Monday, January 26 2015
“Heaaaaad, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes!” This is our fifteenth time through, but from the enthusiasm in Jenny’s voice and the sparkle in her smile one would think it was our first time singing this song in English class. “Heaaaaaad…” She starts all over again and I step back, getting lost in Jenny’s enchanting energy. Seven year old Sonia is on my left in that awkward position between knees and toes and I accidently let a laugh escape from my lips. “Heaaaaaad…” This woman never quits! I’m so blessed by the joy Jenny is so evidently experiencing as she interacts with these kiddos.
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“I fight with God a lot,” Jenny says as we take a sharp turn into the Pizza Hut parking lot after a full morning of Kindergarten English classes. I listen from the backseat with her six year old son EJ balanced on my lap. “You know, my husband Ernesto and I have founded two NGOs, we have two beautiful children, but we fight with God a lot.”
Later that day Jenny proceeded to share how her family has just recently moved into a rough part of town and a one bedroom apartment. “This is not how I pictured the next season of my life,” Jenny shared, her eyes wet with tears as she invited us into her cozy little casita. She and Ernesto just turned over leadership of the NGOs they founded and are waiting on what the Lord has next for them.
Jenny and Ernesto are the kind of people who love tangibly and sacrificially. They met working with street children ten years ago, which seems appropriate after spending a day with them. After they married, they moved to Mexico and served as missionaries and opened a home for migrant children who didn’t have any family. They created a safe place for these children to come and eat and learn about the love of Jesus. Due to Jenny’s health, they ended up moving back to El Salvador (where they are both from), but their missionary work did not stop. They founded Sus Hijos and the Hope House and were integral parts of training and building up the leadership of those organizations. They are the kind of leaders who get their hands dirty right alongside the people they are serving, so I can’t imagine how hard this transition into what the Lord has next for them must be.
However, I believe the Lord gave me a glimpse of His plan for this precious family as we sat in the grass outside their apartment complex and the kids began to gather. Jenny was painting faces with one hand and making balloon animals with the other…I just stood back in awe. The kids really love Jenny. As she told the Bible story, she got down in the dirt, face to face with the kids. She picked up pieces of trash from the ground and made a fistful of trash representing the sin in our lives before we allow Jesus to come in and clean it out. The kids were captivated. ‘She’s made for this,’ I thought to myself.
Jenny just looked so alive loving on the kids from the neighborhood. She and Ernesto are creating a safe place for these children to experience the love of Jesus, just like they did in Mexico and the other NGOs they started. They might not have the biggest house or the biggest ministry budget, but Ernesto and Jenny pour their heart and soul into their ministry and their neighborhood. The people are coming to respect and appreciate them and the kids see them as the parents they never had. The vision Ernesto and Jenny have for their community reminds me so much of the heart of Mission Southside (the organization I was working with in Olathe, KS before coming on this trip). Ernesto and Jenny are beautiful examples of what it looks like to have a neighbor’s heart as they bring help and hope to their own barrio.
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Wednesday, January 28 2015
“Jenny?!” The guy zigzagging up and down the street asks with an intonation that reveals both his excitement and his skepticism.
“Fredy!” Jenny exclaims with joy and throws her arms around him. “Help me pray for this man,” Jenny beckons and before we know it, our team is gathered around Fredy, lifting him up in prayer. Tears are racing down his cheeks, the kind that come from a deep place of hurt and pain. “Amen!” Jenny proclaims with joy and confidence and I see it flash into his eyes. Something that wasn’t there before. It’s hope. Hope that had been lost, but was now rekindled.
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I so appreciated the raw honesty Jenny and Ernesto demonstrated as they shared about their lives. They admitted ministry is hard, the daily realities they face: sometimes not knowing where their next meal will come from, wanting to raise their own children EJ (6) and Jayli (4) in a safe and loving environment, feeling alone and isolated at times, these are the things they fight with God about. But at the end of the day, they choose to serve, to love, to give, because they know that they are not serving, loving, and giving out of their own strength, but simply being instruments of the restoration, love, and hope that come from our Heavenly Father. They keep loving, because of the Fredys in the world. Fredy was one of the street children Jenny worked with 15 years ago. God has not forgotten Jenny or her family. And He has certainly not forgotten Fredy.
