Category Archives: Shadow of His Wings

The orphanage in Monjas, Jalapa, Guatemala

A New Season

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The time came to transplant the orphanage in Monjas to begin a new season. We hired trucks and loaded up everything in San Cristobal to move to our new location. I took the girls in our van, and off we went for a four-hour trip that I’ll always remember. The El Salvador highway, CA 1, looked like a wavy line on the map. We had girls who had never ridden in vehicles before coming to the orphanage. With the weaving of the van on the many S-curves, girls started moaning and vomiting. Despite the sick stomachs and the tears from “sour pickle face” (a girl who protested to the move), we drove into Monjas with beeping horns.

The duplex on the property wasn’t completed yet, so we temporarily housed the girls in a large house used by the James Project of Latin America office. Earlier that month, after setting up my home, Joanne and I came to the house and assigned each girl a bed space and storage for clothes. Each place had a tag labeled “Princess…” and her name.

The girls climbed out of the van, and the sick suddenly seemed healed as excitement took over. The laughter and chatter thrilled me, and even the one angry face before me didn’t take away from the joy I felt for these girls. Lord, she will come around. Work in her heart. The chaos that followed reminded me of church camp days. Everyone went in a different direction, taking in the environment, and looking for their space. “Look for your name on the beds, and the basket for your clothes goes under your bed,” I shouted over the loud roar of voices. Just as at camp, everyone found their place and put their belongings away. By nighttime, order took over.

The next morning I entered the bedroom where ten of the girls slept while singing out a chipper, “Good morning, Sweetie Pies.” All pretended to be asleep, but giggles erupted from beneath the blankets in various locations.

“Mama Carroll, I heard frogs sing all night!” After those spoken words, everyone chorused in with exclamations and questions. “Will we go to the property today?” “Can we go outside?” “We want to see Monjas!” “Can I take a shower?” “I’m hungry!” “Can I trade beds with Nely?”

“Okay, girls, one question at a time,” I said, feeling their enthusiasm and anticipation as it rippled around the room. “After breakfast and washing the dishes, you will go to the property and play soccer with Gib and Profe. Tonight we will go to a local church. They have planned a big welcome for us,” I informed them.

101_0195That evening at church, we found that the ushers had lined chairs across the front of the sanctuary and placed each girl’s name on them to honor each one. Our girls did a praise and worship presentation for the congregation, while I stood watching with my heart bursting with pride. Thank you, Lord, for these girls, and thank you that I can be a part of all this. They impressed the congregation, and the pastor asked two of the girls to come to the front and help lead the worship songs. Having done this in Verbo Sur, our home church in the Capital, they accomplished it with some professionalism. Lord, what a great first day in our new place.

The first full day in Monjas ended up being a unique time for the girls. They experienced what it was like to be outside of concrete walls and still feel safe. I caught a smile on the face of the girl who had complained of the move to Monjas. I felt a newfound freedom for myself and the girls. People at the church went out of their way to make us feel welcomed. In our hearts, we were home. This truly began a new season for all of us at Shadow of His Wings Orphanage.

Transplanting In A New Location

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Transplanting in a new location to another involves a lot of physical and mental energy, but I looked forward to this move and saw it as a dream come true. The Lord brought forth the miracle for James Project of Latin America to own ten acres of land. This allowed for the growth of our vision and for the at-risk children of Guatemala. I could mentally picture the children riding bikes, playing soccer and basketball, planting gardens, and just enjoying the wide open spaces. However, among the promises of great things ahead mingled the protests of some who didn’t want to be uprooted.

Approached by one of our workers, I balked at the words I heard. “Mama Carroll, I do not want to leave Guatemala City and move to Monjas. I will if that is what the Lord wants me to do, and I think that is what I’m hearing Him say. But I don’t want to go.” I decided his roots lay deep in the ground and prayed for him to fall completely in love with Monjas. Lord, please don’t let his attitude affect the girls and other workers who are going with us.

Nely* approached me in the apartment with a sour face and tears in her eyes. “I do not want to leave San Cristobal!” she declared. I wondered why she had been sulking.

“Mi Amor, you need to give this move a chance. You will have more freedom and be safer in Monjas. You are going to be surprised at how much better it will be for us to live there.” The cold look on her face told me my words had fallen on deaf ears. Her attitude during the weeks of packing and preparing to move suggested that she would remind us of her protests.

The words of these two reminded me of when I pulled up roots to move to Guatemala. Even in the excitement of the adventure, I knew I would miss parts of my life in the States. Transitions have some pain, and that comes with the root pulling and transplanting. I hadn’t lived in Guatemala very long before I knew I would be staying here permanently. I hoped that these two would find God’s will for their lives and feel the peace that follows when we walk the path of His plans.

I stayed in Monjas for a week before the big move to find a place to live. The Monjas people had little experience with gringos, and options for housing appeared limited. Lord, guide me to the right place. You know my needs and desires. I viewed three places and quickly narrowed it down to two. I called one the “turkey house” because the owners had some live turkeys living in the yard that separated the bedrooms from the kitchen. The other house had balconies that I loved, but its stairs were double-sized steps. I had to stretch to use them. The wall of the house shared a wall with the neighbors, with a large open section to the outside. If someone climbed over the wall, they could walk up the stairs and into the living room and kitchen, because that section lacked doors. The other rooms had doors and locks. Loving the openness, the electric garage door, and the second story balconies, it enticed me.

I decided to rent the balcony house and shared it with swarming bats, who graciously ate the mosquito population. The back wall and balcony butted right up to a corral of about twenty or so head of cattle. Remember my country-girl heart? I had it all, including that lovely barnyard smell that filled the air. I had my home, and I felt a deep peace being in it. Lord, I pray that all who move with us will feel the peace that I feel. I ask for favor for them as the transplanting in a new location proceeds.

*Name has been changed.

Miracle Land

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Finding a piece of suitable property proved difficult. We needed some miracle land soon because of the increase in population in the orphanage. At this particular time, I had eight girls living with me in a little apartment below the big house, where the rest of the girls lived with house parents. Because the apartment had only two small bedrooms, I had a bunk bed set up with a curtain around it in the living room for two of the girls. Would we have to resort to wall-to-wall beds?

We left the machete-bearing Guatemalans and entered the van. The friend of the realtor spoke up. “My sister owns some property in Monjas, which is thirty minutes from here. I can call her to see if she is interested in selling a portion of it.” The sister agreed, so we headed to the little town to meet the lady and see her land. She guided us out of town, and my heart jumped for joy because the ten acres were in the country. “Oh, Lord, this has to be the place,” said my country-girl heart.

IMG_1079One mile from Monjas, we stopped by a barbed-wire fence. We climbed through, and there stood a huge towering ceiba tree swaying in the soft breeze of the cow pasture. Gib, Joanne, and I looked at each other, smiled with thumbs up, and said, “This is it.” I turned slowly in a circle and saw the beautiful mountains all around us in the distance. The deep blue sky with big fluffy clouds looked just like my Montana sky. My heart soared even higher. This had to be the perfect place for Shadow of His Wings Orphanage.

We found the land and now we only needed money to pay for it. I believed the Lord already had a plan for that, and a miracle would happen. We waited with expectation when one large donation came in, but the donor had designated it for something else, and we honored the request. Then we were hit with an unexpected twelve percent tax, which hurt because it hadn’t been included in the land budget. The Lord helped us hurdle each obstacle, and the day came when He faithfully provided the money from a combination of donors. James Project of Latin America became owners of ten acres of land less than two months after finding property.

The children could now play safely in wide open spaces while breathing fresh air. With a population of about six thousand people, we did not face the strong diesel fumes like in Guatemala City. We did, however, find ourselves in some traffic problems. I laugh when it happens, because I remember asking the Lord to take us to a place where we wouldn’t have to fight traffic. In His humor, we now have to fight for a portion of our space on the road to the Project from herds of Brahmas. Daily we have to weave around those huge horned animals as they brush the sides of the vehicle, reminding us that they are bigger and dominated the road first. There haven’t been any fatalities and it made me love this country more.

We found the miracle land, and God provided the money needed to make the purchase. Our faith and hope grew as we prepared for moving Shadow of His Wings Orphanage to Monjas, Jalapa. As with any move, it looked easier on paper than the actual moving. We pulled up roots to transplant the children to another place, and this affected everyone involved with Shadow. I took it on with great joy and excitement, for it was a new beginning for the orphanage.

To Find Land

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Our Shadow family grew, and the bedrooms filled up with girls. Joanne and I needed to to find land to begin construction for the orphanage in a permanent location. I felt comfortable living in San Cristobal, because I lived there for two years, but the door to purchasing land in this town slammed shut. Even a small piece of property was expensive. Finding a place to serve our needs and purposes looked impossible, but God had brought us this far and He would not abandoned us. Lord, this is your project. Please guide us to the place you have for us.

One day, Joanne took a map of the country and drew three circles on it. “We will need teams to help with the construction of the orphanage, so that means they will need transportation from Guatemala City’s airport to wherever we are. Each circle represents an hour from the airport. It would be too hard on a team to travel more than three hours for ministry with us.” After studying the map, we made note of the towns around each of the circles and decided to go check some of them out.

We believed the Lord would show us the right place. I came from Montana and had a country girl’s heart. I wanted these girls to experience the outdoors, being able to ride bikes, take walks, enjoy the evening breeze, watch the ever-changing sky, and breathe fresh air. We desired a safer place than what we experienced in the City. I also asked the Lord that it be a place with minimal traffic and diesel fumes that the buses spewed out. The answer to this request surprised me of God’s humor.

Driving through various towns and looking for “For Sale” signs didn’t lead us to any possible options. Some towns felt oppressive, and we would take a quick exit in the other direction. Many of the landowners sold by word of mouth, so we waited for something to show up.

A few months later, Joanne received a call from one of our James Project of Latin America board members, who had a realtor in her church. This lady knew of a piece of land in Jalapa—a two-hour drive from the City. The realtor, a friend of hers, the board member, Joanne, Gib, and I loaded the van and off we went. The property sat on a hillside just outside the city of Jalapa, so we could not build on level land. However, it had other pluses: The soil looked rich, and the trees provided nice shade from the hot sun.

We met with a cooperative of ten stern Guatemalans armed with machetes. That intimidated us a bit, but Joanne stepped up to the leader to discuss the land and the price. Meanwhile, with a smile pasted on my face, I prayed. Lord, keep us safe and give us favor with these men. May there be peace and respect between us. In the end, Joanne boldly asked if they would consider donating the land for an orphanage. The leader said they would contact us with the response at a later time, which never happened.

We did leave safely, and I knew in my heart that God had a plan and a place for us. We wait upon you, Lord, to help us to find land for our growing family.