First of all… a BIG THANK-YOU for all of you who took the time to write to Marco… He really appreciated it… (I think he’ll start sending more letters now!!!) We’ve been meaning to respond but the last week or two have been crazy…
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Easter is just around the corner… Here it is called “Holy Week”…
“Religious” people here have started their processions; others go to the extreme of whipping themselves… Others are finishing up their 40 days of Lent - giving up something they really like after their unlimited “freedoms” of Carnaval (Mardi Gras). Christians are planning sunrise services… and getting together for breakfast…
Easter truly is worth celebrating – Jesus’ death and resurrection - the meaning of our life, our belief – not limiting Jesus to a helpless baby in a manger or a “dead body” on a crucifix… He is Christ Jesus – the acceptable sacrifice for our sins… ALIVE… so we can have meaning in our own life and look forward to being with Him forever too…
RUBITZA said something on Sunday that caught my attention… “I feel like I’ve been with God all day today.” Isn’t that the way it should be… aware of Him in our life – day by day… not just on special holidays… Years ago I enjoyed reading Brother Andrew’s (?) little book, “Practicing the Presence of God” - living “with” and for God… every day… in the mundane or special - it didn’t matter… every moment was an opportunity to celebrate and concentrate on HIM.
May God help us LIVE Easter… every day… enjoy LIFE in full – which is only possible because HE IS ALIVE…and paid to make it possible to live in US… and be with us “all day”, “every day.”
More on Rubitza at the end… First, a few scenes from the last weeks…
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ABRAHAM’S MOM had another set back and was hospitalized… The hospital was on “strike” so patient care was basically nonexistent. The burden of being primary caregiver fell to Abraham as his sisters live far away. At El Jordan we all pitched in to cover his responsibilities so he’d be free to tend to his mom… She passed away 10 days ago…
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That same day, CARLOTA’S 4 year old daughter was “constipated and they were taking her to the doctor.” She either had an allergic reaction to the meds given (or there was a mistake made) and she died later that same day… Carlota (photo on the left: on the streets with Monica now 16 years old) no longer lives on the streets but her life is anything but stable or healthy… We rarely cross paths (although she showed up at my wedding without an invitation!!! photo on the right) but she lives near Katty, one of our students, so I do hear what’s happening in her life…
We arrived minutes before leaving for the cemetery… A little white coffin sitting on a rickety wooden table inside a wooden shack… Carlota sobbed, “How can God do this to us? How can He punish us like this? We’ve been trying to change… I am NEVER, EVER going to ANY church EVER again. NEVER… I will NEVER go to a church again…” How would you have responded? Was it an opportunity for a theological response about why we suffer? Should we insist that God really IS good? Or that you reap what you sow? The only thing I said was, “I can’t imagine what it must feel like.” and put my arms around her… Later as “Lobo”/Wolf – her boyfriend - was shovelling the dirt to fill in the grave, I looked across at Carlota, silently pleading to God that He would soften her heart…
After being invited countless times over the years, Carlota finally came to class for the very first time this past Friday… exactly a week after her little girl died… Please help me praying that God would continue to soften and open her heart…
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We took the adolescent classes to the wake for Abraham’s mom… ALISON came to sat close beside me… “Is Hermano Abraham’s mom no longer his mom because she died? Does a mom every quit being a mom?” Her eyes filled with tears… “Because my dad says my mom is no longer my mom because she is on the streets and she’s never going to change… Its like she is dead…”
All of her life, Alison’s mom has been on the streets… She’ll be off for a few days or maybe weeks… but then she’ll end up on the streets and drugs again… This is the first year that Alison is actually studying – they put her in third grade because of her age – 12 years old – even though she doesn’t know how to read…
I assured Alison that her mom was still her mom… She always will be… and that God actually asks us to respect our mom and dad – without giving any conditions – “If they are like this…and not like that…” When I told Alison that there were lots of things I appreciated about her mom, she became so attentive… wanting to hang onto every word… She loves her mom… and misses her…
Please pray for ÑOLA...that one day she might leave the streets for good…find true LIFE in Christ…and be able to express her love to Alison – who needs her so much…
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I always remember GIOVANNA, sitting on my floor, helping with the preps for one of our first Christmas on the Streets. She and her boyfriend MERTO (photo on the right: Merto in the back with the blue jacket) were 15 or 16… both on the streets… She was beautiful and respectful and didn’t “fit” my pre-conceived idea of what a street kid should look or be like...
MERTO showed up at El Jordán’s gate about a week and a half ago… GIOVANNA has a brain tumor that is progressively affecting her sight, movement, ability to eat and speak… A Christian neurosurgeon offered to operate for free but he asked them to pay for an MRI with contrast ($500), an anaesthesiologist, medications for the surgery and costs of the hospital stay… Their money has already been spent on the original doctors’ visits, CAT scan and pain medications…
Several of us at El Jordan got together to cover the MRI (through a doctor who used to volunteer at El Jordan, we were able to get over a $200 discount!)… Please pray that everything will come together and they will be able to operate successfully and soon…
Merto and Giovanna’s hearts seem soft and open right now… so we are praying that this might be their opportunity to come to know Christ… MERTO, I think his real name is LUIS, came to study the Bible with Marco this past Thursday and brought his 12 year old son to meet us on Sunday… He has also showed interest in the new workshops that we are going to have for the guys…
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KATTY, one of our students – pregnant with her fourth child, is going through the heart wrenching experience of seeing ROLY, the father of her kids, going back to drugs and the streets… The first two times he “slipped” back, Katty was able to convince him to come home and go back to work… On Friday she found him in the canals under the city… and that’s where he wanted to stay…
With all of her frustration and sadness she’d like to “give in”… but at the same time, her desire is to stand firm in her decision to follow the Lord… and keep her family and home together… Please pray for strength for her… and her kids… JanCarla, Hector and Mariana…
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So many of our students are going through difficult times… MERY Z. has been told she needs a skin graft for the sore on her leg to heal… The kids’ grandma has been hanging around the kids’ school… and says that she is going to steal back the kids, get “her” land back… and leave Mery on the streets… Pray for God’s provision for her and her needs… and safety for the kids…
VALERIA – who was a great worker but never really was interested in God, didn’t come back to classes at El Jordan this year… We just found out that she is in jail… The uncle who is looking after her 2 teenage boys has started bringing them back to El Jordan…”because they were so much better when they came here”.
One of our new girls IBET had troubles with her drunk boyfriend… and he stole their three little girls… She was able to get them back… and now ANGEL (her boyfriend) has started to work… and to come to El Jordan when his work permits…
ANA and MAXIMO also were having problems that they thought weren’t solvable… but they came by to talk at El Jordan… Maximo started his Bible Study with Abraham again that he had quit at the end of last year… and things seem to be going much better…They came out to “The Pilgrim’s Refuge” yesterday to celebrate Ana’s birthday and also to show her family that you don’t need to drink to celebrate or have fun!
…and I could go on… and on… and on… because every day… and every week there is something else…. Opportunities for our students to grow… learn… and see how God wants to be a part of their lives…
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I want to write to you about RUBITZA… She came for a couple months at the end of 2009 and then went away again until she started coming to classes faithfully this year… She is 22 years old, an orphan, with no family close by to help her out… She used to have a grandfather in town… who lived in the drinking joints and streets of the darker part of town… but he died last year… Rubitza looks too young to have 3 little kids… It makes me want to give her a big hug…
She spent a good part of Saturday at El Jordan getting ready for our open house – expo/sale on Sunday… She said, “There is something that I just don’t understand… Why is it when I walk into El Jordan, it feels like all my burdens fall away at the gate and I feel so good? I don’t even want to leave…”
Rubitza has a boyfriend who drinks and who sells things on the street… He doesn’t like her coming to El Jordan (he’d rather she drink with him)… She stretches her meagre food money to pay for her bus fares… When she got home on Saturday, SAMUEL (her boyfriend) was waiting in their room – upset… he hit her and said he wasn’t going to give her bus money to get to El Jordan’s open house…
She didn’t know what to do… but she went outside the next morning… and found 5 Bs. on the ground… enough for her bus fares! She had made jello to sell… plus 14 hair bands and 22 hair clips… When I asked her mid-afternoon how it was going, her face answered the question… Her jello wasn’t selling… she thought it must be “ugly” and no one wanted to buy it… By the end of the day, there wasn’t one left…
As she was leaving, she hugged me and said, “I feel like I’ve been with God all day…” She told me about Samuel hitting her the night before… how God provided her bus fare… how her jellos and most of her crafts sold… On top of that, Samuel showed up (not happy) but when he saw some of the other guys around, he started helping with one of the games we have set up… and ended up having a good time…
…”You see…” she went on to explain further, “I received Christ in my heart about two weeks ago… “ The other night Samuel woke her up at 3 a.m. to get her to go drinking with him… She said no… that she had Christ in her, and even though he’d be mad at her, she preferred that to failing God… He took all of their money and when he came back later, drunk and broke, he blamed it on her “because if you had come with me, I wouldn’t have taken all the money!”
Its our prayer that Rubitza keeps on getting to know God more and more… that each day she’d spend it “with God all day…”… and one day, through her testimony, her boyfriend would change as well…
This Easter and always, may we have the joy of ‘spending it with God´…
With lots of love from…
Corina… for Marco… and Keiden too…