An Amazing Story

You just never know what normal circumstance can lead to a major journey in your life, if you are only open to it.

A family vacation to Honduras has turned into a life-long connection to Central America - not only for my sister and her family who went on the vacation, but to our whole extended family and many friends new and old.

My sister, Jenny Reynolds, her husband, Dustin, their two girls, a friend, Kayla, and my mother, Patty, all went on a family vacation to Honduras in May of 2010, almost 3 years ago. They rented a house for the week, and had a glorious time. The caretakers of the house were the Toro family, a young married couple - with seven children! My nieces enjoyed playing around with the kids the whole week; baseball was a favorite. The Toros were very poor. They lived in a small shack near the vacation home while the father cared for its grounds and the mother cooked and cleaned for its patrons. This family had a love for life and for each other that stood out as a beacon of light. By the end of the trip, the two families had bonded in an almost unexplainable way. The Reynolds and the Toros. Different countries. Different cultures. Different socio-economic levels. Different languages. But forever connected.

Seeing the maturity, the intelligence, the charisma, and the sweet spirits of these precious people, Jenny and Dustin felt compelled to help them out of their poverty. When they returned from their vacation, they shared pictures and stories about their trip and the Toros with our whole extended family. Jenny and my mom would mention the Toros in conversation so that we all began to feel a connection to them. Jenny stayed in touch with Reina, the mother - mainly via text messages in broken Spanish. Whatever the differences, the bond ran deep.

However, it wasn't long before terribly troubling times came upon the Toro family. At first we all were thrilled when Reina became pregnant with their 8th child. A little girl was born in March of 2011, and they named her Jenny Abigail (after my sister and oldest niece). However, during the pregnancy when Reina had gotten some prenatal care, they discovered she had cancer. After Baby Jenny's birth, Reina moved temporarily to the local city to receive treatment. Jenny, Dustin and my mother helped to provide the needed funds for her comfort and care. At times when Concho, the father, traveled to the city to be with Reina, Baby Jenny, was left in the care of their oldest child, 14-year-old, Cindi. Baby Jenny became sick with a respiratory illness, and while mother and father were away, 3 month old Baby Jenny Abigail tragically died in June of 2011.

Deeply saddened and compelled by the situation, Jenny and Dustin and my mother decided to travel back to Honduras to visit the family and to find some property they could afford and purchase for the Toro family. The idea was that if they could own a vacation home like the one they had rented a year before, then they could hire the Toro family themselves, and more easily assure their care and opportunity for climbing out of, not only deep poverty, but this new deep despair as well.

They visited Reina in the hospital and promised to care for her family. They brought new clothes for all the kids, a couple of laptops, bibles, and other fun items to the Toros. The trip proved to be uplifting for both families, and brought hope in the midst of such dire circumstances. 

While no property was found on that trip, Jenny and Dustin returned a month later, and through what we now know to be Divine guiding, promptings and meetings, they found a perfect home on Lake Atitlan in neighboring Guatemala. Purchase of the home was also distinctly Divinely orchestrated, as the exact needed funds became available through a one time fluke circumstance. It was obvious what the money was meant for.

But once again, tragedy struck the Toro family. In August 2011 - a week after Jenny and Dusty returned to the States from finding the house in Guatemala - Concho, the father, died very unexpectedly of a heart attack in his sleep. The Toro children were now left with a very ill mother, no father, and grief beyond belief over the death of their youngest baby sister and their beloved father. We all wondered, How much can this family take? and pleaded with God for His mercy on them! It also was becoming acutely evident that the calling Jenny and Dustin had to take care of this family was perfectly providential.

Cindi, Reina, Juana, and Concho

The owner of the vacation home wanted to help the Toros as much as possible, but could not employ their family for much longer, as there was no one to care for the grounds or cook or clean to the capacity that was needed. Therefore Concho's sister Juana and her two children came to live with the Toro children, along with a young man, Wilson, their cousin - to care for them and their ill mother, Reina, and help as caretaker and cook of the vacation home.

Meanwhile, our entire family became even more invested in praying for and working to help the Toro family. God had led Jenny and Dustin to love this family in a way that defies reason or logic, and that love spread to the rest of us, as well. I have never met the Toros, but I feel as if I know them and love them, too. There is a connection deeper than flesh and blood, that crosses borders and miles, cultures and language.

In 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, Jenny had begun a small, non-profit organization. It's work had mainly come to a close by 2010 as the victims of Katrina were all back to a new normal. Relief Missions of Louisiana was begun with the mission to serve those in crisis, and now it's work had reason to expand beyond Louisiana! Relief Missions began to serve the Toro family in Honduras. Friends and family gave to Relief Missions (and continue to today) for the benefit of the Toro children.

Reina lost her battle with cancer at the end of October 2011. Before her death, she had a conversation with Jenny. She asked Jenny to be Mama to her children, and Jenny, of course, said she would care for them as her own. If it were not for the Reynolds and Relief Missions, the Toro children most certainly would have become wards of the state and split up to different deficient state orphanages. Instead, through funds given through Relief Missions and by the Reynolds personally, and under Jenny's guidance, Juana and Wilson have helped to keep the Toro children safe, fed, in school, and with a roof over their heads for the last year and a half. Before their deaths, Concho and Reina had both been more than agreeable about moving the family to Guatemala to begin a better life. So, following their deaths, the very long process of granting custody of the children to Juana and Wilson, and then securing passports for each of them began.

It has been a year and a half, but finally - after many prayers lifted up, lots of funds spent, and multiple obstacles mounted - all of the court work and paperwork has been cleared for the Toro family to finally move into their new home in the little town of Cerro de Oro along Lake Atitlan, Guatemala! The children will begin school in a bigger, better school. They will - for the first time ever - each have their own bed and have space to sit around a table in their home to eat a meal. And they will begin the work as caretakers of the vacation home on the Lake. They will have opportunities for more jobs, better health care, and more educational and enriching experiences there. God has a whole world of potential in those precious children. Who knows what He will do through this family of 11! I for one can't wait to find out!

There is much, much more to this very real, and still unfolding story, that began with a family vacation.  More details and intricacies which include dreams and miracles, the music industry and names you'd recognize, religions and governments, and God weaving many lives together through this incredible journey. It may sound like a novel or me being overly dramatic, but it's true. I'll leave those details for another day.

What is so amazing to me, and the reason I wanted to share this, is how a tiny spark can be fanned into flame within each of us, if we are only open to the blowing Breeze of opportunity when it comes. I am proud of the way my sister has responded to that Breeze. I am thrilled that I get to be a tiny part of the bigger story ...and that my children do ...and that anyone can.

Please pray for the Toro family as the 11 of them make the 15 hour journey via bus and across borders through cities and around mountains to their new home on Lake Atitlan next Saturday. Dios los bendiga!

(If you are interested in keeping up with the Toro family, or donating funds for the work Relief Missions is doing in Guatemala, go to www.peacelovemissions.org and/or "like" Relief Missions of Louisiana on face book.)

Welcome Home Toro Family!