This
past week, the youth at La
Quinta Esperanza have been sharing their testimonies with
us. Cindy and I took turns
interpreting. Or rather, after four
people shared, I thought to give Cindy a break and myself some practice. It was much easier simply to listen than it
was to listen and then interpret for our teammates. After awhile, listening in and of itself got
more difficult, which slowed down interpretation.
“When I was little, my mom left
us.” “My dad left me when he found out
my mom was pregnant.”
“We were abused. She blamed her problems on us.” “I missed school because I had to work.”
“I felt lonely. People would say that I was useless.”
“There was a lot of hatred in my
heart – towards my parents, towards classmates who would say things.”
Almost
all of them prefaced “I don’t like to talk about my past; it’s like reopening
the wounds.” “I’d rather focus on the
present,” they’d say. You could sense
that they had to muster up the courage to face the past, to tell their stories
without letting the memories haunt them.
As
I listened, I glanced around the circle of us.
Eyes filled with tears and hands would wipe them away. Bodies leaned in and heads nodded in
affirmation.
Bitterness. Sadness.
Rejection. Abandonment. Confusion. Hatred. These words echoed through their testimonies.
Yet
the climax of all their histories is their first true encounter with Christ,
which happened here.
“When Jesus entered my heart, He
changed my life.“
What
follows is the transformation, which though not yet complete, is amazing.
“God is healing my wounds.” “He’s cleaning my scars.”
“I learned to forgive my parents.” “From God through Glenn, Lynne, Juanita,
Eriberto and Fabricio I received the love I’d been missing.”*
They’ve
been growing since, walking in the truth that set them free – that they are not
rejected nor abandoned nor alone. That
God has put in them worth and a purpose.
That they are treasured and loved unconditionally, beyond measure.
These
young men and women have dreams to serve the Lord as doctors, engineers,
teachers, preachers, missionaries. Most
of them love working with children and they do it well. They are learning to be faithful with what
God entrusts them and already they are excellent stewards, grateful and humble
at that.
I
was already so impressed with their drive and passion but now I’m all the more
amazed at our God and His work of redemption.
What
about you? Whether your testimony be
dramatic or not, if You’ve encountered the living God, you haven’t been the same
since. How have you been
transformed? What are you being
transformed for?
* Glenn and Lynne Schweitzer
are our contacts; they are tent-makers in Jinotepe, running Hotel Casa Mateo to
support their ministry in Diriamba’s barrios.
Juanita and Eriberto serve as the administrators and directors of La Quinta Esperanza,
and have become spiritual parents to the youth here. Fabricio is the pastor of the church here,
charged with the youth’s discipleship and spiritual formation.
