Are you anything like me? When I’m thinking about the future, I’d sometimes like to know the answers NOW… even though I might not NEED to know quite yet, it’s easier to have “faith” when we can see… even though that no longer is faith!!!
You’d think I’d learn… I’ve seen God’s powerful hand at work in my life time and time again… It’s amazing. In my last letter (epistle, book, whatever you want to call it!!!) I told you that I’d write about what was happening in the ministry… but please forgive me… I need to regress for a bit first…
Back in 1995, I came to Bolivia to help out in different ministries, looking for my niche - “God’s will for my life” - when on the side of the road… in a broken down car… with street kids/drug addicts… I heard God’s “call”…
In 1998, when I was working fulltime with the street kids in the markets and public places of the city, I found out that even before I came back to Bolivia, my dad had specifically prayed for God to send someone to work with these same kids, never knowing, never imagining, that God might send his own daughter…
These two events made me realize, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this wasn’t about me… It wasn’t any of my doing that I was working with street kids… It was God… His planning.. His working… I had no special education, no outstanding personal qualities and working with street kids had never, ever, even crossed my mind before that night in 1995…… It was God’s hand, moving, even when we can’t see… Truly, we were saved by grace, not by works… but it doesn’t stop there… “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Really, there isn’t any guess work to it… we simply must walk in the path that has been marked out for us… There are times like these that are so clear; one realizes that everything is already in place… Things might be a surprise to me… but not to God… In these moments I am filled with awe and gratitude that I can be a part of what God is doing…
The idea of El Jordán was really just a dream in my heart… a “long term goal” - I thought that maybe 15 or 20 years down the road we might have our own building for street kids… God provided “El Jordán” in 2000… It looked huge to me… but we grew into it… and out of it!!! When we got to that curve in the road, God already had things arranged… our neighbour decided to sell “The Place Next Door”… we received money from an estate (from someone we had never met… she was a single lady who loved children; her family thought that El Jordan was an appropriate place to invest that money)… and we were able to expand to have more space to care for our little children…
We wanted to build on “The Place Next Door”… but decided we would wait until we had 75% of the funds on hand, and the remaining 25% promised before we moved ahead with the construction… The intention was to “raise the money”… but when every single day you have people coming through the door… needing a listening ear… encouragement… a bit of hope… teaching, training… physical help - days fly by… weeks and months disappear… and before we knew it, we had been in “Jericho” – “The Place Next Door” a couple years… and we needed to expand… but we hadn’t mailed out our pamphlets!!!
Again… God showed us who was in control… This wasn’t something dependent on me… the PR department (we don’t have one!)… nor on an attractive brochure that we could print up… By the time we were ready for building our new place, we didn’t have 75% of the money on hand… we had it all!!! How? Well… all I can say is that it was God… people’s gifts - big and small, monies that were left over from this or that expense, memorial gifts… putting it all together… there was enough money to build our place… AND outfit it…
People would ask, “So Corina, what’s next??” I’d roll my eyes… and say that this had already much farther than I ever had imagined… My “dream”, that I thought was so huge, was outgrown when we got “The Place Next Door”…
…but there was something else that could be the next step… We really needed space for workshops for the boys… For years we have mainly worked with the girls… for a couple reasons, El Jordán functions with volunteers, the majority of whom are WOMEN… so… our classes are also geared towards women… Another reason, is that our space at El Jordán was limited… we could use the same classroom (we only had one) for macramé, crochet and manicure… but the welding and carpentry shop just didn’t fit in…
So… when we moved into the Place Next Door, we thought we’d develop classrooms for girls, space for child care AND workshops for boys…
BUT… it didn’t work… Woodworking, welding and so on need SPACE… they need to be able to get things dirty… make noise… etc… We did start welding class on the front porch of “The Place Next Door” but, it was as if the boys were being treated as an afterthought or pushed to one side… and the classes never really took off… Our teacher moved the class to his own shop where there was more space but the structure and discipline of our center was lacking… Our kids don’t just need to learn welding… they need to learn responsibility, punctuality, living under authority, etc etc etc etc etc…
The need to work with the boys grew more evident and crucial as our girls showed more maturity and advancement… The family can only advance so far if the father is pulling in another direction… It even seemed as if we were doing more damage to the families, because as the mothers became more dependable, the fathers tended to slack off even more – the negative results of only working with the women and children…
We dreamt about one day buying an adjoining property… to develop the boys’ workshops but still have everything under one administration… There were still a lot of unanswered questions like… which neighbour would decide to move this time? …and how would our administration hold up if even our expansion into our new building has shown up our limitations, straining our management? How would it work mixing women and men, with their different needs and the different ways of dealing with them???
This is where I needed to be reminded that it is God who makes our way straight in front of us… we aren’t the ones that have to answer all the questions…
Parallel to this was my relationship with Marco… that brought along its own set of questions… How was all of this going to work? How was it going to affect my relationship with the mission, and the financial support I receive for the ministry? How could we work together? I knew that Marco was a complement to the ministry with his testimony and heart… but HOW was it going to meld? How would it affect our relationship with me being “director” of the ministry? The space at El Jordán was really inadequate for seriously considering working full time with the boys… …and the questions went on… and on…
Before we were married, Marco worked out of his home… we had talked about finding a place where he could keep his leather shop functioning but allow boys who were interested in working/learning to be apprentices. …and he would help me out, not necessarily as an “official” “El Jordán volunteer”, but rather continuing on as the advisor, moral support that he had always been… and helping out in specific situations with boys that arrived to our office...
With the restructuring of the mission here in Bolivia, they were mission properties that needed to be sold/handed over to like minded ministries… I had my little eyes on a place only 8 blocks away from El Jordan, thinking that this might be the place for our guys’ workshops… BUT… I asked too late… and it had already been promised to someone else…
I was disappointed… but also recognized that God knows…and is in control…
In the months before the wedding, Marco looked for a suitable place for his shop… The ideal place, he thought would be somewhere between Uncle Norman’s house (where we are now living, about 16 blocks away from the center) and El Jordan… that way it was close enough to work along side of El Jordan with some of the same boys… Well… he found a couple places he thought would work but for one reason or another, none of them worked for us…
The wedding was getting closer… and the questions were still flying…
…WHEN…
…we found out that the mission property that we were originally interested was AVAILABLE again… and was El Jordán interested???!!!???
When we found out it was a real possibility, we seriously thought through the logistics of having a property not right next door to El Jordan. If we started classes with the boys, what if the teacher showed up late… or the students early… and the neighbors saw suspicious looking guys hanging around outside… No one would believe the boys that they were going to “class” at a place that looked abandoned. Good relationships with neighbors is key when working with street people because there is so much distrust (which is to be expected because so many have been assaulted or stolen from). If we don’t earn the trust of the neighbors, they can cause a lot of headache… We decided that really, if we were going to open up workshops with the boys, we needed someone to be there full time… someone who would be there if a kid showed up to talk on whatever day… someone who could control, supervise any classes that we might start there… BUT… who was wise enough, smart enough, and prepared to work with boys that have been on the streets? …and really, we can’t afford to pay anybody… especially if we were going to start having classes only once or twice a week…
Hmmm… then we thought about Marco… =) He had already offered to teach leather at El Jordan whenever we could get things arranged and he was already teaching two Bible studies… he has the street smarts to be able to deal with the boys… he would be able to earn the respect and trust of both neighbors AND students… we could offer him the space to set up his leather shop in exchange for supervising the place… We were all in agreement at El Jordan… so we approached Marco… Would he be willing to take the plunge and commit himself more fully to the ministry? It would mean giving up some of his ideas, time and income from his shop…
He accepted… and in the week, ten days, before the wedding (I thought it could have waited until after!) he and the boys that were interested in leather work had a massive clean up day (s)… The boys showed an excitement I have never in them at El Jordan… they had their “own” place now… it was a place for THEM… Ten days after the wedding, Marco had his first class with 9 boys (ranging from 14 to 29)… they asked Marco if they could come more than once a week because they really wanted to learn… so… some come three mornings a week… while others who have to work or sell something to feed their families, come only on Saturdays…
Wow… I have to stop for a minute just to shake my head in thankfulness and awe… If we had tried to work out things in our own way, in our own time… it never would have worked so wonderfully. Everything has come together incredibly… Marco is discovering the deep joy and satisfaction of teaching and coming alongside of people who really WANT to learn and WANT to change… He has also discovered that working with people isn’t a 9 to 5 job… nor is it clearly defined. Its not just teaching “leather” and a devotional… it is getting involved in their lives… I thank the Lord so much for the husband he has given me… the incredible complement he is to the ministry… and for the way God is leading him, teaching him and giving him so much joy in service…
This week we had a first… one of the couples who are students at El Jordan asked if they could come and talk with both Marco and I… They shared some of their struggles as a family and asked for our advice and support in prayer… It was special to together be able to encourage this couple…
Another thing that made us smile was a letter I got from one of the little girls at El Jordan (whose mom is a student)… She writes… “this year I’m going to pass and go into 2nd grade (she failed first grade twice already but this year something “clicked”, she learned to read and write, and it looks like she’s going to make it this time!!!) and you’ll be so happy when I get into 2nd grade. I want “hermano” Marco to be happy too… and I want you to take me for a drive/outing when I pass this grade. I got my report card and I want you and “hermano” Marco to see it. If you see “hermano” Marco, tell him that I got good grades in my school. Sincerely, Marisol. God bless you.”
Anyhow… I’ve rambled on and on again… but wanted to let you know about our expansion at El Jordán… and how God continues to lead, guide and provide. We still don’t have a name for the new place… we have just been calling it “Pororo” (the name of the street) or the “Talleres” (Workshops)… Maybe you can help us think of a name!
Please continue to pray for the new work with the boys… the ministry in general… and Marco and I as a couple, that God will continue to mold us and use us for His glory…
I promise that all my letters won’ t be this long!! …but I’ve been so irregular at writing for the last while that I feel like I need to get you all caught up… Next time I will write about some of my girls… and different things that are happening…
There is a very difficult situation at El Jordan right now… simmering under the surface… that I ask you to pray with me about… Pray for the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin… a heart of repentance… courage to face this and wisdom in dealing with it… Thank you…
Thank you, thank you, thank you… for your patience in reading my letters and your interest in the ministry here… May God bless you richly!!!
Because HE is faithful,
Corina