Serve God by Committing to Others

     As some of you know, I became extremely close to a family last summer.  The mom worked selling newspaper during the day and selling herself in the night.  She has 6 beautiful children who were very close but didn't get bathed or fed enough most of the time.  I began to be a mom/friend/tia/mentor to those kids after I met them, and what I found was that the more I gave of myself to them in time and laughter,  God would grant me more joy in return     In December I heard the sorry news that the mom had put the boys and girls in seperate orphanages.  You can ask anyone close to me, I told them "You watch because I'm going to find those kids!"  Well after 2 hours of driving in circles today, we found the girl's orphanage, and might I add that it is only 10 minutes from my house!  We walked up to the front door, I with butterflies deep in my stomach, and there I saw those beautiful sisters.  The rest is history- we played, we laughed, we held hands, and of course they found a tree to climb.

     What I am most thankful for is the opportunity to grow a relationship that I had before with these girls.  What I want most is to be committed by sticking to my relationships from last summer.  Sure I have made new friends, but it is important for kids and teens to know that I came back because I wanted to make an investment in them.  This is true for these young girls, but we also were able to see relationships grow with our teens this week.

     This week Eddie and I were able to conduct two large bible studies in two different communities, teach the kids how to tell their neighbors about their faith, lead two people to a new life with Christ as their Lord, conduct a teen prayer meeting for their neighborhood, empower a 12 year old to preach to his peers, have 10 one-on-one conversations with teens and still make time to sleep in-between!.. Well kind of.

     What a week!  The importance of being relational with people has never been so clear to me.  I have adopted a slogan for when I begin to get tired of talking with others, or when I get annoyed or confused by a relationship, and that is "People>Comfort."  To be honest, it gets messy when you really get to know someone, and we sometimes would rather keep relationships surface-level.  But God calls me and you deeper because that is where He can redeem.  I am lucky to be a servant of God because though the work is tiring and deep, it is seriously rewarding.  What a joy it is the serve the Lord in such a unique way.

Xoxo,

The Two Places You Can Find Me

The Two Communities

La Joya

     This community is very inner-city.  While sitting on the side of the street by the church, within 30 minutes, we saw more than enough drug deals and quite a few prostitutes.  Those things have become normal here and it is sad to see how dangerous it is while children and teens are running around the streets in the midst of it all.  Despite the darkness, the teen class at the church has grown to 20 and there are some who are starting to form deep relationships with God.  The kids and teens that I have started to get closer with are starting to steal my heart!  Right now the church is trying to raise funds because the rented space might be taken from them if they don't purchase the building soon.

La Otra Banda

     This community is in the mountains on the outskirts of town.  Spending time here reminds one of the simplicity of life.  One might see what they have as little, but when looking at their faith, they are rich in God's eyes.  The church members used to be like the rest of their community but now with God's presence they are changed people and their children are learning to live for Christ.  Once you get a good walking distance away from the church, the type of people begin to change.  As you walk down the mountain a little you start to see a lot of alcohol and the usage of drugs.  The teens here are growing very strong in their faith and my hope is to teach them to branch out and speak of their faith among non-believers.