Today I learned that some churches in California, (3 I think) are coming in July to build a church building on the property of Dios Me Ve. It's hard for me to grasp the reality of this for many reasons. First of all, we made no requests for this except to God. Yes, we dreamed for this to happen, but we approached it differently than some may have.
We focused on building relationship with the people. It took time....a lot of time. It took investing in children, parents, grand parents. It took encouraging words, words of hope and it took faithfulness. As we stayed faithful to coming just to spend time, bring food and clothing that God had provided, people began to smile. Next thing you know, people were asking us why we came week after week and Hector and Maribel more often than that. We gained trust. We were careful not to promise anything except prayer. We gave lots of hugs and smiles. Everything we could think of to convey that God sees these precious people and that He loves them dearly, we did.
I can still remember walking with a lady from the colony about 6 months ago. We were on our way to see if she needed a mattress. I remember her asking if we would build a church. As great as it was to hear, I thought it was strange. I'm not sure if I lived under the same conditions, in such poverty, that the first thing I would be hoping for would be a church. She followed that by saying how it would be nice to have a church so that the people of the colony could be refreshed.
As the team of Dios Me Ve has been challenged again and again both physically and financially, we've acknowledged that are fight is not against flesh and blood. Recently, it seems like we've been pressed on every side, but together we've recognized the different attacks and stood firm together in prayer. It is very clear to us that there are many strong holds in the colony. It feels like when you "stick it out" with a strong willed child and finally there comes that moment of break through where the child realizes that no matter what they do you will always keep loving them. That to me is where we're at in Dios Me Ve.
Please continue to pray for us. We are excited about getting a building, but only because it will allow us to reach out in more ways. Soon after the building is up, we will start some Bible classes. We've slowly started telling people, but we've made it very clear that their attendance is not required to continue to receive food or clothes. We want people to come because God is drawing them and not the FOOD! Eventually, the LORD willing, we would like to build a kitchen in the building to start a hot meal program. I can even see possibilities of teaching some music classes there.
We are so grateful for the body of Christ that is coming together with their skills and giftings for the benefit of some very forgotten people hearing the gospel AFTER seeing the gospel demonstrated. God bless you for praying for us and sending funds to help us show the love of God to these precious people.
