A Humbling Moment

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.