Tomatoes, Love, and Tears

This week was a hard week for me, but it has also been my favorite week since being in Ecuador. It was filled with many tears, but also with love and growth. From March 19 to March 24 my team had the opportunity to stay at a ministry called Dunamis. Dunamis is an organization that rescues girls under the age 18 from sex trafficking and provides them with a home, community, therapies, spiritual support, and so much fun. While we were there we spent majority of our time working in a greenhouse with 8,000 tomato plants. These tomatoes are mostly sold to fund this amazing ministry. We also had the opportunity to hang out with the nine amazing girls on the property whom I immediately felt a deep connection to. I can really only explain this connection as being due to God. Three teammates got to spend each day with the girls and I was eager to go the first day. No less than 10 minutes of being in their home I turned to one of my teammates and said “I love them so much already.” How could I love these girls that I didn’t even know and with whom I didn’t even speak the same language? I saw them as God saw them. Not as broken or hurting, but as cherished daughters of the King. God called me to love them deeply and it was through Him that I loved them so from the very beginning. 

These girls also loved us deeply even though we were only with them for five days. My first friend in the house was an eight year old who loved to play and be tickled like any eight year old. Once I connected with her, the other girls started to open up more and starting sharing smiles and laughs and eventually even tears and requests to hold hands. It was amazing to see that love can even defy language. My own Spanish skills were put to the test this week as I tried to communicate with the girls, but sometimes my own words failed. The girls typically come to the greenhouse for around 30 minutes every day to work with the tomatoes. One of these times I heard them singing Waymaker in Spanish as they were working. They ended up stopping and a few minutes later me and one of my teammates started singing the song in English. One of the girls looked at me through a tomato plant and started smiling. She immediately joined in with singing the song, but in Spanish. It filled my heart to know that we could connect even when we were speaking different languages and we could worship God together. 

These girls captured my heart in our short time together and I know that a piece of it will forever belong to them. Leaving them was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to work with them. They changed my life for the better and I saw our Father through them, and hopefully they saw Him in me too. If you want to learn more or hear more stories about this amazing ministry please reach out to me! Also, be sure to check them out on Instagram @dunamisfoundation , on Facebook, or check out their website https://dunamisfoundation.com/