“Christmas on the Streets´” hubbub of activity has faded, replaced with focusing on the planning, organizing of this year´s activities…However, even after these 6 weeks, certain faces from “Christmas on the Streets” are still clear in my mind… Unfortunately, I never seem to remember to take pictures…all I have are pictures from my heart…

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Sometimes when teenagers come and help with the preparations it´s a “camouflage” to hang out with friends or other times they´ve been “strongly encouraged” by their mom or church leader to get involved in “service”… …but 13 year old “Germán” showed up by himself (sometimes with his little brother) looking “cool” in his baseball cap, gel slicked hair and earphones constantly plugged in his ears… Day after day he´d come, quietly bagging our popped corn, wrapping gifts or doing whatever needed to be done… Why did he come?

“And your mom?”, I asked.

 

“She´s not here, she went to Sucre (16 hours away…)…she´ll be back on January 15th…”

 

“And who are you staying with?”

 

“My brothers” (two a bit older than Germán and a 7 year old…)

 

I tried not to look too horrified so he wouldn´t feel hurt... “Your mom left you by yourselves? She´s not coming back for Christmas?”

 

This past October El Jordan celebrated 15 years!! In many Latin cultures, 15 is the “sweet 16” of North America, and here in Bolivia it is celebrated by going all out. For us at El Jordan it was a day to celebrate, but not because of the number but because of remembering God’s faithfulness through out those years. We invited just about everyone we could, who had had a part in bringing El Jordan to where  it is today. Between adults and children there was over 350 of us!! What a testimony to God’s hand, mercy, love and grace for us. (we do have a wonderful PowerPoint showing El Jordan’s journey but due to third world tech problems, we haven’t been able to upload it yet!)

 

Joy and Sorrow...

Many times in El Jordan, we have the joy of celebrating milestones with our students and many times we also are the ones to walk along side them in their heartaches.

 

Looking back over the last 15 years, God has done amazing things…

 

When we were choosing the name for “El Jordan” 16 years ago, the story of God´s mercy and His offer of redemption for the imperfect, enslaved Israelites resonated in me… Rescued out of their slavery, they traveled towards the Promised Land… however; rebellion stretched their journey from what should have been several weeks into decades…

 

On the shore of the Jordan River, in sight of the Promised Land, Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” Joshua 3:5  

 

These past fifteen years have brought many people to our doorstep…