This week has been full. Full of prayer. Full of building the beginnings of friendships. Full of learning more about where we are. It breaks my heart to say goodbye to the kids at night and wonder where they will sleep. To hear the rain at night and pray that they are somewhere warm and dry. To love them when they are completely lucid, and when they are high on glue.
A side note on the glue. I want to research it more, but essentially the brain stops growing the minute they start using. So these kids start as young as six or eight. The glue helps them forget their hunger for a moment, it helps them not feel, but it also cripples them for life. When they see us coming, they hide it in their pockets or sleeves. I hate the glue, but more than that, I hate that they learn it so young and that it seems to promise easy answers to such difficult questions.
This week, we relearned our focus. We were distracted by the notion of needing to DO something. But more and more, I feel like we are learning what it means to be Jesus on the streets. He always seemed to have time for random people. He spoke with the woman at the well. He spent three years living with the disciples. Jesus was all about time with people. I keep running into kids on the street. It feels really great to not be rushed, to really just have time to talk to them.
Javier is the one I've spoken with most often these past few days. Sometimes he is high and sometimes he is not. But I think that being consistent is a really important part of all of this. Loving him in the midst of it all. Another favorite of mine is Domingo. I think I have mentioned him before. He is ten years old and smiles a lot. He is incredible at soccer. The only goals that get by him are the ones higher than he can reach.
It is really only the beginning here. German and Carla have all kinds of dreams for the kids. Dreams of creating a home for them. of getting scholarships so they can go to university, of seeing them get free from their addictions. But it all begins with relationships, with trust, with consistency and presence.
Thank you for your prayers and support. I hope you see that although the steps are small and not always visible, that God is so worth following into the worlds of the poor.
We're backin the US!
Hace 16 años