As I reflect on this 14th trip to Cebu, I think back to the first time that I visited. I felt unprepared and ill suited to accompany students to an orphanage in a foreign country. I begged for the organizers of the trip to find someone who “actually liked children” to go in my place. I love my own kids but playing with other people’s kids was something that I didn’t do. Reluctantly I agreed to go and take care of the administrative details.
I certainly never expected the change in my heart that would occur the first time I met the children at CSC. This just shows that nothing is too big for God to do. I would never have imagined myself taking this trip repeatedly and being excited about it. Sometimes I rock the babies in the nursery, sometimes I help with decorating kids rooms, play the Elf to Santa, wrap gifts but I always take time to hug and talk with the kids. Whenever I start to feel sorry for myself because of something happening in my life, I think about the things that these small children have endured. It certainly gives me perspective.
The biggest thing the Lord has shown me is that each child deserves to be loved and cared for regardless of the circumstances they were born into. I have seen only a snippet of what the caregivers at CSC have seen over the years and I struggle to deal with what I have witnessed. It is just amazing to me the way that God has protected them. I suppose that’s what God does when He calls us to something. I can tell you that I would not want to venture out in this way without God. He definitely is at work at CSC.
On this last trip, Marlys took Chris (my husband) and me to the government hospital. In all the years that I’ve been going to Cebu, this was my first tour of that facility. I’ve seen pictures and heard tales but to experience it first hand was humbling. We went to the maternity ward, where the walls are usually packed with mothers sharing beds working through labor. It was relatively quiet when we visited and we were told that they had been closed for remodeling and that it had just reopened. So imagine the number of women that were sent to the other hospital across town! The statistic they gave us was that there had been 157 women in labor in 39 beds before they closed. And I would have been devastated to be in a semi-private room when I was in labor. Sure makes you think.
The beds are made of painted iron with very thin mattresses laid over metal springs. Babies were also in the same beds with the women and families nearby helping with food and giving support. While on this visit, we met a newborn that had been abandoned by his mother 4 weeks earlier. One nurse in particular took to this little boy so I asked her what she called him. She said that she called him “Denver”. For days, I worried about little Denver because the nurse told us that for feeding, he was passed to other mothers in the ward who would breast feed him. This must have worried Marlys too because even though CSC had many children waiting to come, she called Paul right away and told him about the baby. Within a few days, he was living at CSC where he could get proper care. So even on a tour, Marlys had her heart and mind open to who God would put in her path. I am in awe everyday as I think about what goes on at CSC and I pray that the families that get these children know how special each one is.
Planning my 15th trip and wondering about what great things God will show me next. I wonder why He has prepared me with these experiences and pray that my heart will be open to what He has in store for me.
Sherri Stumpf, Andover, MN
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