The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans

Christine and Martin were in love and getting ready to spend their lives together. She was planning her dream wedding-just the right flowers, food and gown. One week before the wedding Martin told Christine that he could not marry her. Her best friend, Jessica, could tell how devastating that was. She suggested they take part in a humanitarian work trip to Peru. On the trip the guide, Jim, introduced the group to a very different culture from their own. They met Paul, an ER doctor from the United States, who runs an orphanage of children who have been taken off the streets by the police. All the children are boys but one. Roxana is deaf and shy. The children had been abandoned by society and some had been sold or prostituted. While there Christine, Jessica and the rest of the group painted a classroom, built a greenhouse and spent time with the children. Then they went by foot and canoe into the jungle to stay at a lodge. Jim and Jessica became very good friends and so did Christine and Paul. As they worked at projects and being with the children, Christine found herself being helped as she was helping others on this mission to Peru.