Just returned from having my heart broken....in a good way. God brought two missionaries from way down south across my path today and then opened my eyes to a need in my own backyard.
I met the missionary couple while I was visiting my friends Maribel and Hector that live in Ensenada. Over the past few days Maribel, Hector and I have been discussing the importance of building relationships before and during ministry. While sitting in their home today, a missionary couple showed up at their front door after driving about 10 hours. They were coming from a more southern part of Mexico for their annual visit. That's right. They visit Hector and Maribel once a year to see if they can help them with supplies for the people they are trying to reach with the gospel. They kind of "make the rounds" to different brothers and sisters in Christ that might be able to help them and then return to where they live. Their stories of perseverance and determination made me feel very humble and privileged to meet them. While they told me how they many times have to ride burros to reach the people they minister too, I began to feel like I was not paying a very high price like they had been. When they told me how they get off the burros and then half to walk 3 or 4 hours to the next group of people that needed the gospel, God began to stir something in my heart.
I asked the missionary couple a lot of questions. The people they were reaching with the gospel did not know how to read and were very isolated from the "outside world". Many of them had never seen a car or electricity. The Bible was being presented to them with illustrated teachings to help them understand God's plan. After listening to the things they had to overcome to do what God had called them to do, I thought how physically couldn't keep up with all that these two did. They appeared to me to be in their early 50's. When I asked my friends how old they were, I was told they were in their late 30's and early 40's.
After the highlight of meeting the missionary couple, my friends Hector and Maribel took me and my friends Mary and Pat to a colony just down the road about a mile or so from where he lived. We parked on the side of the road and he told me to follow him. Hector wanted me to me Mario. Mario came as soon as he saw Hector and took us to show us where he lived. This was when my heart began to break. Mario and his wife lived in a river bed with over 600 other people. His house was made completely out of tarps. I was told how the bed had to be moved with the rains came so that they would get wet when they slept in it at night. Mario then began to give us a tour of his neighborhood.
It was very cold as we walked around the river bed, looking at the condition of where the people lived. Children played in between the little tarp shacks and homemade septic "pits". There was no electricity. No fires, or the tarp homes would go up in flames. My heart was already breaking when I saw the condition of the homes. Homes where children lived. What really broke my heart was when Hector told me that to his knowledge, no Americans, Asians, even Mexicans for that matter, had ever come to help the people living in the river bed. I was shocked. We weren't talking about a few homeless people living in hidden places under a bridge or behind a bush. There were hundreds of squatters, living in this river bed in clear view to the neighbors on the other side of the road.
Before leaving, my friend Mary made a few videos of Hector and me explaining the help that these people needed. As we headed back to my car, I kept thinking about the $90 tennis shows I had just purchased. As I stared at the shoes on my feet, I couldn't help but think that my shoes cost more than the people's homes I had just seen. Pat took off her jacket and gave it to Mario's wife and Mary gave her jacket to Mario. We asked if we could pray for them before we left. Hector interpreted my prayer for Mario and his wife. I told Mario that I would be back. I asked God to reveal to Mario that He saw Mario and his wife and that the things that concerned them concerned God.
In one day I went from feeling like a pretty insignificant part of God's plan to a very significant part of God's plan. What a journey. I will never be the same after what I experienced today. God help me to always remember that You waste no experiences. There are no surprises with You, Lord. You have it all planned out. Most of all, I love being included in those plans!
I met the missionary couple while I was visiting my friends Maribel and Hector that live in Ensenada. Over the past few days Maribel, Hector and I have been discussing the importance of building relationships before and during ministry. While sitting in their home today, a missionary couple showed up at their front door after driving about 10 hours. They were coming from a more southern part of Mexico for their annual visit. That's right. They visit Hector and Maribel once a year to see if they can help them with supplies for the people they are trying to reach with the gospel. They kind of "make the rounds" to different brothers and sisters in Christ that might be able to help them and then return to where they live. Their stories of perseverance and determination made me feel very humble and privileged to meet them. While they told me how they many times have to ride burros to reach the people they minister too, I began to feel like I was not paying a very high price like they had been. When they told me how they get off the burros and then half to walk 3 or 4 hours to the next group of people that needed the gospel, God began to stir something in my heart.
I asked the missionary couple a lot of questions. The people they were reaching with the gospel did not know how to read and were very isolated from the "outside world". Many of them had never seen a car or electricity. The Bible was being presented to them with illustrated teachings to help them understand God's plan. After listening to the things they had to overcome to do what God had called them to do, I thought how physically couldn't keep up with all that these two did. They appeared to me to be in their early 50's. When I asked my friends how old they were, I was told they were in their late 30's and early 40's.
After the highlight of meeting the missionary couple, my friends Hector and Maribel took me and my friends Mary and Pat to a colony just down the road about a mile or so from where he lived. We parked on the side of the road and he told me to follow him. Hector wanted me to me Mario. Mario came as soon as he saw Hector and took us to show us where he lived. This was when my heart began to break. Mario and his wife lived in a river bed with over 600 other people. His house was made completely out of tarps. I was told how the bed had to be moved with the rains came so that they would get wet when they slept in it at night. Mario then began to give us a tour of his neighborhood.
It was very cold as we walked around the river bed, looking at the condition of where the people lived. Children played in between the little tarp shacks and homemade septic "pits". There was no electricity. No fires, or the tarp homes would go up in flames. My heart was already breaking when I saw the condition of the homes. Homes where children lived. What really broke my heart was when Hector told me that to his knowledge, no Americans, Asians, even Mexicans for that matter, had ever come to help the people living in the river bed. I was shocked. We weren't talking about a few homeless people living in hidden places under a bridge or behind a bush. There were hundreds of squatters, living in this river bed in clear view to the neighbors on the other side of the road.
Before leaving, my friend Mary made a few videos of Hector and me explaining the help that these people needed. As we headed back to my car, I kept thinking about the $90 tennis shows I had just purchased. As I stared at the shoes on my feet, I couldn't help but think that my shoes cost more than the people's homes I had just seen. Pat took off her jacket and gave it to Mario's wife and Mary gave her jacket to Mario. We asked if we could pray for them before we left. Hector interpreted my prayer for Mario and his wife. I told Mario that I would be back. I asked God to reveal to Mario that He saw Mario and his wife and that the things that concerned them concerned God.
In one day I went from feeling like a pretty insignificant part of God's plan to a very significant part of God's plan. What a journey. I will never be the same after what I experienced today. God help me to always remember that You waste no experiences. There are no surprises with You, Lord. You have it all planned out. Most of all, I love being included in those plans!
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