In Honduras, there is a new building under construction at LAMB which we are calling Mirada de Jesus: the Gaze of Jesus. This building, located close to the campus of God’s Littlest Lambs Children’s Home, will soon be home to a group of young people with special needs who have grown up as part of the LAMB family.

Most of the children who grow up at God’s Littlest Lambs Children’s Home will eventually take part in LAMB’s Transition Program, which teaches life skills to young adults 18 to 20  years old to prepare them for living independently outside the Children’s Home as adults.  But these children with special needs are those whom we’ve always known would likely never be able to live independently. And they are now approaching age 18. In Honduras, you are not allowed to have children under 18 and children over 18 in the same children’s home, and so we have realized that a special place would be needed for them. Mirada de Jesus is that special place.

Where did that name come from?  The Gaze of Jesus?  The New Testament is full of stories about Jesus going to “the least of these,” to people who were on the outside of society: the lepers, the blind, the marginalized—the rejected and unseen of society.  But Jesus saw them.  He stopped and looked at them with compassion.  In Honduran society, too, people with special needs are often marginalized, unseen. But we believe that these young people have great worth and value because they are image bearers of God. We want them to know this truth, and the truth that Jesus loves each of them, that it doesn’t matter to Him what they can or can’t do, whether they are beautiful or not, whether they are talented or not, productive or not. We want them to know that they are loved by Jesus and by us, and that we will always have a place for them at LAMB.  

Meet some of the Mirada de Jesus family:

Melvin came to us when he was very small and had a degenerative eye problem which left him blind in one eye when he was very young.  We later discovered that he has degenerative hearing loss as well as some cognitive difficulties.  He is almost totally deaf and almost totally blind and also struggles cognitively. He is the one who needs us most, so being aware of his needs is what initiated this process for us.

Yolani was born blind, and came to LAMB as a baby. Social services told us that when she was found, a note was with her that said, “Let the little dog die.” Today, Yolani is a lovely 14 year-old girl who has a glowing smile and sings beautifully in the praise band. She may be able to live independently at some point, but she has a place with us for as long as she needs it.

Elias and Judith are siblings. They were both born with cerebral palsy—one year apart—and were both abandoned when they were born. Elias came to LAMB when he was very small. Judith went to live with a foster mother, but her foster mother died when Judith was four, so then she came to LAMB. Today, Elias is 19 and Judith is 18. 

Would you pray with us for these residents of Mirada de Jesus, that they would know the loving gaze of Jesus on each one of them, that they would feel safe and loved in this new environment and that they would continue to grow in the ways each one of them can grow?  And if you are interested in taking a trip to LAMB and seeing Mirada de Jesus and all the work that God is doing through the ministries of LAMB, please email Tammy for more information! We’d love to have you come!

LAMB is a Christ-centered, multifaceted ministry based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, which seeks to reach out to the world with the love of Jesus Christ. LAMB was founded in 1999 by former St. Philip’s Director of Christian Education Suzy McCall as a training school for Hondurans called to world mission.