| In January 2003,
Paul and Lana Sanders visited Hope Community
Church in Oviedo, Florida with the story of
Prince of Peace Home for Girls. We
were so touched by the stories of what these
girls have been through. Many of them
have experienced much more trauma in their
young lives than we will ever
experience. Many of them have been
physically, mentally and sexually
abused. Many of them do not have a
family because of death or
abandonment.
As a church, we knew we wanted to pitch
in and help. Thus the start of the
Hope Community Clinic. It was the
Prince of Peace founders dream to have a medical and dental
clinic to not only serve the girls of the
home, but also the surrounding
community. In our capital campaign
"first fruits" offering, we raised
over $40,000 (in a congregation of 125!) and
gave the first $10,000 to help build our
FIRST building...a medical/dental clinic at
Prince of Peace Home for Girls.
In June, we gathered 18 people from the
church to head to Prince of Peace on a work
group mission trip for 10 days. We
cannot tell you how OUR lives were changed
in the process. We immediately saw
God's hand in what was going on there and
how there was hope in these girls
lives. We worked hard on the clinic,
shoveling dirt, hand mixing cement,
hand-tying rebar and helping out Alfredo,
Santiago, Edgar, and Salvador. Our
limited Spanish (most of us) was quite
amusing to them, to say the least. Our
time spent with the girls is beyond
words. They were shocked on how we
served them, rather than the other way
around. We even took the opportunity
to cook a full turkey dinner and our crew
served them...something that hadn't been
done in the history of the home. Once
again, OUR lives were touched in the
process.
In October, we took back a crew of 14 for
7 days...some of them from the June trip,
some that haven't been there before.
Once again, changed lives on our part.
We worked on the clinic and, like in June,
set aside some time to spend with the
girls. We had the opportunity to
take some of the girls to a water park (3
swimming pools heated by the volcano).
There was not one toy or object in the pool
and yet it was the equivalent to Disney or
Universal Studios as we know it.
 
I was thankful to be able to make both
trips and could go on forever about this
place! Paul and Lana use every amount
of money and resources they receive to pour
into the girls lives - even if it means they
go without. With all of the scandals
of the U.S. "charities" that we
hear of, I can vouch for the integrity of
this place. Nobody makes a huge
salary, but their needs are met. They
all deserve a lot more.
Below are the pictures of the
"Clinica Communidad de Esperanza"
or known to us as Hope Community
Clinic. What a joy it is to see a
positive outcome!
A lot of time has past
since the previous picture and dedication of
the clinic took place in March
2005!
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