honduras to see her in the first place. Meanwhile, she was out there doing that for everyone else.  I have since written to her about what a selfless action it is to live out that verse.  So, on this visit, I decided that Melania's special gift would be a custom shirt that had Isaiah 1:17 on it in Spanish.  I also had one made for myself so we could match.  She was so happy when she saw them.

This was when I told her that later on, we would be having a quinceanera (15th birthday party, which is often a bigger deal than a wedding for girls in Honduras, and is the reason I came to visit her when I did) for her, and that I had brought her a gown and had the sponsorship center staff plan everything.  She had already been notified of this, but still her smile was huge when we talked about it.

I spent the morning teaching Melania to make paper beads, a hobby I'd recently taken up.  This can be used both for a means of income and for fun.  She was amazing at this and quickly became more skilled at it than me.  Many others at the center joined in too.

We made earrings for each other...



And for all the little girls who were huddled around watching...



After this, we had way too much fun playing with a jump rope...



And I watched her play soccer with some of her friends....

It was such a great morning, and our time together was only beginning.  Next, we were off to visit her house!