I was informed of something yesterday that gave me chills and showed me just how much the Lord is working. There is a street girl that someone I am very close to from back home has been praying for for ten years. She is no longer a little girl, but she's still living on the streets. And out of all the thousands of street people in Santa Cruz, it turned out to be the mother of the little girl I played with. That little girl was brought into my life for a reason. The Lord has called me to pray for this little girl whether I see her again or not. I will pray for her for the rest of my days. And I hope, that some day some how I will see her in heaven and we will praise the Lord together and her pain will have ceased.

Continued from the last post....

Later on that day, Corina, Heidi, Corina's parents and I went to the streets again. This time to a place that they go every year. To a place that knew Corina and the El Jordan ministry. I honestly had to hold back tears at the way these people live. As we arrived about 30 people gathered around a statue in a small grassy area between two busy roads. About half of them had glue to their noses and the other half were pulling out their glue spiratically during the evening. Here, glue is the cheap drug that is most commonly used on the streets. It's the glue used by carpenters. Many times, street children are addicted to it by the time they reach 7 years old. I was told by one man that moms make their babies sniff it when they cry to calm them down. The effects of this drug is just as strong as any other drug thats illegal in Canada. Hazy, droopy eyes, rolling on the ground groaning, slurred words etc. Women, men and children all gathered around us, eager for what they knew we had, but also excited to see Corina and the rest of them again. Many of these people had met Corina and her parents years ago when they were but street kids. After we gathered them together, Corina's dad shared with them the gospel. The response varied. For those who were not high, they seemed to be drawn to the truth. People sitting in a micro that had stopped beside us leaned their heads out of the windows in order to here the message more clearly and a small crowd gathered on the grass. However, there were also many who were high who caused quite a big distraction. They fought with each other and talked loudly. Some were laying on the ground, and some simply wandered around. It broke my heart. They are having the good news of Jesus Christ layed out for them simply and yet the sin they've indulged in has caused a barrier thick and strong. After that we prayed for the food and started to hand it out. They acted as if they thought that if they didn't fight for a meal, they wouldn't get one. So, the fighting and discieving began. Those who already got one would shove it in their purses and ask for another one and those who didn't get one yet tried grabbing either someone elses meal or overbearing those handing them out. We had to hand out the food by stratigically placing ourselves. The presents were handed out much the same way.
It was about that point that I met the little three year old girl who captured my heart and broke it to peices all at the same time. She crept up beside me and tapped my leg, then quickly scampered away with a giggle. Then she peeked out from her hiding spot and ran and hit my leg again then giggled as I made a face at her. Running up to me she buried her face in my legs in a big hug. Then she grabbed my hands, so I spun her around in the air. She laughed histerically. Then we callapsed on the ground in giggles as I tickled her. After that we played all evening, I got very dizzy from spinning her around, but she loved it. A man came to me then and tried to take her from me. Seeing how happy she was when she was spinning, he tried the same thing, but she errupted in tears. He let her go and she ran terrified to me and buried her face in my lap. Her fear of men must have come from somewhere- and that broke my heart. It came time for us to leave and so I told her that I had to leave. But instead of letting go of me, she clung on even more. We looked for her mom and found that she was no where in sight, so Heidi dragged her kicking and screaming to another lady who said she knew her. The lady looked at Heidi and just said, "Why don't you just take her?". I wished so desperately that that would be the right thing to do. That I could do that with a right conscience. But this little one had a mom, and even though she was no where in sight, she may not appreciate coming back to a missing daughter. We left her screaming on the grass and it took every bit of strength in me to do so. As I looked back over my shoulder I saw her walking aimlessly down the road in search of her mom. A little three year old. And no one bothered to help her. This precious little girl will most likely grow up on the streets, and her childlike innocence won't last much longer. I don't know how to deal with the pain that causes, all I know to do is pray for her little life. That somehow she will know that she doesn't have to live like everyone around her, that the Lord loves her and she can have a better life than that. I will never stop praying for her.
I talked to Corina later about her and learned a little about her mom's story. Apparently the little girl is the youngest of 5 or 6. Most of her kids were given (by her) to an orphanage and never checked up on again.

Feliz Navidad! Christmas on the Streets was a success, and I must say that there are no words right now to describe what I saw, what I felt. It makes me remember when Jesus wept over Jerusalem saying "if you really knew the peace you could have, but you have hardened your hearts and chosen your own ways" (paraphrased). I am positive that He is weeping over the street people of Santa Cruz. As I had to stop myself from doing right there in front of them. Do they realize? Do they understand? There is peace! There is freedom! But they have hardened themselves from the thing they truly want.
After 36 hours of working through the night with no breaks, we were all tired, but anticipating the day ahead of us. I climbed into the car with Marco (Corina's husband), and three more men. I knew that this day would change me, but I really couldn't have prepared myself for what I saw. We drove quite a ways, then stopped by a few boys who made money guarding parked cars. Slowly, they all gathered behind our car and we handed them a meal of rice, meat, a platino (sort of like a roasted banana) and potatoes, along with some juice and gift bag of a small gift (probably the only gift they received for Christmas) and two little booklets. One was a tract explaining the gospel and the other a short comic, also explaining the gospel. They ate and thanked us profusly then continued on their way. At that point I just stood there praying over each one of them. That their hearts would be moved and that they would take seriously the gospel that was presented to them. We then continued on and turned down a dirt road. There was a layer of garbage covering the road and street dogs poking through it, searching for their next meal. We then pulled up to an overgrown field. Upon looking closer I noticed that there were small homes made of tarps propped up by sticks. There were about 5 of them. A small older lady came down the road then. They called her 'China' (pronounced cheena). She was literally skin and bones, with very little to wear.
After that we continued on down the road until we saw a small carved out opening in the huge cement wall. Noticing a couple people in there, Marco stuck his head in and called them to come out, for there was food here. Slowly and cautiously a couple of men came out and took our food and gift quietly, but with much gratitude. Then, as they returned into the hole, 3 or 4 more men came out and did likewise, thanking us they went back through the hole. Then, a lady with mated hair and a dirty face popped her head out and looked at us. She held up the tract that she had gotten from one of the men and said, "Can I have a bag? I want one of my own of these things." I gladly gave her a bag as well as a meal. But that right there gave me hope. One lady, who was drawn to the truth. One lady, who may influence others to be drawn to it as well. After that, another 10 or 20 men and women came out of the hole and accepted our gifts. We told them to thank God rather than us because it is only by the grace of God that this food and gift was here in front of them. And it was only by the calling of God that we brought it to them. At that moment, a man emerged from a large metal crate across the street. He had a machete in his hand and was screaming and yelling angry words. At first, I couldn't tell whom he was directing them at. Then I saw a man walking down the road carrying a dirty bucket. The man turned and started yelling back as he was walking towards the hole (which he obviously called home as well). Then other man came closer and passed by us (thankfully in his anger and drug intake he had not noticed us yet). He tried to enter the hole with his machete, but the other men held him back. It was there home and their friend that they were protecting. Dogs ran to attack us then, but someone threw a couple rocks at them and they scampered away with their tails between their legs. The man with the bucket then emerged and gave the bucket to the man with the machete (it seems that the fight was over the bucket that was taken from the other man). That didn't stop the yelling though. The guy with the machete seemed to notice us then and yelled at the man even more. "Why are you yelling at me in front of all these people!", so they went back into the crate. A couple minutes later the man came out, still holding his machete. A couple of kids driving a horse drawn cart had stopped by and were eating with the rest of us, stopped on the side of the road. So the man with the machete went to a horse and said, "I need to cut something, can I cut off your horses head? Or can you kill that man?" I had to remind myself to stay calm at that one. I trusted the boys not to go kill the other man, but I was quite sure that if he was given permission the man would cut off the innocent horse's head.
After we left that place, we went out a little farther out of town. We came across a group of tarp huts. There were about thirty people living there. Seeing us, they crossed a large trench. They were really happy to see us. A couple of them were friends of Marco's from his past. We all got introduced and we gave them their meals and refreshments. Then we told them that if they wanted to take home some juice in a bottle or something that was ok. They excitedly agreed and went to back to their houses. A couple minutes later, they came back carrying buckets! After most of them had eaten and gone back, a man stayed behind. He was a big, tough looking older man. He started to tell us a little about himself and tried to hold back his tears, but they just rolled down his face. He said that he wanted so much to better his life, but it was so hard. It was so hard to live like he did, and its so hard to move up. It was so hard to watch a grown man cry out of desperation. I had to hold back my own tears. As we were leaving, I looked back and they had gathered together. They then shouted a united "GRACIAS!".

TO BE CONTINUED....

Well, I never want to see another life-less, featherless chicken again and I have scratched 'butcher' off my list of dream jobs. But I think I'm at a chicken every 2 minutes for cutting speed, so I'd say thats progress (although I'm sure the Bolivian volunteers were at double or triple what I cut). The chickens came in entirely whole with everything attached but the feathers and we cut them into ten parts, then separated the innards. The hearts, livers, gizzards and necks for eating, the feet and heads to take home for the dogs and the rest to cook for Christmas on the streets.

Today we all sat together and ate a chopped heart, liver and scrabbled egg mixture with rice on the side. I took one bite, praying the Lord would strike my tongue and temporarily leave no taste buds behind. But it was the texture I couldn't really handle. So, as not to hurt their feelings, I went to the kitchen for more rice and conveniently stopped by the garbage can on the way by, coming back with less than I had when I left. I hope they didn't notice. Then as we were cleaning, I managed to blow up the stove in my face. I hope my eyelashes and eyebrow grow back the same color. They all got a good chuckle from that. I assume it looked pretty funny.

This week has been so busy. We work straight through from 8 am to 6 or 7 or 8 Pm with a half hour break for lunch. Without my usual siesta at noon, it's taken some getting used to. But the real busyness doesn't start until tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be working all day and all night- literally. We'll be cooking, cutting, washing (in the reverse order I just realized) and then finally on the 24th we'll be serving the food to the different churches that will be taking them to the streets. THEN, in the afternoon, we'll be taking the rest out onto the streets.

Well. In five days we managed to fill 10,000 bags of popcorn, Wrap 5000 gifts, and fill 5000 bags with candy, a gift, a tract, a sheet explaining the aim and contact information of El Jordan and 2 other Rehab ministries, and two bags of popcorn. What a busy week! Next week will be cutting and seasoning chicken (who are being butchered on Sunday) and eating all the hearts and livers for lunch (not sure I am yet ready for that, but I'm trying to prepare myself), then cutting vegetables and potatoes, then cooking all night on the 23rd. The 24th will be filled with handing out the meals on the streets, then Christmas day will be cleaning El Jordan from top to bottom. I am looking forward to next friday when I will get to hand out meals and gifts to the people living on the streets. It will be interesting to be a part of the event that we have been preparing for for over a month. Please pray that God will prepare the hearts of those who he has chosen and through this they will make the decision to change their lives.

Phew! I feel like I've been running for the past few days. And it's only the beginning! But I'm finding that I really enjoy being busy. Getting things done has a strange satisfaction to it. And the Lord has given me so much joy and strength.

Today at the Christmas party, a little girl I'd never met came up to me, took my arm and touched my skin as if it where the weirdest thing she'd ever seen. Then she looked up at me and said, "Why is your skin this color? What color is it any ways?" Then she called her sister over and they continued to marvel at my skin color, holding their arms up next to mine to show the obvious difference. Then the discovered my hair!

As the adolescents were doing an interpretive dance to "My Jesus, my savior". I was hit by something. How many of these people would still be hopeless without having discovered the hope of Jesus Christ? I thought about all the stories, all the places these people came from and I was so in awe. In awe of how the Lord can change people and in awe of the fact that he cares enough to do so. I looked around at all the people and I was so grateful. Then I started thinking about my own life, about those I know.. I wondered, where would we be if he had not taken us out of the miry clay and set our feet on solid rock. If we had been left to build our lives on sand instead of the solid rock of Jesus Christ... My life would have been washed away by the rains long ago. Yet now, now those rains have made me stronger, and only because I am standing on the shoulders of one whose strength can withstand anything. Thank you Lord!

Philippians 2:5-8

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!"

I think it's important for us to highlight the first sentence. We, followers of Jesus are to follow in the footsteps of his ministry on earth. With him proclaiming Himself as the savior- the light of the world, and us proclaiming him as the savior and light of the world. Looking at the ministry of Christ, we see that he did not live in comfort or convenience. Often, when he and his disciples went to rest or eat, crowds of people would stop them. Now instead of sending them off like the disciples sometimes suggested, He taught them of the good news. His attitude was one of humility- He saw the furthering of the kingdom of God more important than even his own human needs- which being fully human yet fully God he did have. He portrayed for us a level of commitment that led him even to death. And so, as His followers we will find that we are called to put aside our own comfort, our own plans, and what we think we need in order to see people come to know the Lord as their savior, in order to serve as Christ who was God served. For he did not come to be served but to serve. How much more should we take on this attitude?
Yet the space between wanting this attitude and acquiring it is sometimes large. It's easy for me to say if it came between my own comfort and obedience to the Lord in every day life I would choose obedience, yet to give up my sleep or my lunch in order to humbly serve without grumbling is something that requires strength that is only possible through the Lord and something that I continually have to learn how to do. We are coming into a time at El Jordan where sleep is a luxury we formerly took for granted and we will be serving instead of resting. We will be cooking for 5000 people (Yes 5000 I didn't get that number wrong) and serving it all on Christmas eve. But this is what the Lord has called us to do. And for those 5000 people living alone on the streets, it will make a difference for his kingdom. So please pray with me that they will see the Lord in what we are doing. That in it all we will be pointing to the Lord and not ourselves. And for me that He will give me the strength to serve humbly with a joyful heart even when I am physically exhausted.

Well another day is now in the past. Today was full of adventures, as I've found most days are. It started off with only 4 kids. Beba and her brother, Chaparro, little Keiden, and William. Listening to Chaparro's dramatic stories about the dragonfly and the poor gorillas complete with sound affects and flying toys. It was William's first day hanging out with us instead of going to classes with his mom- he just turned 6 months old. Lunch was spent at the home of a missionary family- it's always great to fellowship with other english speaking believers.
This afternoon started with a huge water fight with the kids- complete with the soaking of us poor Hermanas- continued in the park burning off energy and having fun until nap time, then we ate water melon and played a very.. interesting.. game called cat and rat. Because there were only a few kids we got to do things we normally wouldn't do. So, I would say today was a very fun day.
Tomorrow will be the volunteer day at the property. We will gather, play games and just spend time with all the other volunteers.

Today started with exhaustion and burden. The Lord placed on my heart and mind an old friend from Canada, and with that came a few old hurts. But after a little while I realized I needed to pray for him. Peace followed, but energy came gradually. But when we give our burdens and exhaustion to the Lord, he gives us what we need. I felt suddenly strong and ready to walk strongly. In these next few weeks especially I am going to really need to rely on the Lord for strength. He is my everlasting arms. Arms that hold me up, arms that are my only strength at times.

As we were coming home from Bible study tonight, we got hit by a motorcycle. The guy was fine, but wanted to argue that it was our fault. Here, it doesn't matter what happens, the motorcyclist is never at fault legally. So, after giving him 100 Bs to fix his front light, we convinced him that taking us to court would just be an inconvenience for him and us and after a little bit, he agreed. Praise God it wasn't any worse and that the guy was nice enough to not take us to court.