Day 2 - July 5 - Getting to know the Center & Remembering Amber - Trip to Equator

By: Cindy Liska

All of the Minga Crusaders & the Muñoz Picuasi Family: Left to Right (back row) Tommy Meek, Bryan Honza, Syndie Showmaker, Lane Liska, Cindy Liska, Todd Liska (front row) Lanna Almand, Sarah Ruth Honza, Daniel, Luz, Flor, Sophia, & Juan

Our first day at the Center was full of activity. We were welcomed by the Board of Directors of the Center and given a tour of the grounds. Our tour guide had gone through the Center as well as most of his family. He was inspirational as he told his personal accounts of how he and his family have benefited from the Center and how they are giving back today. Then, we went to the mass for Amber. This is the first time we were able to see Luz, Flor, Juan, Daniel, and Sophia. The whole mass was special. Most of us had tears in our eyes at one part of it or another. Remembering our lost loved ones...seeing the family we were there to help...hearings the readings and prayers...listening to the beautiful music in Spanish...It was very overwhelming. God was present in the room with all of us.

Gifts offered in memory of Amber and those that impacted her life that have since passed: GranStan (Railroad), John (Ashes), Big Daddy (Boot), Bobby - Coach Bobs (Softball) and GranJudy (Her Pooh). Purple flowers since that was Am's favorite color and her rosary for her love for God and our Mother Mary.

The mass was the best part of the day followed by seeing pictures of Luz's house and understanding the scope of the project we were about to undertake. It was difficult to think that this family that shared the mass with us is one strong storm or earthquake from total ruin and there are ladies in the house. Fundraising and giving money toward a project such as this, while very necessary, is also very abstract. Now that I am in another country, on another continent, experiencing everything first hand, I am more than humbled by how this family and others like them struggle everyday. Even though we will never understand God's plan to take Amber when he did, we can understand the joy and thankfulness that helping this family out will bring us. All of us - Both families together. God is showing us the path to heaven through Amber by living our best life, suffering, spreading joy and then living in glory with Him. I feel like there will be more tears in store but they will be filled with happiness and accomplishment of a job well done. Also, thank God we did not start the project today. I needed sometime to adjust to the altitude and breathing was labored at times. So, the trip to the equator was perfect. Then we finished the day with a game of Yahtzee. Great Day!

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