Well… here we are… only 10 days from Christmas… Wow… Some of you have been asking about “Christmas on the Streets”… so I wanted to let you know how things are going… before its here and gone!!!!
It was back in October that I started getting reminders that Christmas was near… I answered my phone one day… it took me a bit to recognize the little voice on the other end of the phone… “Hola Tia” (Hi Auntie)… Hmm… all of my nephews are a long way away… it couldn’t be any of them… Then the voice went on to say… “Are you going to come to our house on Christmas night again this year?” These are five little siblings… the oldest must be about 13 now… and the youngest maybe two years old… Their mom no longer lives on the streets… but her life hasn’t changed… She still goes to the streets to make money… leaving her kids locked in her one room mud “house” when she is gone… You might remember years ago when the mom was admitted into the hospital unexpectedly… the kids were left locked in the room, and she had the key… We “rescued” them that Christmas…
and ever since then, they’ve called me “Tia” and come to expect me to drop by on Christmas Eve (that’s when they celebrate here in Bolivia). Most often than not, the kids are on their own… the special supper and little gifts from “Christmas on the Streets” are probably the only things that make the 24th of December any different for them than any other day of the year… I usually get to their little house LATE on Christmas Eve… sometimes wishing I didn’t have to drive so far when I’m so dead tired after all of our work… but how can I not go?
It wasn’t long after that phone call, one of my volunteers wanted to talk to me… She had cancer years ago… but now they had found more tumors in her pelvic region that were causing her pain… and the doctors wanted to operate as soon as possible… Tears came to her eyes… not when she was telling me about the tumors nor the operation… she started crying when she said, “I just ask God to please allow me to be able to help with Christmas on the Streets… with all of my heart I want to be there helping you…” (we have three volunteers named Laura… this Laura is probably around 60 years old… and teaches embroidery and crafts)… Laura’s job at Christmas is to serve the food for our students to take to their homes… I’m so blessed to be surrounded by such a wonderful team of people… In the end, Laura didn’t get her wish… she was operated on two days ago… but the doctor’s are happy with how everything went so we trust that we’ll have Laura back with us next year…
This Christmas on the Streets is also special because my Uncle Norman, Nancy, and their (our) friends Alejandro and Susie are here with us!!!! They arrived on the 5th of December… and are helping out until the activities are over on December 24th… and will be heading home on Christmas Day… They are busy getting roasts in the oven for Christmas… they are up to 87 roasts cooked… and more than one freezer filled… plus cooking to share with rehab centers, kids homes, detox places, the streets etc…
I want to tell you about our very first donation for Christmas on the Streets this year… I got a letter saying that three little brothers, Ryan, Jonathan and Brendan all had their birthdays in September and October… They decided that instead of their friends and family giving them gifts, instead they would ask for a donation towards Christmas on the Streets… Together they raised just over $230!!!! Wow… Isn’t that neat??? Wow…
We decided to specifically use that money to buy gifts… For Christmas on the Streets, we serve a meal of pork, chicken, roast, rice, potatoes and plantain… and we also give a little gift bag… with munchies, candies, a Bible booklet and a little wrapped gift for everyone… With the help of local churches, this is taken out first, to the people who live on the streets of our city… our students and their families… and then to groups of “extreme poor” … people like little Fernando who I told you about in the first paragraph whose “Christmas” would be as drab as any other day if someone didn’t reach out and share with them… This gives us a chance to reach out to over 4,500 people not just with a great meal… and gift… but love, peace and hope… that comes through Jesus Christ – the greatest gift of all…
Anyhow… the money from Ryan, Jonathan and Brendan went towards the little gifts… Can you guess how many we were able to buy with that amount of money? Okay… they aren’t the “biggest” and the “best”… but take a guess at how many we bought with their birthday money?
Do you think we bought 100… or maybe 230? …or maybe even 500?
Can you believe that we were able to buy…
72 little foam puzzles
230 cell phone water games
108 pencil erasers
480 little race cars
120 mickey mouse wallet purses
117 helicopters
240 little yoyos
120 fluffy, squishy, light up balls
120 packages of soldiers
3 packages of hair clips
250 small purses with scrunchies etc. for little girls
Can you believe that??? They raised enough money to buy 1861 gifts for Christmas on the Streets!!!!! I’ve attached some pictures so you can see…
That is another amazing thing about Christmas on the Streets… This would be impossible to do… without so many people each giving what they are able to give… whether that is money… a donation of a bag of candies… or a stack of tracts… or time to wrap gifts or peel potatoes… or arranging to pick up and take this “piece of light” to some of the darkest corners of our city…
Thanks to EACH ONE OF YOU… who have given something… prayed for us… or sent us a note to say that you are thinking about us… Thank you… Thank you Ryan, Jonathan and Brendan! …and thank you… everyone!!!
If I don’t get a chance to write again before Christmas, I trust you have a wonderful time… not overshadowed by the outward glitter and jazz… but brightened by so many blessings that we have in Christ… which are multiplied by sharing with someone else!!!
Merry Christmas…
Lots of love,
from Corina, Marco and the little one… (By the way… we had an ultrasound this past week… and our little one now is 4 months along… and is 12 cms long from the head to the bum… The head is 4.1 cm. across… We caught him sucking his (or her!) thumb… Its all just so amazing… and I am thanking God for good health… although I’m not sure what to think about my belly that is growing quite fast!!!!)
Oh… one other thing… we always talk about Christmas on the Streets… but over the years, through El Jordan we have started the tradition of reaching out to some other people too… I’m not sure how it started… but we make up little gifts for the men in one of the rehab centers we channel men into… Again… its not the size of the gift that is so important. The director of the center says that these men are always so touched by being remembered… and having the chance to actually rip open a gift… I still go into women’s jail every two weeks… so this past Wednesday we took in gifts to share with the women who I study the Bible with as well as for the 22 foreign women who are in jail… who for them, with no family or familiar custom near, this season can be the saddest and loneliest time of their sentence… This year we made up little packages with a Christian 2009 calendar, some nice smelling soaps and shampoos (that people have saved from hotels etc!!!), a toothbrush and a package of oreo cookies… I also took coloring books and crayons for the kids… I totally miscalculated on the coloring books… I don’t know what I was thinking… but the 50 I took were gone before I knew it… This year, Christmas in jail was topped off by Uncle Norman’s roast beef sandwiches!!!!
There is another group, that for the last years has been a personal thing… mainly from Marco… Some of you know more details of his life and conversion… but… it was in jail where he came to know and put his faith in Christ… It was there God rescued him from an incredibly dark pit… and gave him a brand new life and hope… That old part of his life seems almost impossible to fathom because it is so abysmally different than who he is today… but… now, at Christmas time, free, good food to eat… friends to share it with, family around him… he can’t just forget and ignore the people he knows who are still prisoners… who like him in the past, find this time of year one of the most depressing and lonely times… In the last years, we have been able to make up packages to send in to certain ones that Marco knows are the most forgotten… for the ladies I visit in jail, what makes them feel best are the pretty smelling stuff… a pretty calendar for their wall…and something special to eat… but for the guys, what is more special to them is a pair of shoes… a new baseball cap or t-shirt… (and something special to eat…) This year with some of the extra expenses that we’ve had, we’ve been wondering how we’re going to be able to do this… This is something kind of personal and off to the side from the ministry we are directly involved in so I find it a bit awkward to write about…but it is something that is important to Marco… and so it is important to me too… If God happens to put it on your heart to help us with this… that would be wonderful… Thanks.