July 2006 – He spoke not a word, but the loneliness reflected in his deep dark eyes said it all. 

“Help me! Hug me! Hold me … love me!” 

And I did. 

Little Byron was the first of many orphans who captured my heart during an eight-day mission trip to Guatemala with Buckner Orphan Care International (BOCI), a global ministry to orphan children and a division of the Texas-based Buckner Baptist Benevolences.

Learning about ministry
Buckner Baptist Benevolences began 127 years ago as a response to Dr. Robert Cooke Buckner’s burden for orphans and widows. Over the course of a century, Dr. Buckner’s vision grew into what is now one of the nation’s largest Christian organizations of its kind. 

Presently, Buckner, a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation, ministers through three main divisions: children and family services, retirement services and orphan care international. 

“Our goal is to minister to all orphaned children,” Dr. Buckner once said, which is exactly what Buckner Baptist Benevolences seeks to do through BOCI.

From distributing humanitarian aid to improving orphanage facilities to implementing programs to ministering to the spiritual and social needs of children, BOCI desires to function as “the physical extension of God’s unconditional love and hope,” as stated in its orientation manual. BOCI also provides international adoption services and places children from Russia, Guatemala and China.

BOCI’s mission to glorify Christ by ministering globally to orphans is evident in multi-faceted orphan-care initiatives in Botswana, Bulgaria, China, Guatemala, Kenya, Latvia, Mexico, Romania and Russia. These initiatives encompass program development, humanitarian aid assistance, mission trips and orphanage improvement.  

BOCI is especially known for its evangelistic mission trips in which individuals, groups and professionals travel overseas for hands-on ministry, ranging from Vacation Bible Schools to construction work. BOCI’s on-site staff then provides follow-up and discipleship for the orphans and their caregivers. 

Several of the trips each year are in conjunction with BOCI’s Shoes for Orphan Souls (SOS) program in which new shoes, socks and shoe laces are collected through an annual national shoe drive and then distributed to orphans all over the world. Since 1999, over 1 million pairs of new shoes have been given to orphans in over 25 countries through SOS. 

Learning about Christ
I was one who had the privilege of fitting new shoes on the dirty feet of Guatemalan orphans while sharing with them about Jesus and His washing the disciples’ feet. For months, I had looked forward to a trip where my fetish for shoes would meet my passion for missions. But my anticipation paled in comparison to what I would learn in the orphanages.

Reality set in as I made my way up the mountainside to the first of nine orphanages I would visit over five days. What I experienced on the top of the mountain that day was more than I ever expected.

Outstretched arms and ear-to-ear smiles accompanied the pitter-patter of little feet that raced to embrace our 25-member team. They were willing and ready to love and be loved. They longed to see us, to touch us, to know us. To me, it was a mirror image of God’s unconditional love and His pursuit to know His creation intimately. 

Overwhelmed by the image before me, I made my way through a sea of hugs and laughter to a wooden bench where bushy-haired, big-eyed Byron was sitting alone. We began to communicate – not with words but through love. He soon became a permanent fixture on my lap, and it was clear that he longed for protection. Frightened by the roar of an approaching truck and the screams of excited orphans, he found a few moments of protection in my arms and fell asleep. 

As his sweaty head rested on my shoulder and his lonely heart beat against mine, I realized God was allowing me to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a child who needed a physical touch from our Heavenly Father.  

Prior to my encounter with Byron, the thought of being the hands and feet of Jesus was merely a churchy cliché. However, its meaning became real to me that morning, and I was humbled by God’s choice to use unworthy me as a vessel of His unconditional love. 

Learning about life
God’s unconditional love was very real throughout the week as I went from one orphanage to another. I encountered children of all ages living in both government and privately owned orphanages. 

I was welcomed with hugs and handshakes from former gang members who lived in an old juvenile detention center with no running water and no bathroom facilities, other than a hole in the ground. 

“I was so impressed by the friendliness and openness of the orphans who have so little, yet are so willing to share what little they do have,” said Marlene Manning of Illinois, a first-time trip participant.

I was encouraged by an American couple who left their life in Pennsylvania to direct a private orphanage that is home to about 40 children, many of whom were abandoned, neglected or abused.

“Once a month my husband and I will take all of the staff and the kids and walk to town and get ice cream,” said director Anna Martin.  “We [as in the Martin family and all 40 children] go to church all the way across the city, so we drive an hour to church.”

Although my spirits were lifted to know these orphans were part of one big happy family, I was heartbroken by a government-funded home for adolescent boys with special needs. I was equally saddened by my visit to a baby home where there were about 50 children under the age of five and only four caretakers. Again, I was burdened for the teenage girls who live in a home that is their refuge from domestic violence, sexual abuse and commercial and sexual exploitation. 

Then, I was amazed by the efficiency of a home for elementary to tween girls who gave us homemade cookies. 

“Our vision is when they [the girls] leave this home that they are women who are prepared for everything,” said Thelma de Saravia, treasurer and volunteer.

The Buckner Transitional Home shares similar vision in that it provides a stable living environment where a select group of girls receive an education and vocational skills in an attempt to smooth their transition to independence. 

“It’s like my home, not an orphanage,” said 17-year-old Celeste Hernandez who aspires to be a dentist or a lawyer some day. “It’s a big opportunity that God gave me to leave the past and leave all of the bad things.”

Learning about love
And what an incredible opportunity God gave me when He called me to be a messenger of His love to those so needy.

“There is something so intimate and precious about giving hugs to children who haven’t had many hugs in their lifetimes,” said Susan Williams, BOCI missions office manager and trip leader.

“How a group so far away from here is thinking about a group of Guatemalan girls [is amazing],” said Eva de Garcia, coordinator and director of an orphanage for teen girls. “It only happens when you are full of love. …”

Experiencing the fullness of Christ’s love that week taught me a life-changing lesson in what real ministry is all about, whether its abroad or at home.

“[When you go home] love one another like we learned this week,” said trip leader Anyra Cano. “Love your neighbors. Show them that love of Christ.”

“My job was to help others to understand my native language,” said interpreter Renato Martinez. “But the truth was that everybody helped me to understand the universal language which is love.”

It was this same love that allowed me to carry on a silent conversation with Byron. I knew he was listening when he reached up, grabbed my hand and led me into the coldness of the four concrete walls that he knew as home – a home that was somehow warmed that day by a touch from the Father.      

Walter Hernandez’s mother abandoned him when he was one year old. He never had a real home until a lady took him from Guatemala to the United States where an American family became Hernandez’s permanent family.

After growing up in the States, Hernandez went back to Guatemala where he studied architecture and eventually became director of humanitarian aid and projects for Buckner Orphan Care International in Guatemala. 

“Now that I … look back on my life, it’s amazing how you realize that God has such a wonderful plan,” Hernandez said. “And even though you don’t understand the situations you go through, everything has a purpose.”

It is this purpose that fuels the passion behind Hernandez’s work with BOCI. Not only is he able to connect personally with the orphans, he is able to tell them of the reason for his hope. 

“We have a joint effort agreement [with the Guatemalan government],” Hernandez explained. “We help them with humanitarian aid and the upkeep of their homes.”

BOCI seeks to establish a relationship with the government first and work from the inside out in all the countries where they have an active orphan-care program. Presently, BOCI is supporting 12 orphanages in Guatemala, seven of which are government-run.   

“What we get in return is to go into the orphanages and bring the Gospel to the kids,” he added. “That’s more than we can ask for. … [And] we … become part of their families [in the process].”

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Contact information:
Buckner Orphan Care International
4830 Samuell Blvd. 
Dallas, TX 75228
1-877-7-ORPHAN
www.buckner.org