Daniela y Yo
This week was busier with ministry and it was so amazing to see God working through each activity.
Park Ministry:
At the park we strengthened friendships we made last week with the people that were saved last week.
Dump Ministry:
This was our first visit to the dump and we were just simply going around telling them about an activity for children we were hosting on Thursday. Also, we would ask them for prayer requests and pray over them. There was one lady who was standing off to the side and she came right up next to me in the middle of the prayer blob and was so desperate for someone to pray over her. It broke my heart and really showed me about how much she believed and had faith that God could fix their circumstance or offer peace in her suffering. Sometimes in America we get down on life and we are not desperate for the presence of our Father to sustain us, but this woman had so much faith. The cry of my heart was that this woman would see God moving and changing their lives because she has strong faith that He can do what they ask. Also, there was a little girl with an infection in her mouth that was caused by a virus. It looked very painful and there were sores in and outside her mouth and they couldn’t afford medical treatment. Also, we were looking at the dump around us that was filled with vultures, giant pigs and flies. They were constantly burning trash and it smelled, and these people wake up every morning to this sight. There are about 100 families living in the dump and make their living in the dump. The children don’t go to school, and everyone looks so broken. I pray that God would give them hope again and could guide them into other ways to raise and support their families and themselves.
When we came back on Thursday with another missionary group we sang songs, and played with the children. The other group gave out gifts, cookies and juice to the children. Also, Pastor Roni gave us some medicine to give to the little girl with the sores in her mouth. It was a good day for the children!
Orphanage:
This was my first experience at an orphanage and it is definitely not my last. We went to the baby part and held babies first. These little babies had such happiness when you would pick them up and coo at them. The first one I held was named Diego and he had a cute baby Mohawk. When I would bounce him around he would have a huge toothless smile. He was soo precious! Then I held one named Daniela and I started to tickle her belly and she looked like she had never been tickled before. Then, she started smiling so big and giggling. Last, I held a little girl named Rosalia and she completely broke my heart. When you would put her pack in the crib she would start crying so hard. I can’t imagine the abandonment she already feels and her desire to be held and loved. I was so broken and shedding tears of sadness for her and those babies. The burdening part is that these children can’t be adopted because of the corruption in Guatemala. Women would steal the babies from other mothers, bring them to the orphanage to “sell” them, fail the DNA test and then the women wouldn’t take the babies back and so these children were made orphans.
Prostitute Ministry:
This one completely rocked my world and just gave me a sense of God’s power. Before we left for the bars at 3:00 we prayed and I asked that God would soften the hearts of the women and that there would be a “harvest” waiting for us. The first woman I spoke to was named Lacy wasn’t mean or short with me at all and I asked her almost every question I could think of about her and her family and her life. We joked a little about a few things and before I left I asked if I could pray with her. When I got done, she had tears in her eyes. Perhaps one of the most emotional encounters was a bar with only three women working but they didn’t really look like prostitutes. We talked with them for a long time and when we asked about if they had husbands they began to show me marks and bruises on one of the women’s arm and the cuts on her body and face. I immediately grabbed her hand and was hugging her over the counter. Andrea (another one) started talking to her in Spanish and the woman was just crying. They told us she had just started her job yesterday and that she left her husband a couple days ago and that she is 1 month pregnant with her third child from him. God knew that we would be coming and that we would meet this woman where she is at and show her love and kindness from God. We prayed with the other two ladies, one of which was 8 months pregnant. We talked to so many women that day and all my encounters were extremely positive and the women seemed touched that we cared enough to talk to them. The last people we talked to were very open and alive. There was a man with them that was really quiet and was the owner of the place. We decided to talk to him and to and get to know him and his name was Chicho. When we asked for prayer requests he thanked us for including him and getting to know him because it meant a lot for him. All three people there asked us to return and to visit them again. God definitely opened their hearts to us and I can’t wait to come back to see all the people we made relationships with!
Nursing Home:
We also visited the elderly home and I met a sweet old lady named Sara Luz. She was so sweet but it was very difficult to talk to her because she talked fast and quietly. There were so many sweet old people there and they were so happy that we visited them!
This week God showed me a lot about opening my heart to strangers and the opportunities he gave me to practice loving these people who are considered “the least of these” were filled with God’s power and presence. I love the responsiveness of the people, especially the prostitute ministry because no other churches will associate or pray with them and I am happy to see the tears in their eyes when they see the presence of God because they see their unwholesome lifestyle. Some of them don’t see a way out and God is meeting them where they are in the lowest places and is calling their name. I know now that this is my calling and that I desire to be with the “least of these” and give them opportunities to be whole in Christ.
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