Several times a year, we close El Jordan down for one day a week for three consecutive weeks. Instead of coming to El Jordan for their classes, our students wait for one of our volunteers or workers to come visit them at their “home”… These visits are eye opening for volunteers… and trust building and encouraging for the students… On Friday morning, there wasn’t anywhere specific I needed to visit (I’m usually at home with Keiden and Marlee) so it was a perfect opportunity to visit Angela (who had been diagnosed with cancer 3 weeks before… ) On Wednesday night, her sister took Angela home from the hospital after the doctor advised them that there was nothing more that could be done… I wasn’t sure whether Angela was conscious or not when I arrived… Her sister told me about the curious neighbors coming to visit… offering to bring help - from a shaman, witchdoctor, voodoo priest to Catholic nuns who “healed people with mud”… A man from a nearby church came to evangelize her… Angela was conscious enough to send him to @#% and to yell, “I don’t want to!!!!” … He left saying, “This lady is with the devil!!! I’ll have to bring so-and-so tomorrow and she’ll HAVE to be saved!” (I don’t think it’s something we can force!!!) My heart sank because I knew that everything that I had shared with Angela in the hospital had come to nothing… I knew that this might be my last visit with Angela… I asked her family if I could read the Bible and pray before I left… I talked to Angela as if she could hear…
Susana, a volunteer from El Jordan who had accompanied me was silently praying… I tried to explain the gospel one more time… Angela began to “throw” her arms around (like when your arms are asleep)… I wasn’t sure whether she was trying to tell me to shut up… but I kept on… When I was about to leave it was as if Angela wanted to come with me…she tried to wiggle herself off the bed… I made a joke and said, “How many times have I invited you to El Jordan and you’ve never come… and NOW you want to???” With that, I kissed her on the forehead… said goodbye… and left… Five minutes later, Angela peacefully passed away… I can’t say that she got things right with her Maker… but I’d like to think that she did… that like the robber on the cross beside Jesus, she believed in Him… and could die with the assurance that “today she’d be with Him in paradise.” One thing is undoubtable… God’s great grace and mercy to offer Angela one more opportunity… When her son phoned me to say that his mom had died… I wondered if the family was going to blame me for “killing her”… but when I went back they were actually thankful, saying, “I think she was just waiting for you to help her repent before she died…”
Yesterday, before the coffin was walked 5 blocks to the cemetery, I was asked to talk and pray again… Seeds have been planted… may God allow them to grow… After the burial I went to visit Janeth’s kids… as we sat around the table, no one felt like drinking their tea or eating their bread… “Tell us about the kids whose mom just died… because we know how it feels…” Daniel(19) just lost his job as a security guard because of the days he missed work to look after his mom… he is in grade 12… Isabelis 16… dropped out of school last year… Kevinis 10… and little Estrella is 2… The dad has been off the streets for a couple years and has been working as a brick layer but he still drinks a lot… So there are a few more people for you to pray for!
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After my last letter I wrote, I was asked how much it would cost for different things:
A child’s school expenses for one year… Although it varies quite a bit depending on the grade and school they are in, I’ll break it down so you can have a general idea:
Uniforms: one time - between $30 and $60 (including shoes…) School Supplies: one time - $45ish
Books: one time - between $20 and $50
Bus fares: $1.50 a week
School monthly fees plus little things that the teachers ask for: maybe $8 or $10 a month
Bus fares for students coming to El Jordan: Between 80 cents and $1.50 for each time they come to El Jordan… Some of our girls only come once a week to Bible Study… but others, like our “young 2nd generation girls”, we’d like to encourage them to be at El Jordan 4 or 5 times a week rather than them being in the terrible environment where they live right now…
Medical costs: very unpredictable… but rarely is there a doctor’s visit plus medicine or blood work that is less than $25 US…
A food hamper for a needy family: (food stuff for a week for a family of 6) $50
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In my writing, I often share what rests heavy on my heart… overlooking those bright moments that are woven through the tapestry of “somber colors”… The successes don’t often come in massive dimensions… rather in small steps made in the right direction… Each time one of our girls sacrifices those 4 or 8 bolivianos to come to El Jordan for a Bible Study it is amazing… because at one point in their life, they would have said that it was a waste of time and money to go where there wasn’t material gain… It is Tania at the market last week… buying second hand clothes for her kids. She only had a bit of money… She hid two items under the rest… and the vendor didn’t notice… Before Tania wouldn’t have thought twice about stealing… but this time, there was something that made her tell the truth… “I have 9 pieces of clothing… not 7… I’ll give these two back…” The lady ended up giving Tania those two extra pieces… plus pants and a shirt she had been looking at for her 21 year old son… It is Bea making that choice to make corn juice to sell at the local school – to earn 50 bolivianos a day rather than going out one night… and coming home with a drunk’s wallet with maybe 1000 bolivianos in it… It is Sebastiana choosing to stay at home to help her kids with their school work rather than taking the easy road and leaving them to fend for themselves while she goes off to drink with friends… It is Lidia (still half on the streets) paying for Yoselin’s bus fare so she can come to El Jordan to learn about God… It is Jenni picking up her Bible to read instead of drinking her burdens “away”… It is Monica coming back to El Jordan after 2 and a half years of being away… recognizing that life without God is empty… Her family might be better off economically than before but something is missing… Little, yet huge successes… usually mixed with some stumbles… not nearly to the finish line… but at least steps in the right direction… Our prayer is that step by step they could come to the point of accepting and knowing without a doubt that they are part of God’s family through Christ’s sacrifice and that they, with their eyes on Him, would learn to live, pleasing Him… One example of an answer to that prayer is Martha… who has been coming to El Jordan for 10 years… “10 years!!!!!!!!” you may say!! Yes… 10 years… of little steps… that have taken her and Roberto down a long, long road… from being lost to being found… from the streets (Roberto) to building two little brick rooms… from irresponsibility to stability and work ethic… from wandering to forming a family… from no commitment to baptism and marriage… from unchurched to being actively involved in their local church body… We told Martha that this was her last year as our “student”… that we don’t need to “walk along side of her” anymore… because she has learned to walk… together with her husband… leading and guiding their family in ways of the Lord… That we are proud of the woman of God she has become… not that she (nor any of us) is perfect… but God is doing a good work… and will continue to do so… Our prayer, is that slowly, but surely, there will be many more girls (and families) who would get to that same point… Thank you for walking with us… while we walk with them…
Thank you for your patience… kindness... and encouragement… We appreciate YOU… Corina (for Marco, Keiden and Marlee…)