So it’s been quite a month.
Coming to Puerto Rico I really had no expectations minus maybe a couple selfish ones. I really had no idea what this month would look like.
Would we be doing kids ministry, would it be street evangelism, would it be helping in soup kitchens, manual labour, working in local orphanages, shelters, schools, or what?
From those few thoughts I had before coming into this month none of them were true except one. Lots and lots of manual labour. But it included so much more.
I was reminded this month from the work we did and from the people on my team of this verse.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27 NIV)
When all the excitement is about playing and caring for the kids who’ve been orphaned we sometimes forget that Jesus wanted us to care for the widows just as much.
And how many of us know a widow in our community who we could better care for. I sure do. Mine is even as close as being my Oma. I have failed to realize for so long the incredible importance placed on making sure widows are cared for just as much as orphans and it’s not like I haven’t had opportunities to care better for her. I have failed in this.
This month here in Puerto Rico I have seen joy and hope brought back to the face of a widow who needed to be uplifted so badly. God new that in this time and place 12 north americans who were brought to Puerto Rico for such a short amount of time would be perfect for the job. Help give her hope. I witnessed, and experienced being apart of a team of 12 individuals who all stepped up to the plate in huge ways to clean a kitchen full of cockroaches, cupboards with roach feces and other filthy things, along with a fridge with rotten foods and maggots. This was all to help a woman who had lost her husband and seemed to have lost hope.
Week one in a nutshell:
Began work around the church where we lived all month cutting trees cleaning etc.
Cleaned up an entire backyard that once looked like a forest, now looks like a lawn. Along with that we cleaned and painted the entire outside of this persons home.
Week one evenings:
We had the opportunity to do home visits that included sharing singing and laughing and the theme seemed to be bringing joy and hope back into a widows life. We met three that week; two women and one man.
Week two:
Helped paint and clean another church in the area
Celebrated my birthday Puerto Rican style.
More work around the church. The theme here was to machete as many trees as possible. At least that’s what it seemed like.
At the end of this week we got to be apart of a big youth gathering where 6 different local churches were represented.
Week three:
Went to a retreat centre in the mountains that is designed for church groups and other events and helped paint and clean up the site. It was here that we had our first warm/hot showers in the month and it was such a blessing.
It has been a month of growth and preparing for the next 10 months ahead. We have been blessed to have an amazing pastor be with us nearly the entire time who cares for us to succeed so much. I have been stretched here in many ways and I know God plans on continuing that.
As for me, I plan on doing my best to keep saying yes to Him.
