More Fires

Tuesday morning, May 2, I received a phone call from my friend Hector that I was not prepared for.  He was calling to tell me that we had lost five members of a family to a fire in the colony.  At first we thought the fire had been caused by accident, but we soon learned differently.  The fire was the fulfillment of a threat made.  We're not sure of all the details, but what we were certain of was more than we could find words for.  

We lost a mother, two of her young children, her teenage daughter and 6 month old grand baby.  I still can not fathom the hate and rage behind such a horrific act.  As a drove to Ensenada quickly after the phone call, I could still hear my friends voice on the phone replaying in my mind, "Robin, we knew these people.  We prayed with them and played with the children."

As time passed, I learned more and more details.  Some were more than I needed to know, but the most difficult one for me get passed was the mother.  I had prayed with the mother (Maria) shortly after we came to our knew location for dispensing food.  I remembered how she waited for us to be finished giving out the food.  She came with her friend Laura and asked Maribel and I to pray for her. When we asked her what her need was she said that she was very afraid for her life and the lives of her children.  She had been robbed and stabbed and was facing a threat on her life and family.  I remember wondering how to pray.  In all my years of serving the LORD I had never had such a prayer request.  I prayed for God to protect her and hugged her.  

Recently, when we had different houses in the colony that had been set on fire, I saw her.  Her house had been burned.  She only had a room the size of a small kitchen area that remained.  Her and her 7 or so other family members were going to have to sleep in this small little place. As I look back, she seemed very quiet.  I didn't realize it at the time, but she was probably terrified.  Whoever had threatened her had made an attempt on her life, but had only succeeded in burning down her home.  

The story seems to be that a neighbor offered their house for Maria and her kids to stay in until they could rebuild.  It was the neighbors house that Maria and her kids died.  As this horrible crime was committed, I'm told that another threat was made to a nearby family that they were next.  That family was Laura's family.

When I arrived in the colony, I saw Laura and her daughter Leslie.  Ten year old Leslie was traumatized.  She had lost her closet friend in the fire and was fearful that she and her family would be the next victims.  Hector, Maribel and I prayed for this family.  They asked us for some money for gas for their car.  They had packed their clothes and were going to leave to relocate.

I went to the wake for Maria and her family last night.  Never have a seen such a sad sight.  Five coffins with pictures of the children that were from many years past because they had nothing current.  A room filled with people that had no hope and some of them filled with rage and the desire for revenge.  Children coming up to me and Maribel crying and scared.  The three of us were the only ones representing Jesus and the job ahead of us was huge.  

As I listened to Hector address the family and friends I began to pray.  I knew enough Spanish to understand him telling them how to have eternal life and to hear him pray for the emotions of rage and revenge to be set aside.  That justice was God's job.  He gather six remaining teen and young adult sons to the front, asked the men in the community to some forward and offer their support as he laid hands on these young men and prayed over them.

It all still seems too horrific for me to take in.  On the other side, I remember that God never wastes ANYTHING.  I am convinced that He has the attention of quite a few and we are about to reap a harvest of souls.  May the Light of Jesus push back the darkness in the colony.  May Jesus be seen in the team of Dios Me Ve.  Most of all, may God reveal Himself to the lost in colonia #89.

Devistation

Two weeks ago, as we arrived to set up our food dispensary, one of the ladies in the colony asked us if we would come with her.  She wanted to show us what had just happened the day before.  She didn't take us to her own home, but to the home of a friend.

When we arrived we met a mother named Eva.  She was traumatized because her house had caught fire and much of it had been destroyed.  She had lost everything except maybe a wall in her house, maybe two.  I saw burnt clothes (the little that she had), burnt furniture (the little that she had), a destroyed refrigerator and a few salvageable mattresses that were black from smoke but not burnt.  

Eva's face had no expression as she let us take pictures.  She looked like she was still in shock.  We didn't see any emotion until we asked her if we could pray for her.  Her tears began to flow. 

Having a fire in your home is always devastating.  Imagine if you didn't have insurance, or a place to stay until your house was rebuilt.  Maybe no friends to take you in.  No church family that would come to your rescue.  Again, I was faced with what could I do at that moment.  The only thing I was sure of is that if it had happened to me I was confident God would send someone to rescue me.  He had always been faithful to me.  I was faced with time.  What was the quickest thing I could do.  I had no time to raise funds, no dispensary of food to go get (like I hope to in the future), no government organization was going to help me, because these people were "indivisible" to the government.

Hector, Maribel and I prayed and then asked if they would give us their shoe sizes and clothing sizes.  We didn't promise anything. We left with the neighbor that had brought us, thinking that we were going to return to our food dispensary.  Instead she took us to four more houses that had been completely burned down to nothing.  I remember feeling so sad and then wondering if I felt this sad when it wasn't my home and everything I owned; how did these families feel.

I learned shortly after our tour that the first lady was the true victim.  The other houses had been set on fire due some revenge of an angry drug pusher of some sorts.  Eva's house had caught fire simply because she was closely located to the other houses that had burned down.

The next morning, I gathered blankets and clothes from the orphanage, some of my oldest sons clothes that he no longer wore and headed back to Ensenada with my friend Lynette.  We stopped at the local grocery store and bought enough food for what we thought would last Eva's family a few days. We headed to the colony to meet Mario our friend from the colony that always is happy to be our guide/ protector.  Mario helped us carry the things we were bringing as we traveled by foot up and down some of the steepest hills I have ever climbed.  (Made me think of my friend Lauren and how we joke about this is what "real missionaries" do.)

We delivered the things to the home to Eva's mother who was at the burned house watching her grand daughter while Eva was away.  Then it really hit me.  I was looking at a little girl that wasn't going to be allowed to attend school unless she had a uniform.  So, Lynette and I went back in town to purchase the two required uniform to keep that little girl in school.  

We returned to Mario and asked him to take it to the little girl for us.  He agreed wearing his big smile.  Then I asked him a question through Lynette.  I asked Mario if it was true that he turned down a paying job that day just to escort us and help us bring the clothes and food to Eva's house.  He smiled and told us yes and that he didn't mind.  

To my understanding, Mario has not yet committed his life to Christ and yet he had just been more like Jesus than many of will ever be.  He already was practicing "Love your neighbor as yourself."  He gave far more than I did.  Even though I may have paid for the gas to get to Enesanada, the groceries and the uniform, I still had money in the bank, running water and electricity to come home to and knew where my next meal was coming from.  Mario didn't and still gave far more than I have ever given.

Inspiration

Last night I had the privilege of going the 6th anniversary celebration of Baja Family Outreach in Tijuana.  This local church is located in a retired dump.  That's right a retired dump.  The surrounding families live in very small houses to little shacks made of whatever is available for shelter. Most do not have running water and some don't have electricity.  But then there is the church.

Baja Family Outreach has many ministries reaching out to their community, but the one that most people are familiar with is what they refer to as "The Breakfast Club".  This ministry started out as a food program to feed children breakfast before they attend school.  For some children this was the only meal they might receive that day.  In the last year, it has grown from feeding about 80 children to sometimes 350 meals not only to children, but to entire families.  

When I was at the anniversary celebration last night,  I saw with my own eyes the transformation that was taking place in children, families and the neighborhood.  I heard testimonies of the neighborhood changing, husbands and wives coming to know the LORD Jesus and I saw the countenances of the children that had gone from looks of despair and hopelessness to smiles and joyful laughter!

My favorite part of the entire evening was watching the children worship the LORD during the singing.  They were dancing, jumping and shouting "He is the King of my life!" or "I'm giving You all the glory!"  It was so evident how the Jesus loves children.  They were uninhibited.  They knew first hand the change that had happened to their families when Jesus came to live in their little shack, in a retired Tijuana dump where there was no running water or electricity.

Baja Family Outreach continues to be an inspiration to me.  Although each ministry is unique to the way they may reach people for Christ, I hope one day soon that the work that God is calling me to in Ensenada will flourish in the same way of the Breakfast Club ministry.  I'm not talking about the numbers.  I'm talking about the sense of community in the ministry.  "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!" Psalm 133:1

 

Relationship Building

This coming Sunday, we will be passing out 100 dispensas of food again.  I never get tired of doing this.  The people are so grateful and patient as they wait for their food.  The hugs and smiles I now receive are priceless.  It feels like I've earned the trust of the river colony.  It even feels like I've been trusted by God to join Him in the work He's doing in the lives of the people we are starting to get to know.

One of the things that I've asked people to pray for is creativity.  God has been answering that prayer.  The pictures that I take each time we give out dispensas has built a wonderful bridge to the heart of the people.  On each picture I print the words "Dios Me Ve" which means "God See Me".  That has been my priority.  I want everyone I meet to know that God does see them.  That He hasn't forgotten them.  In fact, the real goal is for people to see God.  To see that their pain is His pain.  To know that He's not mad at them, that He wants to have a relationship with them.  Hopefully with their pictures in view in their homes they will see the words "Dios Me Ve" over and over until they begin to believe it.

The other relational activity that we've started is our knitting class.  Two weeks ago we started our first class with 12 ladies.  We decided to go ahead and start the class even though we don't have a building up.  We put out our chairs in a circle and that 's how we began.  It was wonderful to watch the ladies learning to knit beanies.  It was even more wonderful to watch Norma from the local church knitting with the ladies.  They laughed and talked as they observed the makings of each others knitting project.  We're hoping that some of the ladies stay with it to the point of being able to sell their hats at the market.

Over all, the part of the last visit that I enjoyed the most was watching the interaction between the ladies in their class.  I learned that most of them didn't know each other before the class, so just being in the class together was "knitting" relationships.  I was also told that some of them did know each other and didn't like each other very much.  It was fun to watch the walls begin to fall as they helped each other listen for the names to be called for their food dispensas, or help each other learn the correct way to knit a beanie.

A little side note...if you read this blog would you please let me know by saying so on Face Book or emailing me at rschmidt316@yahoo.com ?  I'd sure like to see who is reading.  If you'd like to donate towards our next project, a community center, we sure could use some help.  We have the labor waiting for the funding.  As soon as we have about $850, our community center should go up.  From there we will start looking towards installing a bathroom and a kitchen so that we can begin a  daily meal ministry.

Thank you and God Bless.

Robin