Life Changing Moments

   -- from Volunteer Leah Sutton

When I started this grand adventure May 31, 2013, I never knew how much of an impact it would have on my life. I went from not knowing about my future to being almost one hundred percent sure. I give all my thanks to God and to the wonderful opportunity I have had here at Give Hope 2 Kids. 

Before this year I have never been involved in missions. I have always had a heart for mission work, but have never listened. This year has made me realize how much I want and need to be involved in mission work. When I get home I plan on becoming more involved in missions with my church. I am really looking forward to this. 

Give Hope 2 Kids is my family. I have multiple moms, dads, brothers, and sisters. I have witnessed some amazing parenting from all of our wonderful house parents. They all have so much love and patience for all of the children here. One of the things that I really love is how the kids call their house parents mom and dad. They have made a huge impact in their lives. 

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I have also had the privilege of being friends with some fantastic young men and women. It makes me so happy to see the young teenagers and adults take on leadership roles in the church. I love attending church and seeing them praise God with song, speech, instruments, and dance. I know that God has huge plans for all of them.

This year I have been able to work with two little boys in particular who have special needs. They have made tremendous progress and continue surprising us with their new abilities. Even though I was teaching them, they were the ones that changed my life. I always knew that I wanted to work with special needs children. These two little boys have made me realize that I want to go back to school to earn my masters in special education and start a non-profit preschool for special needs children. The idea of the center is to prepare the special needs preschooler for kindergarten. This is a very big dream, but I know this is God’s plan for me. I thank God every day for what he has done and what he will do. Big dreams are possible. 

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This brings me to my last paragraph. It’s taken me a while to write this because I know I will be leaving soon. It’s hard to believe that I will going home April 6th. I have had several people ask me if I am ready to leave. The answer is always no and yes. No, I’m not ready to leave everybody and my work here. Yes, I’m ready to turn a page in my life. Honduras has been one of the best chapters in my life and it will never end. I may be going away now, but I will always come back. My heart will always be in Honduras and with Give Hope 2 Kids.

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