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From Our Little Roses

Mission Member Spotlight

GRACE DALY
Grace Daly, an active mission team member of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, first traveled to Our Little Roses in Honduras at the age of 10 with her grandmother. While her grandmother had visited before, she wanted to share the life-changing experiences she had while in Honduras with Grace.
“I learned the most important lessons in life during that trip and the trips following; I learned how to look at the world from other perspectives. The girls at OLR had a very different perspective on life than I did. They saw beauty in moments I would never have thought to see, and they ignored the things that didn’t matter. I carry this sentiment with me as an adult now 15 years after my first trip to OLR. The girls gave me more than I could give. I loved them immediately and wholeheartedly. They loved me too and were always finding ways to show it. They drew pictures with me and we made up dances together. I have never had better friends, even though we’d spent less than 2 weeks together.”
Grace recently traveled back to OLR in Honduras over the Summer of 2018. Nine years had passed since her last visit and this time, she would travel with her sister by her side for her fourth visit to OLR. “Like my grandmother, I wanted to share the experience with someone I loved. I had not been to OLR since I was 16 and was overjoyed to return. The home was the same as I remembered and the love it holds was just as palpable. One thing I noticed quickly was that I was no longer the age of the girls. It was as if I woke up one day and was suddenly an adult. Being older made me look at the experience in a slightly different way. I was old enough now to be conscious of the experience. I recognized the needs of the girls better and tried to show them I cared by being more than just present, but an active friend. I journaled daily, walked slower, and prayed longer.”
“When I met familiar faces, I was stunned. The little girls I knew from the past were now either graduating high school or in college! They were so beautiful and as kind as when I first met them. Their intelligence and character blew me away.  One of the girls was very young when I first met her. This year, we painted a picture of a cheetah together. She is a very, very talented artist. We didn’t have to talk much to connect, we simply felt it. It was as if I was spending time with family because it did not matter that all that time had passed. We were here now and enjoying ourselves. They are the friends that you pick up where you left off. The girls are the family that you get to choose.”

“I will never be able to give to the girls what they have given me. They made me into the woman I am today. They showed me how to love unconditionally and to show love as much as I can. They remind me to be kind because I don’t know what people are going through or where they have come from. They showed me a side of my sister I would not have gotten to see if it weren’t for them.  I will be forever grateful for my experiences with the girls. OLR may be a home for the girls but it is also a home for my heart.  May God be by their side, always.”