A Milestone Reached

Last week when we were in Ciudad, we were made aware that the storeowners thought that we were prostitutes, not by what we were wearing, but because all the girls that we were always talking to, even though they had their babies, were prostitutes. That was good to know although it was not nice to know. The one guy we saw, Diego, didn't want us to hang around too long cos he wanted to go rob someone. It was kind of a damper night.


Tonight, I asked the Lord if He would give me a sign to let me know that what we were doing is worth it or just something in vain. I was by myself and felt discouraged because I saw nothing, no change, and I hate going down there by myself. So I asked the Lord if He would show me something tonight. I was also tired of constantly searching for the guys all the time. I checked all the usual haunts and as I walked past the bus stop, one of them called out to me. Alex is his name. I recognized him by the cuts on the left side of his face.  The came a couple, Yesica and Henry and their baby Emmanuel. We talked about the name Emmanuel and Josue which is Joshua in English which is the name of their oldest son. And Yesica asked me about my Yeshua tattoo. While we talked, Angie came along and when I asked her what she does out there, she kinda gave me a sheepish smile and tried to lie. Right aways I felt that the Lord was giving me a word for her. I told her later that she is worth a lot and she doesn't have to sell her body to live and that she doesn't have to do what her boyfriend wants all the time. I gave her some more words that the Lord placed on my heart and she teared up. 


Luis Enrique showed up tonight and it was good to see him after such a long time. He was excited tonight as he told me he's going to be a dad and that his girlfriend is 3 months pregnant. I talked to him some and asked him what he was going to tell his child when he was old enough about what he does for a living. Luis Enrique said he needed to change. He told me he wasn't hanging around the others anymore but that he still needs to rob because he can't get a job. I told him we will find a job for him so he can stop doing what he's doing. While we were talking, a fight broke out amongst three guys. I started backing away from the group as I didn't want to get caught up in the middle of a fight.


From the periphery, I observed a lot. Alex immediately came to my side and Luis Enrique started to put himself between me and the guys who were fighting and tried to push them away saying "La hermanita esta aqui, que les pasa?" (The little sister is here, what do you think you're doing?) and made sure I was covered at all times. It was good to see what they think of me. After that was over, Luis Enrique asked about going to church and I said I would come by and get him on my way to church on Thursday evening. He mentioned it several times before he left. I invited Angie too and she lighted up and said she would be there at the bus stop on Thursday as well. 


Alex was more receptive tonight as I spoke into his life and he allowed me to pray for him. Then on my way home, as I was about to get on the bus, another guy yelled from the pavement, "Gracias hermana, por tu pan!" (Thank you sister for the bread!) . I think I got the sign I was looking for from the Lord. It was clear tonight that it is worth it all and I am never more alive than after being out on the streets with them, sharing the Word and just loving them. I love my job!


Please pray that Luis Enrique and his girlfriend and Angie will show up on Thursday and pray pray pray that Luis Enrique really wants to change and that we will find a job for him. 

Straight Up and Straight Through the Heart

I didn't want to go to Ciudad tonight. My body is fighting a cold and the last thing I wanted to do was go there especially when I would be alone as Milagros and Carolina couldn't make it. But I made the sandwiches, pulled on a sweatshirt and left the house. The weather is way colder now and the sweatshirt over my short sleeved T shirt did not cut it, I was cold. I wondered if I would see any of them tonight. Last Saturday I could not go and Carolina told me that they couldn't find any of the guys even after praying and walking all over the place. Honestly, tonight, I was so cold and my head was so heavy that all I cared about was my bed. I decided that if I didn't meet any of them, I'd just give the sandwiches away and get on the next bus home. 


The area that we used to go to all the time before was flooded and several streets below that area was flooded as well. It was awful; filthy water running through the streets like a river. I plucked my way through the water, hoping that the motor taxis would be considerate enough to not drive through the water quickly to splash the water up at pedestrians. I couldn't deal with getting wet with filthy water on top of feeling yucky. No one was at the corner where we used to go to. The flood did not make for a great hang out place. I went to the other street that was quieter, no one there either. I was ready to go home by this point and just wanted to get rid of the sandwiches when I decided to walk along the bus stop area in front of the market. I ran into Anderson who had big attitude today and it was a good thing he didn't hang around too long. Met Alex who had knife cuts all on one side of his face and  said he had gotten into a fight the night before. While talking to him, two other guys walked by and started mocking us, telling me I should bring Alex to a rehab centre and other unmentionable stuff. With the way I was feeling, I wanted to deck them. Instead, I turned the tables on them and said that they look like they need to go to rehab themselves so why would they point the finger at someone else. Anyways, what was really funny was that the Holy Spirit had me focus on one of the two guys and I ended up talking to him most of the night and giving him straight truth, no holds barred a la Adeline. And he listened. I didn't mince any words, just direct, straight through the heart truth and it hit him. He had me pray for him at the end and asked me to keep praying for him. His name is Carlos, yes another Carlos. 


William came by later and gave me candy for me and Carolina and then Carlos gave me a charm bracelet, one of the ones he sells on the combis. That was kinda neat cos most of them take but don't give so it was something different. I guess when I left, I felt that it was worth it to have gone out there tonight, and because I was feeling yucky, I didn't care if they were going to hear or not, I just went straight for the heart with the truth of the gospel the way I operate best and something shifted for me. I didn't care if they felt that they could trust me or not. I was there to help them, to help them see that through Jesus, there is an alternative and another opportunity to have a real life and it doesn't matter if they lie to me, manipulate me, whatever. If they never trust me to speak truthfully to me, it doesn't matter. But what matters is that I give them the truth of the gospel, straight up and straight to the heart and tonight I realized that I will do that, keep doing that, not mince words and not worry about them trusting me or not. It's not about me, it's about Him and He is the only One who can set them free. 


Oh and by the way, I didn't see a single robbery tonight. Pretty good huh? 

This is war.

I went to Ciudad today to meet up with Milagros the girl who sells cell phone calls as we had agreed to meet today to hang out. She never showed and Carla who was there said she hadn't seen her all morning. Then Carla told me about the burial today. I was a little confused thinking it was for Jose Carlos who was killed last Thursday but he had already been buried. Then she told me it was for Felipe who was killed by a combi last night as he was running. I know he was running away after robbing someone and was probably being chased and that was why he never saw the combi that hit him. Two deaths in one week. 


What bugs me is that they still think they're invincible and can get away with it all. I don't want to lose any more guys or girls. This is war. The enemy cannot do this anymore , not to them, not anymore. If you're reading this please pray for them, all of them who are lost and are the walking dead out there; please pray for their salvations, for them to be turned back to God and to choose life, for their hearts of stones to be changed into hearts of flesh, for the dry bones to live and rise up! Satan is trying to kill an entire generation and the generation that comes after; please don't let him. Please pray along with us for them.


With God, nothing is impossible, will you agree with me on this and pray for the youth in Ciudad?

Just Another Regular Night....

As I arrived at Ciudad in the bus tonight, a now very common scene unfolded before me; another guy being chased by thieves on the sidewalk except that this guy got away and the thieves, in frustration jumped onto a big city bus through the open back door, ran through it targeting cell phones easy for the picking. I really can't believe the audacity of these guys because as they were about to leave without getting anything, one of them saw a guy sending a text message on his cell phone in the seat just ahead of the back door and he leaned so far in, I couldn't believe the victim didn't feel his breath on his ear, and in one swift movement, the thief grabbed the cell phone out of the victim's hands and voila! just another regular robbery on the streets of Ciudad. This is truly becoming the norm of my opening paragraph every week. I guess I should write when there is no robbery instead. 


Tonight, we were told the guys no longer hang out at the same corner so we prayed to find them and went searching. We found them 2 blocks away, most of them in full work mode. Luis Enrique was there and he pretended that we did not exist. I don't get offended anymore because this is the way they are. However, later I realized why he ignored us. He was in work mode and every time he is with us, the Holy Spirit gobsmacks his conscience and he can't rob anyone after that and him being "at work" looking for pickings at that moment meant that he could not associate with us because he wouldn't be able to do what he thought he needed to do. God is working. 


We met new guys. Ronnie, Anibal, Jonathan, William. And they treated us with the same respect as the others normally do. God answered a prayer tonight in having us meet this group of newbies. The cops moved us away from the main drag and where we ended up being at was a great spot for being able to converse with them without distractions. Words of life got sown a lot tonight. I'm thankful for that. We found out that on last Thursday, one of them got killed with a knife to his chest by some other guys over a girl. He was around 18 and had a child by the said girl. His name was Jose Carlos Mata Gutierrez. I don't know if I know him but I name him here because he is not a nobody, not an invisible person. He mattered to many people who knew him even though he was involved in vices that hurt him and others. He was a living breathing person whose life was taken prematurely and violently. 


God actually protected Milagros and I lastThursday afternoon from being witnesses to this murder. We actually had made arrangements to meet up with our Carlos for lunch and we were there at 1pm and he did not show up. We looked for him for about a half hour and when we couldn't find him we decided to leave Ciudad to hang out together and have lunch elsewhere. If we had met Carlos, we would have still been there at Ciudad when the murder happened at 3:15pm close to where we had normally hung out with the guys. I know the time of it as one of the guys has the police report/certificate of the homicide and he showed me it. I have no idea how it got in his possession and I didn't ask. At first I was worried that the youth who passed away was our Carlos as we didn't see him tonight either. But our Carlos does not have a child and one of his names is Lucero and the other is Flores so I can seriously breathe a sigh of relief knowing it was not him.


Milagros the girl who works selling cell phone calls was friendlier tonight and we set up a time to meet next week to have lunch and hang out. She doesn't belong on the streets nor is she involved in any of the vices. She is a single mom who lives there and works there and she's actually a sweet person. On the way home, in the combi/micro (van used as a bus), the fare collector fell out of the combi and almost got run over by the same combi. As we pulled into a bus stop, he opened the sliding door, lost control of the door and fell out but he managed to keep his balance and grabbed onto something and I'm assuming it's the outside door handle  which allowed him to run alongside the combi until it stopped instead of being dragged under it. That was freaky. Nothing is normal on Saturday nights apparently.


Please pray for more labourers as there is only the three of us and we're all women. We need men in the field too, especially Godly men who can counsel and are able to love them with the Word of God.