February 2007

No two weeks have been the same in February.

We finished art class in Hoya del Caimito with a trip to the museum. Many of the kids have a real talent. I gave each participant a set of paints and brush at the end of the classes. One of the students I saw at church. He wouldn't shake my hand. I finally got him to tell me why. It was because his hands were all dirty with paint. His mom then said that ever since the class, he has been painting all day long. Later on in the month, I had the opportunity to teach a paint class in Santa Lucia, also known as "La Mosca". There is a link on this page about La Mosca that I hope you will enjoy. I am really excited about the opportunity to reach the children using a talent that I love, but the most important part is teaching them who the greatest artist in the world is...Dios.
This wonderful artist created them and loves them more than any other creation. I hope to be able to teach this truth through art more extensively.

There was a baseball camp this month. The team that came was from Kansas City Bible Temple. They did a great job working with Jose Luis who is the Dominican in charge of baseball ministry. He is the one with the boys every day, mentoring them. Some of the boys that go to the camp are from the church and/or good homes, but many are in very difficult situations. They are in neighborhoods where theft and drugs are prevalent and rarely is there a good male role model in the home.

During baseball camp I was translating for a team. There were a couple of days where I would get choked up, but I wasn't sure why. It all surfaced as I was praying for my team to win. I don't usually pray for my team to win, because somehow I don't think it's fair, but I was praying for this team to win. There were several boys on the team that had already made some pretty bad life choices. So, I was praying silently for them to win, but the prayer became more and more fervent in me, and I began to even cry for them. I prayed, "Please God, can't they just win this game? They never win at anything. Life is so cruel to them. Please let them win!" I was thinking of one boy in particular. His mom used to live next door to me and she was almost always high on drugs. He had been adopted by another family, so he doesn't live with her, but he looks exactly like her and everyone knows she is his mom. The adopted family, judging by appearances, provides for his basic needs, but not necessarily a loving home. So I asked God, "How is he supposed to make the decision to follow you? Nothing in his life points to you. It's not fair. Now he is angry and making poor choices. Why does he have to suffer at the hands of others?" At that moment it was as if God lifted my head to see the whole field. I saw all the role models that had come from Kansas city to teach baseball, but also to share the love of Jesus. I saw Jose Luis investing and caring for them every day.

God is making opportunities and He wants to use me and you to bring those opportunities to those who are suffering.

I had the pleasure of going to Ouanamenthe, Haiti, for five days to help with a team from Indiana. The team did children's events and construction to build a school. It was a blast! We ate meals in the orphanage so we got to spend a lot of time with the children there. But again, I found myself wrestling with questions as there were children without all around and we only had enough to give to some. Even what we gave wasn't all that they needed. How is it possible to meet this need? And even if we brought enough "stuff" for everyone it wouldn't change the poverty they have come to know as everyday life. Poverty is deeper than material things. It seeps into the very thought pattern of a person's being. Once it grips you it never lets go. Many of us have known poverty at times in our lives, but it is a different poverty when not only you are struggling, but so is everyone around you. A poverty where you cannot turn to the government or the church or anyone because they are just as poor as you are. There is a strange numbness that comes with this poverty.

During an evening devotional a teenage girl from the team said that she saw the "opportunity for hope". I milled that phrase around in my head over and over. She didn't say she saw hope, she said that she saw the opportunity for hope. Part of me wanted to say "where?". Again I looked up and I could see what she saw. Arcenio is the Haitian we work with in Haiti who oversees all of our ministry to Haiti. He is the person who started the orphanage and the school and who is there everyday investing in lives for a better and different future that doesn't come instantly or without trials.

So the month of February has been a month of remembering why we do what we do.

"Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Therefore, as we have opportunity,

let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

~Galations 6:9-10