Many of you have asked how the neighborhood meeting went… Well… it depends how you look at it…
Humanly speaking… it was terrible…
…but… we know that God’s purpose will prevail… we know that “all things work together for GOOD for those who are called according to His purpose…” and that His plans are for good… not for evil… so.. right now, even though things seem to have turned against us,
…WE KNOW WHOSE SIDE WE’RE ON!!!!
We showed up at the neighbors’ house at 8 p.m. and we were told the meeting was not until 8:30… When Marco and I went back, there were about 15 or 20 people waiting for us… Someone said, “This is the couple who started (or is in charge of) the center next door…” We were the center of attention and it didn’t feel very comfortable… The meeting began with the lady in charge saying something like this, “We are here tonight as a neighborhood, because we are worried. We have been made aware that there is a rehabilitation center that has started next door that’s going to bring drug addicts to our neighborhood…” She broke off her introduction to ask… “Who was it who came to me about this?” Nobody admitted it…
“Was it you?” pointing to a lady sitting on the couch… “No, no, It wasn’t me…” The organizer kept looking around… I think she asked one more person, who also denied it…
I looked around the room…
Who had started this?
Who was the accuser?
Who was the offended one?
The finger came to point at someone sitting in the middle of the couch… The person raised her hand, and said, “It was me… I came and talked with your daughter…”
I could not believe it… A Christian had initiated all of this??? Someone who has known me basically all of my life??? I felt like a knife had gone through my heart… I’m not sure if my eyes bugged out a bit… and whether my mouth dropped open… I could expect and even accept more readily this opposition from a non-believer… but this definitely wasn’t a Christ like attitude… How could they, who dedicate their lives to propagating the “Good News”, be the first to rise up against another part of the Body???
If there was a problem, why didn’t they come and talk to us? If they were worried about security… why didn’t they come and ask us to help them look for a solution? I still can’t believe it… Why? Where did this all come from? We’ve never even seen them around once in these months to be able to say that our place or boys could have affronted them in some way…
I have no idea how long we were there… it seemed like forever… It was as if everything had already been talked about and decided before we even got there… It was everyone against us, against the boys coming to class, against the center being open in their neighborhood… They made it very, very clear that they wanted us out… and now! We were doing a “noble” work.. just do it far away!!!
They asked us to explain what we were doing… we tried… We tried to clarify that we don’t have a rehabilitation center where drug addicts came to live… rather, we offer training and support for young people who had been on drugs, on the streets but desire change… They have the opportunity to come and learn an honest trade… as well as learn the Word of God that renews the mind and cleans the heart… We explained that a person who doesn’t want to change isn’t going to come to our place because they would never have the motivation nor patience to spend hours learning how to sew or weave… Our students already have one foot off the streets – living with family members again or as caretakers, trying to get their feet under them as not to fall back to the streets… We explained that our classes are only on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings… The students only come in those hours… and they don’t hang around the neighborhood afterwards… (We asked if there was any complaint against any of the boys in particular... Nobody could accuse them of anything.)
The neighbors asked us if we had permission to function… permission from the government, municipality, and ministry of education… and why hadn’t we first asked the neighbors what THEY thought? We are registered with the government but they insisted that wasn’t enough… Furthermore, as a neighborhood, they wouldn’t permit us to stay… if we stayed they would “denounce” us… There was a policeman – a colonel – there… who confirmed that he wouldn’t give us consent either… If we went to the police asking for permission to function in that neighborhood, he for one, would never allow it... Parents said they’d be afraid for their kids to walk alone if there were drug addicts in that area… There’d be no security for their families! Another one said that if drug pushers found out that there was a center for drug addicts, they’d come, selling their drugs… Even if our students said no, the drug pusher would try to victimize the neighbors’ children…
It was crazy… Some of the people were riled up… imaginations ran wild… and all were convinced that our place made their neighborhood unsafe. They wouldn’t listen or admit that their neighborhood has ALWAYS been unsafe… SO many people that I know (including myself) have been robbed in that very spot, before our center functioned there…
I asked the neighbors to give us time, if we could meet back in a week or two so I could look into the issue of permits etc… It was rejected. One lady said that at most, she would give us until the next morning at 8 o’clock!
Sigh… how incredibly sad…
It makes me feel upset… sad… frustrated… betrayed… A great injustice has been committed - not against me… or Marco… but against these young lives that NEED someone to give them a chance, who NEED followers of Christ to walk along side of them, to lead them in the path of life… These young people have showed a growing interest and excitement in learning, working honestly and learning more and more about Christ… If we reject these boys, rather than contributing to “the neighborhood’s security”, we only encourage them to give up and go back to their old lifestyles…
Marco used to have a problem with drugs, he lived a very lost life for many years until God’s grace and mercy reached down and rescued him… God is using him in an amazing way with these guys… Because of his past, and now his changed life, the boys respect him, listen to him, and are willing to learn from him… One thing they can’t do is pull the wool over his eyes, because he’s already been there! His classes are orderly and the boys don’t come to class drugged… They don’t straggle in to class a half hour late… they are there on time… and they are the ones who plead with Marco to please let them stay longer to keep on learning and working!! Heidi told me the other day, “The boys have a different light in their eyes now… they are excited about learning! It’s like they’re coming because they want learn… not out of obligation.”
Hardened hearts and ignorant minds are much more of a menace to the neighborhood than our students!
At the meeting, Marco and I felt a little corralled in… trying to find a solution, a bit of a light, a way out… only to find closed doors, minds and hearts… I was finding it harder and harder to breathe… (and not cry!) There was no give in their resistance… they wouldn’t listen to logic, heart, or anything…
In the end, Marco said that in the face of their closed opposition to the center, for them not to worry, we were not going to fight, that we saw no other option, our shop would not be functioning any more in this neighborhood. People were very happy that we had “understood”… oh yes.. we truly were doing a wonderful work… this just ISN’T the place to do it!!! Oh Lord… what hypocrisy!!!
One lady started saying something about, “Don’t try and make us feel guilty because you lost”. We aren’t the ones who lost that night! All of those people lost when they rejected and come up against what God is doing in people’s lives…
There was really no need to sit around and chat… so Marco said goodnight (I couldn’t talk… the lump in my throat and the tears welling in my eyes wouldn’t allow it…)… and we left…
We spent a couple hours walking around (our cars are still in the shop after the accidents), trying to assimilate everything that we had just seen, heard and experienced… We called my parents to share our hearts with them…
In our walk around the neighborhood we came to a couple conclusions…
We have peace that we acted correctly in the meeting… without losing our cool or calm… We were respectful in answering their questions and giving explanations… We believe this is God’s work, and if He permits that one door closes, He, in His time and faithfulness, will continue to guide and provide. He desires the best for us (we just sometimes don’t know what that ‘best’ is!)
It saddens us greatly to see Christians allowing non-Christ-like attitudes entangle and poison them… Lately, we have had to deal with several situations where hidden sins have reared their ugly heads in more public ways… We are also humbled, knowing that we must walk day by day, closely following the Master… or we, too, could fall into the same trap. Marco said, and I think it’s true, that we need to teach more about the “hidden” sins like envy, hate, hypocrisy and selfishness, that eat away at you and destroy you… (and then others)… How many of us have been contaminated by attitudes like this? It is my prayer that I will not react in these ways, to what took place the other day… Rather that our eyes would be on Christ… that we would press on… being obedient to the calling of Christ on our lives…
We are committed to working with the boys… we feel it is absolutely necessary to work with both the women and men if we want to see changes in families… Although we have come up against this “bump” in the road… well, more than ever, we don’t want to lay down our weapons… not against any neighbor or neighborhood… but in this spiritual battle we fight…
We feel fighting against the neighbors would only be counterproductive. I was reassured by a lawyer yesterday that El Jordán wasn’t overstepping any legalities by setting up shop… even so, if we have neighbors who are obstinate in their rejection of our place, being legal is meaningless. Our students shouldn’t feel unwelcome on a public street… but… others, if they don’t want to see them there, could make them the scapegoat for any crime that happens in the vicinity. Why waste precious time and energy in fighting against a brick wall?
Right now, the leather classes will take place in my old apartment at El Jordán… This all has been disappointing for the boys… They loved their place… it was “theirs”… and to be crowded into a smaller place with less breathing space is not fun for anyone… but they all came to class today… so that was exciting…
It made me want to cry when I heard that Enrique said, “Why can’t we get special shirts made up to wear to class… that say ‘El Jordan men’s workshops’… so that people will know who we are… (and not look at us badly - mistrust us…)” Then he said, “We just have to keep on, brother, with even more courage .” These guys have been castoffs since they were young… They all came from dysfunctional homes… on the streets, they were the rubbish of society… and now, having found a place where there is hope, new life, acceptance, they meet up with people’s misunderstanding once again?
Marcelo said to me, “Why don’t they want us there? How can they be so mean?”
Please pray!!! Pray that the boys will not be discouraged, but rather more determined in their desire to change… We really do need to find an adequate place for them… a place that has space… a neighborhood that is accepting… and a place that we will be able to grow into… Right now we only have leather classes and Bible Studies… but we would like to have welding, carpentry and other classes as well…
Pray that we will have wisdom to know what to do with the place where the workshop was functioning… This would have been a much more economical option for us to follow for our boys program because of the place being mission property… but we have to have the right atmosphere for the boys as well… We don’t want the boys to lose their momentum… so we’d like to find a solution soon…
Please pray!!! I know you do… and we appreciate it greatly… Lately we have felt quite battered from all sides…with things to deal with at El Jordán, this situation, our accidents and Marco’s dad being seriously ill in the hospital this past week… but like Paul says…
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God
and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed!"
2 Corinthians 4:7-9
Praise God,
Corina and Marco.
Marco and his boys…
(from left to right) Ricardo, Juan Carlos, Vicente, José Miguel, Jesús,
José Alejandro, Enrique, Cristian, Marco and Marcelo
The boys working away…
If you want to encourage them by buying a baseball cap… wallet… or change purse, let us know!