His Strength is Made Perfect in My Weakness

It has been a while since I last posted an entry. Street ministry has never stopped, we go out every week each time praying for a God encounter for them, a victory to loose the chains of slavery to addiction. I may have been silent on the blogging front, but the work continues. It seems like we had been on a flatline for a while, trying to reach the street people while they didn't want to be reached. But tonight, it seemed like God reached down and something just happened. 


Luis is 17 going on 18 in November. He doesn't know the exact date of his birthday. He has lived under the Atocongo bridge for 2 years now, since his mom died and his dad remarried. He has no siblings and smokes terokal once a day. I love honesty like that when they tell you that they are addicts and do not try to hide it. He hangs out alone, robs to feed himself. He was sooty black. Everything on him, his skin included, is black. Not because he has African descent, but because he has probably not had an encounter with water and soap in a long while. His shoes are wide open, with black toes sticking out of them. We had never met him before now and he was open to talking with us and talk we did. We wanted to convey that we care for him, that he can call us and not have to be alone. We talked to him and at the end asked if he wanted Jesus in his life to transform it and to be able to live an abundant life. He had tears in his eyes and he wanted to be transformed. We prayed and he prayed and received Jesus in his life tonight. And Jorge told him he will get him clean clothes and shoes for next week. 


We talked to Jhonny too. And it turns out that he has received Jesus into his life before and had gone to church. That was before his addiction to marijuana and probably something else. He lives on the streets of Ciudad because he is running from responsibility; to his child and ex girlfriend and to his mom and siblings. He's 19. I started talking about the image of God that most of them have, that God is a God with a lightning rod waiting to strike down and punish, and he nodded at the picture. Then I told him that God is not that kind of a God, that He loves us so much and that He wants to bless us but it is us who decide to turn away from Him. Jhonny told me he knows the Word of God, having gone to church before. I told him it gives life, it never returns void. He said he knows. Then I said that he just needs to call on Jesus and right aways Jhonny quoted Jeremiah 29:12 word for word. We prayed for healing in all aspects, for his hand that was burned in a fight, for his heart that needs to be turned into a heart of flesh, for his mindset to be transformed by the living Word, for him to desire after the Lord instead of substances. He prayed with his own words as well. And promised to call with unshed tears in his eyes. 


We then took a bus to the Hospital area as we normally do, to talk to the street women there. It's still in the area of Ciudad, just 5 blocks away. Jorge had decided he wasn't going to speak to the women tonight. Generally, the guys in our group leave the talking to the street women to me or whichever female is there just so that the street women don't think that they are soliciting them for their services. However, he made a joke in the vicinity of one of them who is named Karina. She then thought he was there for her services but he quickly told her he was there to share about God. She opened up and told him that today, she had wanted to kill herself. And in the taxi that she was in, the taxi driver turned out to be a Christian who started sharing the Gospel with her without knowing what her intentions were. The Word of God calmed her down so that she didn't throw herself in front of a car after being dropped of.  She had wanted to throw herself off a building too. And now Jorge was there to talk about God. She wanted to listen because it had calmed her down in the taxi. He shared the Word and she received the Lord in her heart. And now she wants to go to church with us. She has my number and I have hers. I will be calling her for sure. 


Coincidences? Not a chance. Not a one. God's presence tonight was so evident and so palpable that those hearts melted before Him. He had gone before us and He has given us His favour and grace. The feeling in my heart is indescribable. All four of us were so thankful to have experienced such an amazingly tremendous night as His instruments out on the streets. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. 

6 Years in Peru

Where have I been? To tell the honest truth, it seems like everywhere. I don't think I can ever and will ever know how to relax and just sit. Yes, I am learning how to be still and know that God is God, that I am well aware that I need to do. However, if my life were just to be a regular life, with everything just going on as planned, I think I would waste away from boredom. Thank God I have God and because of that, my life can never be boring. 


Well, with our wedding coming up, Luis and I have had to run around getting prices for stuff. 99 days isn't that far away. We have been seeing how God's hand has been in all this, blessing us with blessings untold and unforeseen, through people who must love us very much. Something deep in me tells me that we will be able to pull off this wedding and also go on a honeymoon on the very tight shoe string budget that we have, just because our God is our Dad and He wants the best for us. And that through all of this, all the glory will go to Him. We are already seeing this. The costs of our wedding rings are already covered by friends, another friend is blessing us by paying for the wedding cake, people have been helping us get points through their shopping. God is good.


On the ministry front, we are working both ministries now, Luis' La Taba V and the one God has called me to do, Siembra S.O.W. La Taba V is a ministry that reaches out to the community through drama and comedy. And right now, Luis is working to raise it up by giving worskshops and cultivating talent within churches. Siembra is praying for God's timing to work alongside with the community of Ciudad de Dios to start up a drop in centre within Ciudad itself. I am not rushing into starting the project asap because I want to be sure I can be there most times and also for God to provide people who can work turns with me.  With our wedding in the works and me having to travel before, it just seems unwise to jump into having a drop in centre where I will be absent for most of the time. The work on the streets continue as we keep going down to offer food and the Word. 


This week, we had a group of guys hanging out with us and we had the chance to counsel a couple of them with the Word. they have questions, they need a place to go to and I know  that a drop in centre would give them a place to go where they can feel that someone will listen to them, a place where someone cares, a place where they can go without having their friends listen in on what they want to talk about. God's timing and hand in this is crucial in procuring a place that will not break us in rent. We are hoping that the municipality can help us in this area. 


Today marks my 6th anniversary here in Peru. Hard to believe I'm still here and probably going to be here for some time yet. I almost went home to Canada for good several times in my first 3 years. But I see now that God allowed me to go through everything I went through so I will learn how to get over myself. With that said, I can say that I still need to go through refining and molding but I hope that now, I can react in a way that Jesus will be seen in the fires of my refining. I was asked if I would have said yes to God if I knew all that I had to go through these last few years. Though I may not have started up movements that rocked the nation, though I have blundered through many situations, though I haven't done more, there have been lives that were touched. Lives that came to know the Lord, lives that returned to His feet, lives that needed to hear and know that He loves them, lives that needed to know how to love the Word, lives that got healed. So, I guess with all that said, I think I would still say yes to the Lord if I had known all that I would have had to go through. Even if God had sent me here for just one soul, it is worth it. Because that is His heartbeat. Every one of us. 

Seasons and Faith

I had written up my entire blog and then it got erased. Gotta love technology. I guess it has been incredible to me to see that every time I sit down to write my blog, something happens and I have to leave it and when I get back to it, it's weeks later.


Heavy on my heart is to have a drop in centre in Ciudad, to be more of a permanent presence there. Yet, I am only at the praying stage now, not willing to go ahead with it, scared that I will fail, scared that I stepped out on my own flesh. I guess the doors closing on the house in Jose Galvez has made me hesitant. In my previous blog I had mentioned that doors had closed to using the house there as a rehab centre. Yet, I know my time there was not in vain as God used me to minister to various people in the neighbourhood. However, that does not lessen my fear of starting something up in Ciudad now. I guess if it had to do with me alone, it would be one thing. But now that it has to do with a ministry which people are supporting and blessing, I am scared to take steps. Yet, it remains heavy in my heart. It sucks in a sense because what stops me other than my fear that I am doing this of my own flesh is that we lack resources for the rental of a place and also labourers for the harvest. Right now, it's just me and Luis, my fiance, and when we have the drop in centre, it will only be me covering it all the time. That is not wise as many things can happen especially since I am dealing directly with drugged up youth. I am in no position to pay anyone to work with me but unless I do that, I don't think I will have anyone. However, I don't think paid workers are needed but people who have a heart, a love and a calling to do this work. 


In the last weeks, we saw God's hand in the streets. We got Henry his ID card which was the only thing stopping him from working a real job and he didn't have money to get one, and we found out that he is now working at a warehouse for one of Peru's largest departmental stores. We also got invited to Claudia's (a street worker) house to share the gospel with her husband but we ended up sharing with her cousin Yolanda who has had a constant migraine headache for a very long time and who had gone to witchdoctors to get cured and been made to drink dog's blood. We shared the truth of the gospel with her and she joyfully accepted the Lord and last night we spoke to Claudia and she said that Yolanda's headache is slowly going away. Our God is a healer God! Claudia knows the Word, was preaching it to her cousin when we were there but is still pulled to work the streets. Having a drop in centre would perhaps get her to visit us and talk and perhaps through that she would see Jesus in a tangible way and not as mere words on the street. All I know is I have to trust the Lord because His ways are not mine and they are higher. And nothing is impossible with Him.


We will keep doing what we do, it is not in vain. I have asked the Lord several times, is this in vain? People have told me that it is in vain. Some days, it gets really discouraging. Yet, every time I ask my Lord that question, He shows me that it truly is not in vain and to keep going. Perhaps we are not reaching hordes and multitudes of people but the one life we might touch with the love and truth of the Gospel of Salvation might be the one to totally change and transform all of Ciudad and beyond for the Lord. I will keep believing and doing because my God is a big God.

New Directions

It has been almost a month since my last blog. I apologize for my tardiness and although there is no excuse, I do have to say that my personal life got super crazy and busy in the last 2 months and also due to some other changes that happened in Ciudad, there was nothing to write about. Shocking, huh? I got engaged about 2 months ago and all of a sudden, my life got all hyped up with a lot of drama and activity like meeting new friends and family, particularly people from my fiance, Luis' life. Then came a whole bunch of wedding planning which we're still doing, just that it's a whole lot more manageable right now and not so overwhelming like at the beginning when people would continually ask me what I had planned and what decorations I was getting, etc, etc. when I had absolutely no clue how to even begin. In Ciudad, there was a heavy police presence for the last few weeks and we could find none of the street youth. Not a one. Poor Luis had to eat a lot of sandwiches those few weeks. We also learned that aside from that, they did not come anywhere near me because they thought that Luis is an undercover cop. Oops. Once we learned that, we set things right and they are appearing again.


Last week, we talked to this couple, Jessica (18 years) and Henry (21 years) and found out that the reason he wasn't working a real job was because he had lost his DNI (ID) and he didn't have the money to get another one. They have a baby, Emmanuel and a 3 year old son, Joshua who lives with her mom. They rent a room for 20 soles a night which is a lot.  In talking with them, Henry demonstrated that he wanted to work. He does love the baby and Jessica. It shows. So we told them we would pay for the paperwork of getting the duplicate DNI. They followed through and showed up each time we said to meet so we could go and do the paperwork. Well, Henry should be able to pick up his DNI this Wednesday and his younger brother said he will try to get him work in the warehouse of Saga Falabella, a huge departmental store here. It made me glad to see that we could help in a tangible and practical way to help this couple learn to fish for themselves. We sowed the Word too and we hope that in time, they will see us as people who really want to help them and will also come to us because they see Jesus' love operating through us. 


Luis, another youth (aka Naño) and I talked extensively last week when I brought them sandwiches. At the end of our conversation, he invited Christ into his life. He is 22 years old. Been smoking pasta for the last 8 years, too embarassed to tell me that he works as a beggar musician in the buses. I went to look for him tonight but he wasn't there. I haven't seen Luis Enrique or Carlos for a very long time and I'm scared for them.


Tonight, I met Daniel who smokes marijuana. He's 20. Been smoking it for the last 7 years. I don't understand when people say that weed is a herb. If it's just a herb, you could stop whenever you want to. If it's a drug that causes addiction, you will be controlled by it. Why is it that they don't see that? I shared Jesus with him and tried to make him see that he needs a different lifestyle. He gave me his phone number. I desperately want to find him a job to at least give him a push, some sort of motivation to  do something in the day. 


Later on, I met Felix (17 years old), his girlfriend, Lucero (18 years old), their daughter Genesis (7 months) and Felix's cousin, John Howard if that's his real moniker (16 years old). They rent a hotel room for 30 soles a day. I don't know how they make 30 soles a day. They work in the buses, selling candy and doing comedy. I want to help them work real jobs. 


I know that Siembra, our NGO, needs to have a drop in centre in Ciudad and that is what we're praying into now. A place where they can come during the day to rest, to talk, to eat, to seek help. I also know that somehow we need to find those who are capable of working, real jobs so they can start moving ahead. Right now, we need prayer for God to lead us regarding the drop in centre (the rehab centre will have to be in the future because God has to provide us with land outside of Lima to do that) and to provide jobs for some of them and also funding. Please also pray for Luis (Naño), Luis Enrique, Carlos, Anderson, Henry, Jessica, Daniel, Alex, Felix, Lucero, Jhon Howard, Oscar, Carla to name a few. We also need more workers who have a heart to work with street youth.

Valley of Dry Bones

It has been a long time since I made an entry. The last few times we were in Ciudad  nothing really happened. It has been hard looking for the guys. We haven't been able to talk to them or find half of them. Sometimes, it seems as though we take one step forward and two steps back.    We started off with Carolina, Vladimir and Milagros as a team, then lost them one at a time to job situations. We still have Milagros and I am truly grateful for that. On the bright side, Jose and his sister have joined us as has Luchin, my fiance. But it seems that it is more elusive now to find the guys on the streets. In the meantime, the plans for the refuge or the home to get them off the streets have been placed on hold. Every door to get it going has closed, yet, God keeps placing ideas in my head on how to work the home and I finally figured out that God's vision is much bigger than mine and that I was thinking to start small but God wants to go big. And so we will have to wait until God provides everything needed for His bigger vision regarding the home. In the meantime, we focus on the street and how we can be more effective out there. 


At this point, I have to admit that I do feel like a failure, that I have failed. With the plans for the home part postponed, and having difficulty meeting up with the street youth I do feel in  a sense that I have failed. Yet, I know I cannot leave my post. I know that Ciudad is where God has called me to be and where He has placed me. But I see no fruit. I see nothing. It seems like a whole valley of dry bones out there and I'm calling them to come to life, but nothing is happening. I see nothing. Yet, the Lord tells me to keep going, to be faithful to what He has called me to do. He tells me that He will be faithful to His ministry and that I need to keep being faithful even though I see nothing. It is not easy. I feel like I have failed people, their expectations. Yet the Lord says to keep going. 


So I will keep going. I will take one step at a time. I will search for the guys. I will keep walking out there even though it seems like nothing. Even though I see nothing. I will keep going, I will keep searching, I will keep praying and I will keep sowing. I will be faithful to do my part and prepare the land for the rain. And God will be faithful on His end to bring the rain when He is ready. I can't be a failure. Because I am more than a conqueror. I can't be a failure because of He who lives in me. I can't be a failure because when I am weak, I am strong. I can't be a failure even though I feel like one because He is the One who has called me to this, and He is the One who will grow His ministry. 


All I can do and will do is to be faithful. Because He is faithful.

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?