I am in Argentina now. I absolutely love it here. I definitely recommend coming to this place. The people and the architecture are so beautiful. I had a great time in Brasil and am sorry I was unable to post any updates while there. I hope to tell some stories of my time there down the road but right now I want to share a few stories of my time here in Argentina as they have been such incredible moments. (We flew into Buenos Aires on January 19.)
There is this plaza (square) called Misery Plaza in english. We have gone there a number of times to worship, pray, talk and get to know some of the people there. This square is known for its name as mostly prostitutes, drug dealers, thieves, and many poor and homeless people hang out in this square. At night it is incredibly dangerous to be there as there are gangs and much fighting.
On this past Monday, we prayed about and decided to fast our lunch so that we could take our food into the plaza to hand out to various people. I split up with Dean, Jess and Daniel (YWAM staff at Argentina base who has guided us around). We walked to the near train station as often Daniel said there are homeless families living in there, however as it was early afternoon and extremely hot out they were not to be found. We walked around a touch more and saw a man and women who we gave our first two sandwiches too. Unfortunately, it was obvious they had no interest in talking or wanting us to sit down with them, so we said a short prayer in our minds and carried on.
Shortly after we came upon a women sitting alone with three large garbage bags. We stopped to ask if she would like some food and at first she said no, but then Daniel explained they were sandwiches and what was on them and she said okay. We asked her a few questions, finding out she is from Bolivia but has lived in Argentina for 30 years and that she is a Seventh Day Adventist. Then the doors were open and she began sharing with us a lot. She spoke so much and so fast that Daniel was unable to translate for us right away but you could just tell from her aura that she was not telling us a poor womens sob story but rather was sharing a part of her life with us and allowing us to see into her heart and to see another world.
We found out her name is Sophia and she has seven children but I don't think she had them all any more as Daniel mentioned her trying to keep them but not having enough money. She spoke of how they try to sell what was in their garbage bags in the market place but the mafia would make them pay a fee and the security that was suppose to keep them safe stole from them. So at the end of the day they had only made pennies and still had to feed all her children. She often went without, the shoes on her feet, she told us, she had found and were not her size but the ground is too hot to walk on barefoot. Her feet had become disfigured from being squished into them. Another team showed up and Alef had a bag full of soaps that we were able to give to her. I really felt that we should give her a pair of shoes and then Dean offered her flip flops but the women would not take them as she would feel awful and guilty to accept them as she would have nothing to wear to get home. Daniel told us there were many side street people selling flip flops, so Dean stayed with Sophia and the three of us went off on search of size 35 shoes as she allowed us to do this for her. After a short and quick search we found some flip flops that looked not too bad and bought them and headed back. When we arrived back her husband and a friend had shown up (earlier when she spoke of waiting for her husband we gave her a second sandwich and ten she said they were 3 and thankfully God has prepared us to have exactly 3 left for that moment). She happily and gratefully accepted the shoes and put them on. Thats when we saw her feet were disfigured. Sadly, as we were already late in getting back we couldn't stay long and shortly said cho and Que Dios to Bendiga (God Bless You). As we were walking away Daniel shared one last thing that she had spoken. He shared that Bolivians are treated like dirt, like a rat. In South America, Bolivians are looked down upon the most, hated even. She was so amazed to have foreigners speak with her as normally they are shooing her away and the Argentinians treat her awful. The final thing which had such an impact on me and I will never forget was that she shared that she had had a vision/dream just that night about Davids ladder and that God spoke to her that he would send her angels in that day to provide for some of her needs. She never imagined them to be foreigners. Wow, I was so incredibly humbled in that moment and wanted to cry. The emotions that went through me in that moment. I felt so incredibly blessed and so thankful to God for using me in this way. ME and my group. WOW! I could barely speak I was so blown away from hearing this. God is sooo good. You just never know how he is going to use you and then show you how he used you.
Well unfortunately I only have time to share this one story but I hope it blesses you. I have many more from our short time in Argentina that I look forward to sharing as well. We have been blessed to go to a number of orphanages, prisons (big story here), hospitals and various other places. May God bless you all and hopefully its not so long again till I am able to write next.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Porto Velho, Brasil
Blog was originally written New Years Eve but only able to post today, Jan 2.
Well we have been in Porto Velho at the YWAM base here since Monday, December 28. Right away when we arrived at the airport we were greeted by missionaries here and their warm welcome made me super excited about this place. They were so friendly and organized and they spoke English well. It was about a 15-20 min slow ride to the base which is not in town again but about 20km out. It was also raining hard again, which seems to be the case always on our traveling days which is fine with me and also starts the place off cooler, which is nice. The colour contrast of the red mud puddles from the very red soil to the vibrant greens along the side of the road were beautiful. Driving into the base and around t our house was overwhelming in a positive way. This base is amazing and so large, approximately 40 houses and then schools, medical lab, a library, volleyball court, soccer field and even a pool.
Our house is amazing as well, we are definitely spoiled here. It is so clean. We are all in one large house, split into 5 rooms, along with the boys in their own room of course, and included is a small kitchen and sitting area. Jody and Mike Bunn are the current head leaders as the director of the base is away on vacation. They have 5 children and all are bilingual. They are a lovely family.
The base is shared with Wycliffe Bible Translator Missionaries, actually they were the first inhibitors of this area. They were here for 40 years when they sold it to YWAM 20 years ago. At that time it was much more remote and jungle-like, since then they have built many of their houses and various other buildings themselves, along with financial support. The YWAM base here is very much involved with the various Indigenous tribes here, one of the largest issues they have dealt with outside of bringing Gods good news, is the issue of infanticide. If a child is born to a single mother, are twins or handicapped in any way they are often buried alive and killed. They have worked at helping the tribes to recognize themselves that though the practice is part of their culture, that it is a part that they must and need to remove.
They also hold schools here for the Indians. Before 2007, they would go into the river communities at 3-4 months out of the year, but now they hold classes from February to September, which has made it much easier for the YWAM base here as well as for the Indians that come and so now they only bring groups into the river communities for a couple weeks at a time. Mike also flys a sea plane here, which they have been blessed with and is used for easier access but also for carrying of supplies to various areas as well as helping with growing crops to feed those that come to the schools. This base does many things and I have only just begun to learn a little about what they do.
We have not been actively serving this week as originally we were to be traveling by the ferry for five days but they had felt that at this time it was much too dangerous for us so they found us a cheap flight instead that brought us here a week earlier, thus the base is technically closed due to the holidays. This has been slightly frustrated as we do feel like we have been sitting around more than we ever anticipated but God has still been doing things within our group during this time. As well we also had one more week of lecture phase that was on the topic of justice and so the last two days we have been in class, which has been nice. Next Tuesday we will start serving within their Mission Adventures program, which I am very much looking forward too. In class, we have watched a few movie clips on the injustice in Brasil, the first some of you may know, is entitled City of God (in English), which showed the life of the ghetto and the life of a hood (or gangster) and the death that comes from this way of life. The other clip was entitled, Angels in the Sun which focused on a completely different issue, sex slavery and prostitution in the Amazon.
A little about Porto Velho
Porto Velho is one of the most violent cities in Brasil. It use to not be so organized in crime but it is now a lot like Rio de Janero (one of the largest cities in Brasil). Health care is also a large problem here, this is because the city is growing quite quickly because of new hydro/electricity companies coming here, which brings many people for the jobs but the result is not enough housing, school and medical buildings. Porto Velho was always considered a third world state but is moving into second world as many people are beginning to make money with the growth but the old social issues are still there and new ones have arisen. Security problems are also a huge issues, corruption within the law.
I spoke with one of the YWAM staff here, Genim, about whether or not human trafficking is an issue here, or prostitution in general. He told me there are many brothels in town, and there is a Pastor there with a Church directly across the street from one, and he has over the years been gaining trust with the women there (YWAM Contagem, Tio Pedro/Uncle Peter, Evangelism Guaiurrus-Belo Horizonte-Minas Gerais). Apparently he would love for a team to come and just spend time with the women and share our love and God’s love for them. I don’t know if this will work out but I plan to encourage arranging this as I believe this would be an extremely important time. Genim also spoke of a friend of his, Andreia of Avalanche Missoes Urbanas that works within the prostitution realm as a licensed Sexuality counselor. She also leads seminars on sexuality counseling for those who would like to be taught more proper counseling methods within this issue. Later on in the evening, I spoke more on this topic with Jody. She told me that Porto Velho is actually a main route for Human Trafficking, many girls are brought straight through here. Portuguese girls from Brasil are transported into Bolivia and Spanish girls from Bolivia are transported to Brasil. This is so the girls are not even able to speak the language and are taken away from anything they know or know as safe. They only learned of this in the last while but now they are starting up programs to make others aware and to share how they can help and what they can do.
Jorge Dias
This morning, Thursday, we had the pleasure to hear of the life of Jorge, who is a boy spoken of in the book, “A Cry from the Streets”, a book we had to read for DTS. He was a street child, a hard street child and he explained a little to us the life of such a child.
He started first with a story of a child that was interviewed and asked what he would like to be when he grew up. At first the boy answered a doctor, but then he changed his mind and said a thief. To a childs comprehension it is easier to be a thief than a doctor because to become a doctor you would have so many years of studying ahead of you and you would have to pay for those studies. It is easier to understand the way of the gun then to sit in a class and listen to words they have never heard of before.
Jorge was once a six year old street child. Sometimes people tried to take him off the street but until he himself could understand that he could actually be someone without the street, he was unable to leave it and nearly died. Jorge spoke that God does give street children many opportunities to get off the street but in their mentality the can’t see life outside of it and all that they know of this type of survival. Often when they finally do find the love and compassion, like Jorge did with the Dutch couple of the book, the security is so different and so far removed that it is more uncomfortable than comfortable and safe. The security becomes stifling and so for Jorge he rebelled against it numerous times before he was able to fully turn his life around, within the help and love of those he found.
In the streets, children are told if you don’t have a gun or machine in your hands you are powerless. Power comes in these weapons, but if we tell these children that they can become someone important, you will see change with that encouragement and they often do become someone important. Some children even ask for help but some cannot find it and that is when the devil starts spinning his lies, filling their minds with thoughts that sure they can ask for help but they’ll never find it, no one will help them and hopelessness sets in. However, if these children can find the help and are told they are valuable it is all the difference. We need to be there, we need to be that help in their lives. This doesn’t always mean you personally there in body but it could mean in supporting others and other organizations that are there and encouraging them in their mission.
Galations 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
These were words that were spoken upon Jorge’s heart. He had had a vision as well that God wanted him to go into the Amazon and work with the Indigenous tribes, but again he found himself returning to the streets one more time. This time however, he was in an accident where he lost his finger and ended up in the hospital. A missionary he had met in the past, came and visited with him and spoke with him. He asked Jorge if he thought he would lose his finger and Jorge obviously replied no. Then the missionary asked him where he thought he would be if it had been his life instead of just his finger. That made Jorge think that he did want something more and he went back to the refuge house for street children. In the early 90’s he did his DTS and then in ’92 he came here to Porto Velho to work in the Amazon, fulfilling his vision. Jorge was part of starting what this YWAM base here is about.
While working with the tribes he saw a lot of deaths in result of malaria and initially they didn’t know what to do about it. He and another from the base had the opportunity to study about malaria and to learn how to give help, they then started up a malaria lab here. Now he is a teacher and goes to various places in South America, Africa and India teaching a malaria course so that other places can find healing as well. Jorge spoke about Matthew 25 and encourage us to meditate on it. It talks about the need and desire that God wants us to go and help others, faith without work is dead, we need to work together and serve together, however that might look for each of us.
Well I leave with Happy New Year to you all. May I challenge you to find your ways to serve God and others, if you don’t already, in 2010. May God bless you all.
Well we have been in Porto Velho at the YWAM base here since Monday, December 28. Right away when we arrived at the airport we were greeted by missionaries here and their warm welcome made me super excited about this place. They were so friendly and organized and they spoke English well. It was about a 15-20 min slow ride to the base which is not in town again but about 20km out. It was also raining hard again, which seems to be the case always on our traveling days which is fine with me and also starts the place off cooler, which is nice. The colour contrast of the red mud puddles from the very red soil to the vibrant greens along the side of the road were beautiful. Driving into the base and around t our house was overwhelming in a positive way. This base is amazing and so large, approximately 40 houses and then schools, medical lab, a library, volleyball court, soccer field and even a pool.
Our house is amazing as well, we are definitely spoiled here. It is so clean. We are all in one large house, split into 5 rooms, along with the boys in their own room of course, and included is a small kitchen and sitting area. Jody and Mike Bunn are the current head leaders as the director of the base is away on vacation. They have 5 children and all are bilingual. They are a lovely family.
The base is shared with Wycliffe Bible Translator Missionaries, actually they were the first inhibitors of this area. They were here for 40 years when they sold it to YWAM 20 years ago. At that time it was much more remote and jungle-like, since then they have built many of their houses and various other buildings themselves, along with financial support. The YWAM base here is very much involved with the various Indigenous tribes here, one of the largest issues they have dealt with outside of bringing Gods good news, is the issue of infanticide. If a child is born to a single mother, are twins or handicapped in any way they are often buried alive and killed. They have worked at helping the tribes to recognize themselves that though the practice is part of their culture, that it is a part that they must and need to remove.
They also hold schools here for the Indians. Before 2007, they would go into the river communities at 3-4 months out of the year, but now they hold classes from February to September, which has made it much easier for the YWAM base here as well as for the Indians that come and so now they only bring groups into the river communities for a couple weeks at a time. Mike also flys a sea plane here, which they have been blessed with and is used for easier access but also for carrying of supplies to various areas as well as helping with growing crops to feed those that come to the schools. This base does many things and I have only just begun to learn a little about what they do.
We have not been actively serving this week as originally we were to be traveling by the ferry for five days but they had felt that at this time it was much too dangerous for us so they found us a cheap flight instead that brought us here a week earlier, thus the base is technically closed due to the holidays. This has been slightly frustrated as we do feel like we have been sitting around more than we ever anticipated but God has still been doing things within our group during this time. As well we also had one more week of lecture phase that was on the topic of justice and so the last two days we have been in class, which has been nice. Next Tuesday we will start serving within their Mission Adventures program, which I am very much looking forward too. In class, we have watched a few movie clips on the injustice in Brasil, the first some of you may know, is entitled City of God (in English), which showed the life of the ghetto and the life of a hood (or gangster) and the death that comes from this way of life. The other clip was entitled, Angels in the Sun which focused on a completely different issue, sex slavery and prostitution in the Amazon.
A little about Porto Velho
Porto Velho is one of the most violent cities in Brasil. It use to not be so organized in crime but it is now a lot like Rio de Janero (one of the largest cities in Brasil). Health care is also a large problem here, this is because the city is growing quite quickly because of new hydro/electricity companies coming here, which brings many people for the jobs but the result is not enough housing, school and medical buildings. Porto Velho was always considered a third world state but is moving into second world as many people are beginning to make money with the growth but the old social issues are still there and new ones have arisen. Security problems are also a huge issues, corruption within the law.
I spoke with one of the YWAM staff here, Genim, about whether or not human trafficking is an issue here, or prostitution in general. He told me there are many brothels in town, and there is a Pastor there with a Church directly across the street from one, and he has over the years been gaining trust with the women there (YWAM Contagem, Tio Pedro/Uncle Peter, Evangelism Guaiurrus-Belo Horizonte-Minas Gerais). Apparently he would love for a team to come and just spend time with the women and share our love and God’s love for them. I don’t know if this will work out but I plan to encourage arranging this as I believe this would be an extremely important time. Genim also spoke of a friend of his, Andreia of Avalanche Missoes Urbanas that works within the prostitution realm as a licensed Sexuality counselor. She also leads seminars on sexuality counseling for those who would like to be taught more proper counseling methods within this issue. Later on in the evening, I spoke more on this topic with Jody. She told me that Porto Velho is actually a main route for Human Trafficking, many girls are brought straight through here. Portuguese girls from Brasil are transported into Bolivia and Spanish girls from Bolivia are transported to Brasil. This is so the girls are not even able to speak the language and are taken away from anything they know or know as safe. They only learned of this in the last while but now they are starting up programs to make others aware and to share how they can help and what they can do.
Jorge Dias
This morning, Thursday, we had the pleasure to hear of the life of Jorge, who is a boy spoken of in the book, “A Cry from the Streets”, a book we had to read for DTS. He was a street child, a hard street child and he explained a little to us the life of such a child.
He started first with a story of a child that was interviewed and asked what he would like to be when he grew up. At first the boy answered a doctor, but then he changed his mind and said a thief. To a childs comprehension it is easier to be a thief than a doctor because to become a doctor you would have so many years of studying ahead of you and you would have to pay for those studies. It is easier to understand the way of the gun then to sit in a class and listen to words they have never heard of before.
Jorge was once a six year old street child. Sometimes people tried to take him off the street but until he himself could understand that he could actually be someone without the street, he was unable to leave it and nearly died. Jorge spoke that God does give street children many opportunities to get off the street but in their mentality the can’t see life outside of it and all that they know of this type of survival. Often when they finally do find the love and compassion, like Jorge did with the Dutch couple of the book, the security is so different and so far removed that it is more uncomfortable than comfortable and safe. The security becomes stifling and so for Jorge he rebelled against it numerous times before he was able to fully turn his life around, within the help and love of those he found.
In the streets, children are told if you don’t have a gun or machine in your hands you are powerless. Power comes in these weapons, but if we tell these children that they can become someone important, you will see change with that encouragement and they often do become someone important. Some children even ask for help but some cannot find it and that is when the devil starts spinning his lies, filling their minds with thoughts that sure they can ask for help but they’ll never find it, no one will help them and hopelessness sets in. However, if these children can find the help and are told they are valuable it is all the difference. We need to be there, we need to be that help in their lives. This doesn’t always mean you personally there in body but it could mean in supporting others and other organizations that are there and encouraging them in their mission.
Galations 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
These were words that were spoken upon Jorge’s heart. He had had a vision as well that God wanted him to go into the Amazon and work with the Indigenous tribes, but again he found himself returning to the streets one more time. This time however, he was in an accident where he lost his finger and ended up in the hospital. A missionary he had met in the past, came and visited with him and spoke with him. He asked Jorge if he thought he would lose his finger and Jorge obviously replied no. Then the missionary asked him where he thought he would be if it had been his life instead of just his finger. That made Jorge think that he did want something more and he went back to the refuge house for street children. In the early 90’s he did his DTS and then in ’92 he came here to Porto Velho to work in the Amazon, fulfilling his vision. Jorge was part of starting what this YWAM base here is about.
While working with the tribes he saw a lot of deaths in result of malaria and initially they didn’t know what to do about it. He and another from the base had the opportunity to study about malaria and to learn how to give help, they then started up a malaria lab here. Now he is a teacher and goes to various places in South America, Africa and India teaching a malaria course so that other places can find healing as well. Jorge spoke about Matthew 25 and encourage us to meditate on it. It talks about the need and desire that God wants us to go and help others, faith without work is dead, we need to work together and serve together, however that might look for each of us.
Well I leave with Happy New Year to you all. May I challenge you to find your ways to serve God and others, if you don’t already, in 2010. May God bless you all.
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