Mirna's story

When I first came back from Mexico I told many people that I didn’t have a lot to tell about my trip because I was only just starting to process it all.  I felt very overwhelmed by everything I saw, heard & experienced.  Part of what I was looking for though, was a way to summarize the trip.  To be able to tell what God did in a few sentences.  I realized last week, that I was trying to fit it all in a box.  In a sense, limit what God had done.  Well, God doesn’t operate out of a boxJ.  I felt Him leading me just to start sharing stories & that He would speak through that.  So to start off, here is a very condensed version of one story…one of many that I had the privilege of experiencing.  I shared this in church last Sunday.

Meet Alex.  Alex is 4 or 5 years old.  I had the opportunity, along with the other ladies from Didsbury, to join Shelli at burn therapy the night after we arrived.  He was burned quite severely on his arms, legs & chest…although not as badly as a number of the kids we saw. 

Meet Mirna, Alex’s mom.  Mirna came to the Serenity Retreat that we were helping with.  16 months ago, Mirna & her husband Phil had 2 children.

Little Sofia died in the fire.  She was 2.

(I have a picture of Sofia, but it's just copy & pasted so I'm unable to put it here...sorry.)

Mirna only started working 2 weeks before the fire.  Sofia did NOT like daycare.  She cried every time Mirna dropped her off.  The day of the fire Sofia woke up excited for school (what she called it)...she was happy & singing as she got ready.  This was not at all usual since she started daycare. 

When Mirna dropped Alex & Sofia off, Sofia ran toward the door by herself (she had never done this).  Mirna called & asked if she was going to give her a kiss goodbye.  Sofia turned, smiling & blew Mirna a kiss, then ran inside. That was the last interaction Mirna had with Sofia. 

Scrapbooking was an amazing way for these women to start healing.  All the women absolutely loved it!  We didn’t expect all of them to get into it as much as they did.  Here Mirna is working on scrapbooking Sofia’s ultrasound pictures. 

It was very hard to not be able to talk to the ladies.  We did our best to show we care & just prayed that they would see God in us!

Mirna gave Lillian, one of the speakers, a page to remember Sofia by.  The most exciting part of Mirna’s story is that she accepted the Lord at the retreat! 

Shelli feels there is a reason that she is the first to accept the Lord, given her influence with the others.  She was very influential in having the other 5 moms come to the retreat.

These are the moms who were affected by the fire, either losing a child or having one severely burned, or both: Cindy, Juanita, Adrianna, Mirna, Gladys & Delphina.

The other 4 ladies who attended the retreat had a whole different story…that is for another dayJ.  They are: Matty, Veronica, Irma & Irma.

I mentioned in my last post how powerful it was to be able to sing a song in English while they were singing in Spanish.  Here we were singing “Bind us Together”. 

One of the other moms, Juanita, made this scrapbook page in memory of her son, Jonatan…to remind those of us here in Canada to PRAY! 

Please pray for these moms!  Pray that they would come to know Christ through this.  Pray that those who already have a relationship with Him would be drawn closer to Him.  Pray for their marriages as many of them are struggling (understandably) through this.  Pray for Shelli as she has the opportunity to continue connecting with them!

Thank you to everyone who prayed!  We needed your prayers & we felt them!  It meant so much to the ladies that there were people so far away who were praying for them.  THANK YOU!!