For the first time in weeks I sit completely content. I am filled and don’t want to be anyone else or anywhere else. I sit knitting in the house of our Peruvian family watching the kids playing Plants vs Zombies on the computer, and listening to worship music. My contentment may come from a couple different things.
I made some ground on a path God set before me. The messy practice of sacrificing the person I want to become is taking place. Instead of valuing so much the things that I want to see in myself, I have been encouraged by the Spirit to seek what God wants me to become. For the longest time I was striving to be what I wanted; that pillar of strength, that person of wisdom, and that self-sacrificial idealist who brings change in the world around them. AND to be honest, those are great things to strive for….but not at the expense of the person that God wants you to become. He revealed to me, that I need to perhaps sacrifice the things I want for those He wants for me to walk in. So without further ado, He revealed to me this morning that I need to start with the following three statements:
I am a Blessing (Ezekiel 34:26) I am Satisfied (Jeremiah 31:14) I bring Joy to God (Psalm 149:4)
Where I go with them, I am uncertain…but I will surely seek to make these statements a reality in my life. I will begin in the word of God and move on from there. It’s good to have a game plan though.
This morning we went to the women’s jail which I would have to say was my favorite ministry here in Huanuco so far. Perhaps even the whole trip. I didn’t know what to think as we were led into the prison. I gave my passport over to guards and received a mark on my arm in return. Then was shown into a basketball court where I met all our ladies. They sat in a little strip of shade working on various knitting projects and chatting.
We stood before them and shared a little of our testimonies (with my horrible translating) and some cried (hopefully not from my horrible translating..haha). No, the Spirit was truly there making sense where I couldn’t and moving some to tears. We sang some songs from the Andes since a good deal of the inmates were indigenous people. THAT IS WHEN IT CLICKED!
I am the Unsung Heroes point person on my team and luckily we found a potential ministry partner while shopping the grocery store last week. Somehow my teammate, Shannon, got into a conversation with the only other white people in town. They worked for a shelter/farm that protected and counseled victims of domestic abuse here in Peru. In a later meeting with them, they explained that the indigenous people were often victims because of the corruption in the legal system.
When I found that our prison here was full of indigenous people, it took things to a new level for me. So many people could be there unjustly due to lack of representation. For every person who sang a song of repentance, there was probably another person who felt bitter to the Lord above for their circumstances. And all I could do was love them both because I didn’t really know what else to do.
At the end of messages and prayers, I gave every one of them a hug and kiss on the cheek. (the kiss is a cultural thing here. At the end of our classes we teach at the school, the students will come up one by one to kiss your cheek and say thank you.) After hugs and kisses, I stood waiting to get my ID back and our prison ministry director told us that the ladies wanted hugs more than anything. At that point more than anything, I wanted to go back and hug them all again. I wanted to return and knit with them, and chat. I wanted to love them. Seldom does my heart burst with that much love. Not with cute puppies or babies. Only with the Spirit I suppose.
On the way back from the jail we stopped in a very scary market, where men carried whole bleeding pigs on their shoulders, and my teammate decided it was a good time to tell us this is how the movie “Contagion” started; with the handshake between Pastor and the butcher. I became very aware of how wet my sandaled feet were feeling, and tried not to think about what I was standing in.
But we returned to the house of our family here in Huanuco, and ate a very delicious meal of Lomo Saltado made from our “Contagion” meat. And with a full belly, and full heart, I knit and watch the kids play. I remember their singing and hand games from the morning, and I think about how we are going to share Thanksgiving with them tomorrow. I thank God for my contentment, and pray that the feeling stays forever.
To read about our placement for next month in Ecuador visit: http://carolinesadventuresinlife.blogspot.com/2014/11/placement-for-ecuador.html
