Friday Flashbacks-Peru

      Last night as I was reading in Matthew I was again drawn back to Peru, as the scriptures became alive and lived among us.
   
      Matthew 8:5-11 NLT
      When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and
      pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed,
      paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
       Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
       But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you
      come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and
      my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the
      authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over
      my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or
      ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’
      they do it.”
       When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who
      were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t
      seen faith like this in all Israel! And I tell you this, that
      many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and
      west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast
      in the Kingdom of Heaven.
  
      Here in Matthew the officer had enough faith that Jesus could heal. Not only that Jesus possesed this power, but enough power that His spoken word would go out to another man, not in Jesus' pressence, but in the lack of being in Jesus' pressence.
      Jesus traveled often, and visited many homes for the purpose, or with the accomplished goal of healing. This story could have been no different, Jesus could have met the boy at his house where he lay, but instead Jesus spoke the words in response to the officer's faith. And he was healed.
   
      At our drama ministry spots throughout the towns we visited, we had the privilege of praying for the needs of any pressence. I was amazed how many times we were asked how much! Like there is a charge for prayer!? At one drama stop my ground had been praying for a few people, and a man approached us asking us for praying for his son. I'm unsure as to what was specifically wrong, but I remember him informing us he would like to bring him for us to pray over him. We then told him this story from Matthew about faith, and prayer. And as we prayed with this man for his son, you could've his faith, in the joy he exhibited.
      We never met that man again, he is one of many I pray to one day meet in Heaven. But I believe that man's faith brought healing to his son that day. That as he arrived home in expectation, God met him, with anticipation with his healed son.
      It saddens me that so many of these stories of faith and healing take place in so many more countries than our own. I'm not saying God.doesn't choose to heal here, or He isn't healing here, but it's not something we see everyday. We rely on medication and our own ability to self diagnos our selves with information so readily available at our fingertips.
      I want to see more of God's work here. In my country, in my town, my church and my life. I know it will continue to require faith. That infamous word, that God keeps redirecting my attention to.
      I know the healing of my knee has required continuous faith. The enemy likes to sneak in and Eisler "did he really, is that pain you are feeling?" I rebuke Satan and thank Jesus for healing me, and as those words are spoken, my faith increases, and what I thought to be pain, was only the lie of the enemy.
   
      Good thing faith is a continual process, and that Go's gives us so many examples in the Bible and in our lives around us.

Friday Flashbacks-Peru

So as I was reading about another sponsor's letter from Peru over on OurCompassion, there was a comment made about having two weeks off to celebrate their independence. Which reminded me of the large parades that invaded many sections throughout Lima, Peru during the time I was there, July of 2004.

It was a Saturday, a free day to "explore" and the small group I was with started out in the Miraflores district, east of Larcomar. The Inca market was on the east end, Burger King and McDonald's are also found in this area. But as you head west from the large round-a-bout where most of those locations are found, you'll find a myriad of other other shops from ice cream and donuts (Dunkin Donuts), to shoes and clothing. Someone in our group wanted to head back to the Abercrombie shop that was a couple side streets over. Another from our team had mentioned finding this shop where they sell the "outlet" type clothing (small imperfections) and since it was made locally, the American favorites, and expensive, were dirt cheap.

As we made our way towards the shop we realized this task was easier said than done. There was a larger parade taking up the entire street we needed to cross! So many people crowed the sidewalks it was almost impossible at first to see the parade. If it hadn't be for the height of some of the displays, we would have been wondering what was going on.

So we decided to attempt to go around. We went down an opposite street, and around to realize the crowd everywhere made it next to impossible to cross. After walking several blocks with no luck, we turned around to navigate back through the maze of people and street peddlers.

We then found a slight hole to peer through and watch the parade from. It was amazing. I was amazed at all the celebration. I know Americans like to celebrate, but I never thought other countries celebrated in such style.

That night we also watched as the sky grew dark, and fireworks lighted up the sky. It was much bigger of a celebration than I was accustomed to growing up in a small town. While there were not local, within the neighborhood, fireworks, all one needed to do was look up. The fireworks went on for quite some time.

I remember thinking of how amazing it was to watch their celebration of independence, and think to all those houses packed along the hills of Lima. People living in extreme poverty, parents doing all they can to support their families. And how amazing it must be for those kids to watch such a spectacular event. Kids who do not understand they are living the definition of extreme poverty. They do not understand they can achieve great things, and grow up to be outstanding leaders in their communities and their nation.

Most of them are still looking for hope. For a greater reason to carry on. That's why programs like Compassion work. They are Christ centered, child focused, church based and committed to integrity.




That means the reason they do what they do, is to honor Jesus, in all they do. Their focus isn't on trying to change only the community in which these people live. They know if there is a change in this next generation, in the children and young people, they will grow up to be even greater catalysts in their communities. They with start changing their communities as they are empowered by Christ and greater education. And as they work along side the local church they can help better meet the needs of the community. The church knows the needs, and the individuals within their community. The church is key. Integrity is the high standard Compassion upholds. They work closely with their country partners in training and bookkeeping to accurately keep track of funds coming in and going out. They have also received the highest rating by Charity Navigator multiple years in a row.

They are children...many children, waiting for hope. To know that not only are they loved by God, but by you! Would you consider ending that wait?

Photos, Faces, and Flashbacks

As I was cleaning I found a photo that I had tucked away in a drawer among some of my "stuff" that holds some importance. I slide the photo into my Bible, and as I opened my Bible, out came the photo.

I just happen to be sitting at the computer desk at that moment, and propped up the photo. There it sat, as I thought about those people.

My nephew Jonathan came in the next day and asked "Why is that little girl blowing on the bubbles when there really isn't any bubbles?" As if it was some cruel joke this photo had captured. My sister explained there really were bubbles, you just weren't able to see them in the photo. He then proceeded to ask me about the little girl.

I honestly can't tell you here name, or even her age. I could probably guess at the age, but I'm not really sure. I really don't even know the name of her town, or maybe it would rather be classified as a village.

You see I met this girl in 2003, on a dirt soccer field, outside a small town, outside the city of Escourt, South Africa. We had the opportunity to simply play with the children, make friends, start to build relationships. The church in Escourt we were partnering with already had some connections with this area. Every week they did a food distribution on Wednesday. Later that evening we were able to return, and help pass out the several bags of oranges the church had to distribute for that week.

I think handing out the oranges was one of my most memorable times there. If not memorable, thought provoking. But I will save my orange story for another day.

My nephew Jonathan then proceed to ask me more about this little girl. She was probably only a little older than he is now. I would guess she's probably fifteen years old now. One question that really shook me, was when he asked "Is she dead?" I'm not sure what sparked that question, but knowing the lies told about AIDS to those young people, I did have to pause and wonder. Could she be...?

I do pray for her, honestly not as often as I would like to. I don't always remember, but she clung onto me that day, and we played. We enjoyed bubbles, jump rope, chasing balloons and playing with goofy glasses and stickers. The memories feel tangible, as if sometimes I could still be there, playing with that little girl, loving on her, as she follows me holding my hand.

(please excuse the flash, this photo is in a frame)

I do often stop to think about what has happened in the life of the girl with the little red boots. I remember her vividly by her little red rain boots and her cute little braids pulled to the back of her head. Her cute smile, and glowing eyes. The little girl born into poverty, with great potential. And as the local church continues to minister in that area, I pray she reaches her God given potential. I pray she always knows she's loved, not only by an amazingly great God, but by a very impressionable teenager who met her one winter, and walked away changed. Not changed by the circumstances of poverty surrounding her, but by her joy and love she so openly gave.

You too can have a life changing experience, as you share joy with a child living in poverty. Child sponsorship, and letter writing can give you the opportunity to experience poverty in a new light. Will you consider not only changing the life of a child living in poverty, but allow them to change your life as well?

Flashbacks-South Africa

At the age of 17 I was able to embark on my first mission trip. This was a trip I had been longing to take for almost 2 years prior. I had been to an Acquire the Fire with a friend, and her about Global Expeditions, and my heart ached to go, but with less than 4 months till the trip time, I knew my non Christian parents would never let me go. So I sat, pondered, prayed and prayed until the release of the trips the next year. At which point I was 16, and still worried my parents would never go for such a thing. But to my surprise said yes.

That summer, the summer of 2003 I was suppose to go to China, but the trip was cancelled because of the bird flu outbreak that year. So I ended up signing up for South Africa. I think my parents never thought I'd raise the $3,000 plus needed for the trip, and that was part of their reasoning for say yes, but I knew God would provided, and He did!

Shortly after my 17th birthday I got on my first plane ride with another friend, going on a different trip, and off I went. I had no idea what to expect. I was raised in an extremely small town, and would consider myself semi sheltered. What I saw, changed my life!

While I didn't have a digital camera, and the pictures I have are shared from a friend and minimal, I would like to share some.

The first week we were there, they were on winter break. (Yes winter, as their seasons are opposite.) And since most of our ministry was planned in the schools, it would seem we wouldn't have much to do. That week we sent many hours inside the rooms of the school we would later revisit, cleaning! While there were semi luxurious schools, as they did have cement floor, they were very deteriorated in most aspects.

We had the joy of sweeping, the extreme thickness of dust from the classroom floors. We swept the dust outside with African brooms, that looked something like this:

I pitty the poor women who have top use these day in and day out, as they are extremely hard on your back as they are so short and you have to bend over to use them. One classroom I remember distinctly at this school the dust we swept became so thick in the air you couldn't even seen the blackboard in the front of the room. The cement floor had crumbled so bad, I think we were working almost at a lost cause.

 

That week I think we really learned the meaning of a service project! We spent many hours cleaning up their schools, both the inside, and picking up trash around the grounds. The school above I remember finding many rand one cent pennies in the school yard! Worth next to nothing as the dollar ratio was $1 US to $7 SA rand.

Our cleaning really paid off, especially in this school pictured above. We thought we might have been getting into trouble and asked to leave. We came into the schools under the pretense of teaching lessons, Math, English, Science, ect, and while we did teach we always brought the lesson around at the end to Jesus. And it seemed to almost upset the principle at this school, and we were all called into a classroom, for some sort of a meeting. Turns out they were extremely impressed with all the work we did previously for them at their school, and the kids preformed a dance for us in gratitude!!

 

This was the only classroom with a wood floor, that had either storage or another classroom below. Because of the wood floor, there was an amazing sound when they preformed a song and stomp dance. I wished we would have had video of it, but here are the kids that preformed! They were amazing!


I have many more stories to share, and hope to be sharing Flashback Stories weekly, so stay tuned for more!