PART ONE: (I started writing this over a week ago… “Friendship on the Streets” was from July 11 to 15)
We just came out of our week-long “trial” of “Friendship on the Streets”… overall, it went well… and it was neat to see it all come together… and witness, once again, God´s hand in big and small things… like someone returning my purse (with El Jordán´s money and my documents) after I lost it on an early morning shopping trip to the vegetable market… and in finding the right place to buy the hygiene products for our gifts… and more…
When I priced the hygiene products for our gifts, vendor after vendor would turn away, ignore me, say “no” or say they´d tell me when I came back with money when they realized I wasn´t actually buying!!! At the last stall, I was bracing myself for the same reaction when the lady offered me a chair… and the best prices… In the end, on top of great prices, the lady gave boxes of stuff to give away to our girls or other centers that needed them! On Saturday, she gave me a call to see how “Friendship on the Streets” had gone… So, it worked out that it was good that I ran into so many rude people that first day!
Our whole “gift” - a special bag, a little shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush and a regular sized soap…a “Chick” tract and a wrapped gift (a pair of socks)… topped with a card that was written just for them, came to just over 10 Bs. ($US 1.50) each. We made up 500 packs…
We didn´t have any classes all week at El Jordán to give the opportunity to all workers, volunteers and students to participate in any area – whether cooking, serving or going to the streets…
Some things that touched our hearts:
MONDAY: Some of our teenage girls came to look after the littlest kids in the afternoon so our moms could work alongside their 7 and up kids to make up the gift bags … I was blessed watching our kids of all ages joyfully working together FOR OTHERS… Tania, one of our moms, borrowed for her bus fare that day… (If our girls don´t have money, they can borrow from someone and arriving at El Jordán we give them a job to earn their bus fares for the day…) …so Tania and her kids cleaned up our gardens before helping with the gift bags… No complaining… It wasn´t until later we found out that they hadn´t eaten that day… and yet, they came to SERVE…
TUESDAY: Two of our “girls” did amazing at cooking their “specialties” (one for lunch, the other for supper) to share on the same streets where they used to be… Again… generous service flowing from people who have so many needs themselves… It reminds me of one of El Jordán´s special verses, “Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.” Ephesians 4:28
WEDNESDAY: We did a special breakfast and then spread out far and wide to share with different ones… living in the woods, in parks, under bridges and at intersections of the city… A couple people stand out from that day…
“Gustavo”… who just shook his head and said that he had given up all hope calling out to God to help him… Maybe, just maybe, he saw a tiny, tiny ray of God´s love for him that day???
“José”… whose tears liberally rolled down his dirty cheeks as we left… Annemarie´s comment about him: “like he was at the end… wanting to believe what I said was true… but full of doubt at the same time…”
Fabiola wrote, “The people we went to (near the boys´ shops) had visible signs of having lived years in addictions, completely unkempt, abandoned. “Evaristo” and “Eduardo”´s faces are engraved on my heart… It was the first time that they talked with us and smiled. (Vice versa might also be true!!!) “Eduardo” is usually so verbally aggressive with people passing by…”
Nehemías, another volunteer wrote, “I was able to get to know the “friends” who hang out on the street corner I walk by every day. Now I can greet them by name…”
THURSDAY: In the evening, I went to a spot where we always go for Christmas on the Streets… There was a different “feel” in the air… rather than “expecting” to receive food and presents, they were taken by surprise… Some of the prostitutes who normally are more aloof actually said thanks with great big hugs… We talked about how we may have been failed by family and even the best of friends… but there was a Never-failing Friend who was waiting for them to grab onto His outstretched hand…
Five people offered to come with me on FRIDAY to clean at “Ebenezer” – the home with 13 mentally challenged young men… Others stayed behind to make the boys´ favorite meal – hamburgers and fries…
We were just about to leave El Jordán when “José” (not the José from Wednesday morning) showed up at the gate. He was from the woods where Marco and some others had taken food on Tuesday… He had listened intently to Marco´s chat and wanted to “get out”, but he stayed… The next day, for “some reason”, Marco decided to go back to the same place with breakfast… “José” renewed his decision to “get out”… …he didn´t let anyone know his plan so no one could dissuade him… and he “got out”… He slept in a little “nook” downtown that he knew… and Friday morning, he was at our gate… It all started with a special plate of food, time to sit and chat, on a day no one was expecting anything… “José” wanted help to go home (3 hours away)… So… I told him to come along with us to clean Ebenezer and in the afternoon we´d have time to help him…
Roberto, one of the boys at the home, helped me clean the bathrooms… he reminded me of my kids – sweeping totally in the wrong spot because he was looking at me for affirmation that he was doing a good job… or getting distracted from scrubbing down the walls because the bubbles were so much fun… It was the funniest joke when the shower broke and I got completely soaked…
Marco N., the man who has dedicated his life to these boys for the last 16 years, is suffering from some of the same symptoms as his father when he had stomach cancer… Marco N. hasn´t had a complete medical check – for fear of what the answer might be… for financial reasons… and because he is alone… Who would look after his “boys” if he wasn´t there? There is nobody.
Could you take a minute right now to pray for this situation? …for God´s healing hand on this man? …for people with a heart for these boys to come alongside and shoulder some of the weight? Marco N. has helped these boys become as independent as possible… all those that can have their jobs and responsibilities… cooking, getting things out for breakfast, stomping on the blankets soaking in soapy water, hanging up the clothes, feeding the one that can´t feed himself… and “Julio” with the few words that he says, prays giving thanks for the meals...
I came to a conclusion as I was scrubbing unmentionables… I made a mistake when I asked people to help clean… I said, for those who “wanted to come”… Cleaning bathrooms isn´t high on my list of favorite things to do… but the Christian life isn´t about what we WANT to do… it should be about what we OUGHT to do… and when we DO the things we SHOULD, there is joy, peace, contentment. How many people are doing what they WANT, but still feel like something is MISSING? Are these boys not smack in the middle of the “least of these” that Christ mentions in Matthew… in serving them we are actually serving HIM? We are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6) but that doesn´t make us free to do as we please – we are now slaves to JUSTICE! What does God require of us? Are we doing what we SHOULD be doing???
Seeing people enjoy their food is wonderful… and boy, those boys LOVED their hamburgers and fries!!! We worked hard, ate good… and had a good time…
When we left Ebenezer, we asked José if he was still set on going home… but he preferred getting his documents needed to work… We thought it would be simple, silly us, but the civil clerk wasn´t able to print off his birth certificate because he first had to bring in a copy of his baptism in the Catholic church and a note signed by the president of the neighborhood where he grew up saying that he really was José Mendez… We helped him get that far… and we´ll see if he shows up again… You can pray for him as well… the enemy won´t want to let him go easily…
* * *
A couple more general comments from our volunteers:
“I would like to go back again and again, to tell them that God rescued me from a lower spot… and that there is nothing impossible for Him…” Ricardo
“It made me want to keep going out and continue sharing with those same people to build a relationship…” Annemarie
“It was my first time going out to share with street people… we met up with one man all by himself. At first he was afraid and started yelling. When we told him we wanted to share a meal with him, he calmed down…he saw the presents and was so surprised…” Alexandra
“God changed my life and I know that they can change as well. It saddened my heart to see how they were living without direction… they are so lost and only God can touch their hearts and transform their lives into a New Life…” Emiliano
For me, one of the top benefits of “Friendship on the Streets” is more direct involvement of our workers and volunteers in sharing with people on the streets. It’s so important, not only to get out to the streets… but also for our workers to gain an understanding, rapport and empathy for street people… When our girls (moms) come to their classes and the boys to the workshops, it is difficult to imagine that any of them could have been (be) involved in drugs, the streets, prostitution… so even when we try to help our workers understand WHO they are working with and their sub culture, it doesn´t sink in like actually experiencing it yourself: having a street person look for a wiggly stool for you to sit on and be more comfortable in their territory… or hearing from their own mouths a small fraction of their story of pain… or seeing and almost feeling the pain of their oozing sores from fights, getting beaten, self-cutting or sickness… or seeing them ravenously eat the meal you prepared – and ask for more – three times… or on the contrary, seeing them so drugged that the best cooked meal couldn’t conjure a response from them… or witnessing the hardness and distrust of their eyes softening just a bit with your kindness… It kindles a response in our heart... and makes our service for God even more meaningful…
There was a more “family” feel to the whole event… less pressure and more sharing… Rather than our workers being so tired from their responsibilities of cooking for over 2000 people, you are only helping cook for 70 people at a time… and so many of the logistics disappear...
Of course there are things to do better… I was disappointed with the minimal interest shown by the local church – even the churches involved in Christmas on the Streets. We wanted them to look for the small handfuls of addicts that live in the plazas or vacant lots of their neighborhood… but no one was interested… Maybe it is more exciting to reach out to the “hundreds” on the other side of town rather than risk building a relationship with an addict you might run into every time you go to church! He might even show up at church one day!!! Maybe the most practical way for the church to gain a vision for “outside their front door” is slowly but surely through the burdened heart of an El Jordan volunteer…
Next year I want to find ways for ALL workers and more volunteers and students to get out to the streets… …and there needs to be some way to facilitate our moms with smaller children in their participation…
Final detail planning was left for last minute for this Friendship on the Streets… partly because this was our first opportunity and I had hopes that some church or volunteer might want to commit themselves at last minute to reaching out to someone in their path… Next time, the idea will no longer be new… and we have all year to nudge people towards being involved…
Overall… I think it was a great week… and I´m excited for this year´s Christmas on the Streets (the transition year, moving towards a huge scale down) where we can start putting into practice some of the changes we tried out this past week…
For those of you who pray for us… THANK YOU… we need you!!! THANKS to all of you who, in some way or another, walk alongside of us in this ministry of walking alongside of “the least of these” as we point them towards Christ… and my prayer is, that through our updates – from Heidi, Annemarie and myself – you can “picture” a bit better the path we walk on…
INTERMISSION: Part Two is Keiden and Marlee´s account of an experience they had during Friendship on the Streets… followed by Part Three, “Aunty Heidi´s” filling in the gaps…
This is a good chance to share what a blessing “Aunty Heidi” is to our family… God has blessed us with her sharing our life and ministry here… She came to El Jordán to help with the children´s program for “9 months”… and it´s now been 12 years!!!
Heidi plays a huge role in the ministry here… not only heading up the kids´ program but helping with our kids, allowing me to still be involved in the activities of El Jordán when there isn´t a kids´ program… We often “tag team” during major events… taking turns to complete our responsibilities – in order to give some semblance of “normalcy” to Keiden and Marlee… It is Heidi who often takes Keiden and Marlee before and after the classes I teach at El Jordán, allowing me to talk privately with the girls… or allowing me work on details that are hard to do with little “helpers”…
She brings my kids so much joy… she spoils them… she knows them inside out… and she challenges and teaches them…
Thank you “Aunty Heidi”. You are a huge blessing to us!!!
PART TWO:
KEIDEN: Pedro was lying on the bench. He was sleeping. His hair was long. He was old, forty something. He doesn´t have a house. Marlee and I went to a store to buy him presents. I gave him socks and vitamin c juice. Marlee chose apples and bread with cheese on top.
MARLEE: I gave him a hug and I shook his hand. He smelled a little stinky because he drinks “alkehol”, he drank the stuff we used on my ears. We can give him some of daddy´s clothes.
KEIDEN: He didn´t have any shoes or socks on. It was cold and his toenails were yucky that´s why I bought him socks.
MARLEE: He wasn´t all yucky he just smelled yucky but it isn´t funny.
KEIDEN: First when I went I was scared but the next time I was just a little bit scared. I said, “Esto es para ti” (this is for you) Marlee said, “Dios te bendiga” (God bless you.) He said “thank you” and “Dios te bendiga” and he had a smile.
When we went back the next day to give him one of those bags (that we made up for “Friendship on the Streets”…) he was with his friend, Josué. Pedro was opening up his present, his socks. That made me feel happy.
MARLEE: I gave the man a hug and I said just very quietly that other “mens” (people) don´t give them hugs or food. They were sad at first and then happy.
PART THREE: by Heidi
A little something to share with you, a small experience I had a couple of weeks ago, that shaped my heart and spoke volumes to me:
The story of Josué, Pedro, 2 small children and a hug
There we were, 7 yr. old Keiden (Corina’s son), 4 yr. old Marlee (Corina’s daughter) and me walking through the little plaza, known as the Avion Pirata (pirate plane). We were trying to finish up a couple of errands for El Jordan, it was Amistad en las Calles (Friendship in the Streets) week and everyone was running around busy as ever… Usually when I go out with kids, I love it… it’s the time I try and take to talk a bit deeper, talk about life, stop and see life, teach a history lesson, a social lesson, or just chat (cause chatting is usually when you discover the most about little ones and their inner thoughts). Today it was just the three of us, me keeping Keiden and Marlee occupied so mom and dad could take some meals out to the streets with different groups of people… Today was my turn to be aunty, and not the “Hermana Heidi“, it was my turn to chat…
Walking through this plaza was something new, we hadn’t walked through this plaza before, it was a route we normally drove, but with the errands we had it was easier to park the car and walk them all… being close to supper time and two little ones who had been busy most of the day, I was concentrated on finishing up this last errand before anyone fell apart or just couldn’t go anymore. Keiden asks me about the plane that is parked in the plaza (there really is a plane there!) and if it really was a real pirate plane, if it was really real… (needing to touch it, to make sure this aunty was telling the truth!) Marlee, being Marlee, chatting about everything she sees, picking up “treasures” along the way and me cringing at the germs that are going on those hands!... As we near the other side of the plaza, I see a man sleeping on a bench all spread out… this man is probably younger then he looks, but you can´t really tell, as the years of hardship and addiction are written all over him… I notice the shoeless, sockless feet, peeling from fungus probably, I see the urine soaked pants, the matted hair, and the torn jacket... all this I noticed as I am talking about what mommy and daddy were doing that day, and why we at El Jordan were focusing this week on building friendships with those on the streets… conviction pulls on my heart, and I hear myself asking Keiden and Marlee if they see anyone who may need a little love today…. God’s timing is priceless and wonderful… as my mind saw this man, and my heart turned to burden for this lost soul, they saw a man who needed love…. Keiden asked me “how do you know he needs help” (the scientist who has have the facts to be sure), I asked him what he thought… “why do you think he is sleeping on the bench?, what do you think happened to his shoes?, where do you think he eats” etc… Marlee, who is one of the most strong-willed little girls I know, whose fierceness can out battle many, is usually my humbling point… the same fierceness she may battle with you with, is the same fierceness she uses when it comes to being merciful… without missing a beat she declares “we have to help that man!” Yes little one, we do…
Right across from the plaza is a grocery store, heading into the store I asked each one, Keiden and Marlee, to think about how or something we could do to help that man… Marlee wants to buy everything, and Keiden a little unsure, wanting to know for sure what the man needs and “are you sure, aunty, he doesn’t have a home?”…. we thought about what he may need on his feet “socks!!” , anything else? “food!!” “Vitamin C, cause it helps you not get sick!” Yes and Yes… each got to choose two things to share with the man, Keiden choose: socks and orange juice (for the vitamin C), Marlee choose: apples and bread with cheese on top…. After paying for our purchases, the kids thought we should wrap the presents, cause that is what you do with presents… love the logic here, so we asked the store to do just that; to wrap the socks, the orange juice (vitamin c), the pieces of bread with cheese on top and the 4 green apples all individually “its more fun to get lots of presents” so we could go and share them with the man… I wonder what the wrapping paper lady thought as she wrapped these gifts??...
I prayed that the man would still be there and that as we woke him he wouldn’t be angry or aggressive… getting closer I could tell Keiden was feeling a little nervous (I mean I was a little too) and as we hid our other purchases in the bushes/plants as to not bring all of our “errands” upon the man, I talked about doing as Christ asks: to look after the needy and those who don’t know Him… I said we didn’t have to stay long but each should think of one thing to say to him, assured Keiden I would do the waking up part and he could stand beside me… Kneeling beside the man, I gently touched his shoulder to stir him, Marlee beside his feet blurts out “Dios te bendiga!!” (God bless you!!) (that was her one thing to say) over and over again she says it, passing her gifts to him… the man stirs and looks at me confused, 1) cause who am I and 2) 4yr old Marlee is excitedly saying “Dios te bendiga” over and over again… I tell him we have come to share something… The man looks over and sees them, Keiden and Marlee, his face softens and melts a little, Keiden hands him his presents and says “para ti” (for you) (and his one thing to say)… I tell the man we wanted to say hello … he smiles and points up wards to the skies, “Dios, Dios, Dios” (God, God, God) and he points at us… I say “yes, this is from God”… and that was it, our interaction wasn’t long or big, but it was something….
Walking away talking to the kids, I think about this man… his words barely audible, his hands so shaky, the strong smell coming from him… all this because of years of alcohol abuse… driving back to El Jordan, I asked Keiden if he was scared… he said yes, I tell him that was a brave thing he did… it is okay to have fear and be afraid, those are real, but what he did by not letting fear conquer him in that moment, was amazing… to let fear stop us from doing as Christ asks is wrong and Keiden conquered it… so proud of him…
By the time we got back to El Jordan, the kids had a thousand more ideas to share with the man, we talked about giving their daddy´s clothes to the man (sorry Marco ), about asking him his name next time, about going back with mommy, about so much… the fire was lit in them… my heart was joyful, they were allowing God to work in their little hearts, to hurt for the helpless… this aunty was proud…
The next morning, Corina phones me and asks a favor of doing an early morning errand (we were delivering breakfast to the streets and something was needed) and if I could, would I mind taking with Keiden and Marlee to deliver breakfast to the man… so off we went (in our pajamas, as the kids had slept at el Jordan that night due to the early morning) to do our errand and find our new friend “the man”…. Keiden was asking once again, if I was sure he would be there and if he liked his socks we gave… I told Keiden I wasn’t sure if he would be there, but I was sure he loooved the socks we gave… Keiden wasn’t sure, cause “how do you know, though aunty?”… I prayed as we got close and I saw the empty bench, that “the man” would be near and that God would answers Keiden´s questions for him… and you wouldn’t believe what happened next…. As we pulled up to the curb, I see off to the side “the man” sitting in a pile of “treasures” (bags and little stuffs) and holding in his hand…. a brand new pair of socks, ready to be put on those ragged peeling feet… Our God is so good… I call to Keiden to look out the window and look… “look what he has in his hands?” “Socks!!” God gave Keiden, his answer he needed… the assurance that what that 7 yr old boy and 4 yr old girl did was right and good! We got down out of the car still in pajamas, one carrying the breakfast, the other carrying cups to share a hot drink with them and we got close… “the man” quickly hides socks, and looks at us…. I wonder if he remembers us, if he will be open today??... then I see something… a smile! We get down on the side walk and say “Hello, do you remember us??” “Yes”, he nods… I ask if it is just him or does he have a friend… he points to another man who is making his way over, another who looks just like the first: hard, ragged, dirty, hurt, heavy, in need.
This time the kids are ready with their questions and more open… we ask their names : Josué (Joshua), the first man and Pedro (Peter), the second man and if they are always here… yes, they are… once again we didn’t say much, as both men struggled with words and I think they were amazed at these two little beings who would remember two “old” men so lost…. I remember as I poured Josue’s drink into two cups as he was unable to drink one cup full, due to his shaking I asked God to give me wisdom to not let this man feel shame, as I did this and start to tidy up to leave I see Marlee do something that brings tears to my eyes each time I think about it… I hear her little voice say “chau” and with that fierceness she has for the unwanted, with her arms reach out to give Josue a… hug… looking past the haggardness, the dirtiness, the wornness, the smelliness, the shaky arms that can´t hold a cup of hot beverage without spilling (and I believe she doesn’t even see those things) reaching out to love, to give a man who probably hasn’t been loved for a long time, a hug… well that did it… we were all going to give hugs that morning… as Marlee moved onto Pedro, Keiden jumped in so naturally and I followed suit…. Ohh my heart burst again…
Pulling away, the kids waving to their new friends, saying “ohh we forgot to ask them________and______and_____” I knew God again used a still small moment, voice to speak a thunderous thing…. Love those in need….. I asked Keiden if he was scared again: the same, less or no?… “a little less”…. And that is just fine, cause that 7 yr old boy allowed God to work in his heart and give something to two old guys that week… love…
Marlee with her nonjudgmental, childlike carefreeness love on a man, giving a hug so freely and non-hesitantly and Keiden with is “Gideon like faith” that dares to ask God to show him sureness, taking that answer and letting his fear slip away speaks so much to me… Do I love freely and openly, not worrying about the smells and what I see….? Do I dare to ask God my questions and let Him take my fears away??...
Lord… let me be more like them… the child like faith that moves mountains and tears down walls….