Graduation night at El Jordán always is a highlight for me… it brings the whole year together… Everyone celebrating… kids, teenagers… parents… volunteers and workers… families… Remembering who God is… what He has done… pointing towards what He still is going to do… Can there be a better day than that?
People sometimes ask… “Why do the girls wear graduation gowns?” (or in other words, Why do you make such a big fuss about just coming to some classes at El Jordán?) Let me explain: it is a prize… a special recognition of our girls´ efforts and sacrifices… a celebration of their worth and dignity…
Imagine for a minute… someone who has maybe only studied until grade 2, 3 or 4... someone whose own family rejected them or kicked them out of the house when they were barely in the double digits… whose family may never have gone to look for them when they ran away… someone who the only “love” they knew was a moment of being used, and then thrown away… Our girls can close their eyes and still hear accusing voices hammering in their heads, “Stupid….”, “Idiot”, “I curse the day you were born!”, “You are good for nothing!” “I´m not your mom! (grandma, sister…) I am dead to you!!!” Now imagine when they get all dressed up… hair done… makeup on… the graduation gown on… and they hear THEIR name being read… they walk down the (blue) carpet with all the eyes just on them… Eyes that aren´t mocking… hateful… or rude… Eyes that are happy… eyes that are proud… They hear the applause of the people… for THEM!!!! They get a diploma with THEIR name on it… they get to go up on stage… honored… appreciated… Can´t you see how amazing a night this is?
The kids do their special numbers… they too, honored in front of everyone… Many of our little kids unfortunately have the same lies pounding in their heads… but on graduation night, they have their moment to shine… to be applauded… their moms smiling and proud of them…
A group of the kids stayed on stage to recite 16 of their memory verses from the year… Maybe some volunteers who “look after the kids” day after day, week after week, might get weary… They might wonder if is all really matters… or if they are wasting their time… but I think seeing the kids shining up on stage has to do something for their hearts… a reminder that we don’t “just look after kids”… we plant SO many seeds… truth… love… discipline… and order… Seeds that we trust will grow… and may be a factor in them never stepping foot on the streets… into drugs or addictions… or falling into a trap of violence like their moms and dads have…
Our workshop honors their boys: the most disciplined in their school work and behavior… the ones who showed growth and the most interest in learning about God… They get a special certificate… and when next year rolls around and their families are unable to buy all of their school supplies, these 7 boys will get a little extra help from us…
22 of our girls “graduated”… which means that they attended at least 70% of their Bible Studies throughout the whole year… That means, at least 7 times out of 10 they had to set apart bus fare to come and go to class… even when maybe they had to choose class or breakfast… bus fare or ¼ kilo of meat for lunch for their family… 7 times out of 10 they had to get their kids ready and out the door early (because if they get to El Jordan over ½ hour late, they don´t get to come in)… (Yessenia is 23 years old and brings her 5 children… 7 and under to class!!!) It means sometimes “hiding” their kids behind a bush so that the bus won´t speed up and pass them by when they see a woman with her kids that will take up space but not pay full fare… It means being on a bus for up to 1 1/2 or two hours… and that´s just getting to El Jordan… without counting the hours to get home… Being on a bus with your kids isn´t sitting down, comfortably each with their own seat – more likely it is standing, holding onto a bar… kids grabbing your legs so they don´t fly when the bus careens around corners, rushing to meet its time clock… These girls have come to Bible study even when they have had serious problems with their partner, kids, life… when they don´t have a heart for anything, but they still get up and come to El Jordan because they know it is a GOOD place for them to be… These are all reasons why graduation is so special to me… These girls are my heroes… I don´t think I could do what they do…
The three girls with the highest percentage get a special recognition… 94%... 97%... and Heidy Alejandra, with 100%!!! Wow! Can you believe that? Heidy Alejandra has registered to come to classes at El Jordan several times over the years… but she´s never stuck with it… This year was different…
When we asked her, “Why did you come to El Jordán?” She answered, …because I no longer had a desire to live… I just wanted to die…
“How has El Jordán helped you this year?” …it was here that I began believing in God again. I came into El Jordan no longer believing in the existence of God… but here I believed in Him again…
And… “What do the volunteers of El Jordán mean to you?” …they are the family I never had… Here God has given me aunts… sisters… and a second mom…
Heidy Alejandra´s mom is an alcoholic… Ever since Heidy was little, she suffered the consequences of her mother´s addiction… Her mom would get angry, grab a knife… and chase her little daughter… Heidy was only 8, 9 or 10 years old… and she would escape to the “safety” of the streets… and sleep wherever night would find her… knowing she couldn't go back home until her mom was passed out… or gone drinking again… One of those times, Heidy never went home… You can hear a bit of her story on the video we made at El Jordan this year:
If you haven´t seen it yet… please take the time to watch the full version!
One of my first years working on the streets I very distinctly remember being downtown in a market… A mom was chasing 9, 10 or 11 year old Rosita with a knife… Rosita would escape behind a truck… in between the sacks of potatoes the market ladies were selling… The mom would vacillate between talking “sweetly” to Rosita, offering to buy chicken for supper and other empty promises… and yelling, screaming and chasing her with a knife… I can´t forget in one of those moments when Rosita´s terrified eyes met mine… like a scared, trapped animal… pleading for help and mercy… and I couldn´t do anything… (Later I helped Rosita to “get away”… and faced the consequences of a very angry mom hating me…) ...I will never, ever forget those eyes… I remember asking the other street kids why Doña Trini was chasing Rosita with a knife and they said, “She thought Rosita had spent some money (from begging or stealing) on chicken (rather than handing it all over to her)…”
Back to Heidy Alejandra… In her own words to thank the volunteers at El Jordan, “Thanks to you, I started believing in God and I once again had the desire to live again when I had only wanted to die…” That thanks goes to you too… You pray and support the ministry so that we can be here working with people like Heidy Alejandra… WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR YOU!!!!
Psalm 86:10 was on the backdrop of the stage for our graduation: “For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.” Can anyone say AMEN with me to that????
A couple other things about grad:
• When one of our girls “graduates”… it doesn´t mean they “are done” at El Jordán… they continue being a part of our family in the years to come if they want… to keep learning more about God and how He wants them to live…
• We have over 60 volunteers on our list… unfortunately many of them couldn´t be at our graduation… Something very special, two of our volunteers on the stage are girls who came through our program… and now are back to teach others…
• The picture of a girl giving Marco and me a present is Haidy, one of our new students this year… but I’ve known her for about 18 years... She still struggles with addictions and the streets… but God is softening her heart… Please pray specifically for Haidy and her struggle…
So “graduation” is done and now we focus on ending our classes (December 8th)… and this Friday (December 1st) we have a fundraising concert for Christmas on the Streets… It is a praise night with a local singing group as our special guests… where we also sell tacos, quesadillas and cold cappuccinos… Want one?
I´m looking forward to Christmas on the Streets – we keep pushing it in the same direction as Friendship on the Streets – Christmas in July… making it smaller and more personal… its taking the time to sit on that curb… or under the bridge… without rushing… taking time to be… time to listen… not just complete “a plan”… We plan to repeat what we did for our students last Christmas – giving them a frozen chicken and pork that they can prepare and invite someone else to share with them… Rather than only receiving, that they practice giving…. “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 …the full circle…
Two short stories from this past Christmas in July: Mery S. – one of our students – along with a few others, took breakfast to a few street people nearby their church… They met up with Deivi… who in the past was always mean… disrespectful… Now he is blind (consequences of street vengeance), has a huge hernia or tumor protruding from his stomach… his bare feet were all swollen… he can barely walk… and is almost always alone… I know that the time Mery and her friends spent with Deivi… chatting, eating breakfast together… talking about God´s love to him… gently putting on his gift of socks on his sore, bare feet… probably said much more to Deivi than a bunch of messages preached at him…
Last year, Keiden, Marlee and Heidi took Christmas in July to José – who lived on a park bench… very near where Deivi lives… José´s bench is now empty… We don´t know the opportunities we have to share… I believe that the change in direction we´ve made helps us make better use of those opportunities we have…
This July I went with Lorena (one of our students) to a park I had only driven by before… I was surprised to find almost 20 street people waiting for us… The gospel was presented in a very simple and clear way… Only weeks later, Lorena told me that one of the men from that park had died… Only God knows the seeds planted… and the fruit there might be….
During Christmas in July we had a very, very shy and quiet girl helping us… Beatriz… I was surprised to find out that she wanted to help deliver lunch under the bridges… We were almost half way to our destination, poking through noonday traffic, when I somehow I realized that Beatriz wasn´t in my car… The LAST thing I wanted to do was to go back and get her in the middle of traffic… I phoned El Jordan but all the other groups had already left… Maybe she could go another day… But, something in me made me phone back and tell Beatriz to wait for us… we were coming back for her…
Beatriz was with us for the rest of the week… coming to the streets every chance she had… On the last day she told me a bit of her story… after she became a Christian, God put street people on her heart… She felt compelled to reach out to them… but never knew how… She and a group of high school friends made plans to go to the streets but it never worked out… As she talked about her burden… about the experience of being able to go to the streets with El Jordan, her whole face lit up, tears streaming down her cheeks… I got a big knot in my throat… All I could think of was, Thank you God for making me turn around and go back to pick up Beatriz… God is good… and He uses opportunities like Christmas in July to not only to work in street people´s hearts – but to work in ours…
Please keep El Jordan in your prayers especially in the upcoming month: our fundraising concert for Christmas on the Streets this Friday, finishing up our classes and Bible Studies, our Christmas celebration with our families, and Christmas on the Streets! Especially pray that as workers, we will serve out of love for God, have energy to finish well and be thankful in everything. (Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all of you Americans!!!!)
Please also pray for our financial burden at the end of the year… The government requires that we give our workers a complete extra wage by December 20th … I remind God that this is His ministry… and I try to leave that worry with Him…
Thank you… for another year of standing with us… of reading through my books…
Have a great week!!! HE is Faithful!!!!
Love, Corina for Marco, Keiden and Marlee