Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Esperanza (Hope)


We want to tell you the story of a beautiful woman. Her name is Esperanza which means "hope." And Esperanza is a picture of hope. She is married to a man who lost a few of his children and his first wife in a mudslide that resulted from Hurricane Mitch in 1998. She and her husband live in what amounts to a refugee town that was built after the mudslide that forced people to relocate and leave their land. Though Esperanza and her husband Tomás have been married for eleven years, like us they have not been able to have any children of their own. And while the house Esperanza lives in has only two small rooms and is made of cinder blocks, and her life is much different from ours, she is a person who transmited much love to us during our time in Nicaragua. She helped out with VBS and was thrilled to be the star of several skits we did for children. Esperanza and Jennifer led games outside in the street one night for the little kids in her town and Esperanza was full of joy.
Esperanza's story doesn't end there...At age thirty-one she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and doesn't know if she will be able to afford the price of the opperation she needs. (GO InterNational is currently trying to aid in this effort.) While we never saw her complain about her situation, we did see her shed a few tears as she shared about her health.
Esperanza's story spoke to us deeply as we realized how much we take for granted; our health, our resources, our access to medical attention. Her story inspires us not to complain when trials come but to rejoice in the hope we have in God. For he is our only esperanza!


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