Happy 2020!
For the holidays this year, my whole squad and I packed our things and moved further up in elevation (12,000 feet or something like that) and camped for ten nights on the side of a mountain. We joked and said we had a white Christmas, because we were so high up that we were in the cloud bank half of the time. We couldn’t see past the white fog we were in more than a few yards. We celebrated Christmas and New Years, cried together when we were bitterly homesick, and became a true family. Although it might seem like it, our holiday time was not a break for us, we served and worked with different ministries on campus and offsite, as well. For me, my days were split between doing a form of kid’s program in the mornings and mixing and pouring cement in the afternoons. Probably shouldn’t pick favorites, but the combo of the two ministries we were doing has probably been my favorite ministry on the Race thus far hahaha. The organization we worked with is called Dunamis, their ministry exists to rescue girls from the ages of nine to seventeen from sex trafficking. Once rescued they bring them to campus, house, clothe, and feed them, as well as, teach them a trade skill. They are also provided with basic school curriculum. The construction work we were doing and the cement we were pouring was for a new guest house they are building to house more rescued women and future World Race teams. The hosts that we worked with were sweethearts, all of them. They loved us well, fed us great, and shared their hearts for us, for the girls, and for the Father in a real, tangible way.
Previously stated, we did a form of kid’s ministry most mornings for ministry over the holidays. We would roll up to the middle of this street on the side of a mountain, where there was a one room church building, overlooking the capital city of Quito, and we would entertain the kids in the community or kids that went to the church and whoever was willing to show up.
Our first day there was a Thursday and we had no idea what we were in for. We split into three groups because we were told there would be pre-school kids, elementary kids, and then middle and high school kids. We had about a seven minute van ride from our campsite to this location to plan what activities we would be doing for the next three hours to occupy and teach these kids. Our plans were put to shame, though, within the first ten minutes of the kids showing up. There were approximately 60 kids that showed up. It was clear that the boys just wanted to play soccer and the girls wanted to show us their dance moves and learn ours, too. We went along with it. We had one big speaker blaring and we were jumping, bopping to the music, trying to move our hips as well as the ten year old Latina girls, we’d give piggy back rides and play soccer in the street with two chairs as goals. I made an eight year old best friend named Leanna. She didn’t speak a lick of English and my Spanish is sub par, so I mostly just held her on my hip or danced with her, nothing too crazy but impressionable. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves that first morning but weren’t told whether or not we would be returning tomorrow.
Luckily we did have the privilege to go back and reunite with the bundles of life. On Friday, it was the same thing in the street. Just a great holy ghost party, dancing, coloring, and then doing a drama for the kids. Leanna sprinted up to me and jumped up into my arms and we spent some quality time together doing each other’s hair and she discovered how to climb onto my shoulders that day. Saturday, we went to a soccer field the next street up and hosted a little soccer tournament for the community. Leanna was on a different team than me but we still had some fun on the side in passing. Then Sunday, we were able to visit their regular church service, and unfortunately Leanna wasn’t in attendance, many of the kids were not.
(Quick side note about this church though: the hospitality there was unmatched. Half of us lead the kids ministry that day and the rest of us sat in on the message, and the pastor bless his heart, translated for us the entire sermon to the best of his English speaking ability. After the sermon, the congregation invited all thirty of us to the front of the room, it was a little squish squish but nevertheless any sweet, to do some worship songs for them. Will was on guitar, Alex on drums, Sarah and Anna on the mic and the rest of us in the choir up front, and so we did one song, filled the place with a loud, joyful noise. The congregation was all standing up recording us, praising the Lord despite not knowing what we were saying. I’m pretty sure the whole side of the mountain could hear us and then of course the church starts chanting “uno mas! uno mas!”. Ended up doing two more songs and following our little performance, we were asked to stay up front and the church all stood over us and prayed blessings over the remainder of our travels. Before they even said “amen” the ladies and daughters of the church began gifting each of us with real life flowers. And on our final day with them, they cooked us a meal and we were able to fellowship with them over it.)
Then comes Monday. Our squad knew Monday was our last day with the kids. We don’t know if the kids knew that too or not, but I rode in the truck versus the van and arrived slightly later to ministry that day so when I arrived, my friends were all telling me Leanna was moping because she was looking for me and I wasn’t there. No worries, she quickly found me, and was attached to my hip the whole day. She refused to be put down, my arms were weak from holding her. She painted my nails and toes, we jump roped, did some more dancing (we dance a lot here), and sat on the curb and laughed together. Our time together was clearly wearing down to the wire, and the church members requested a group picture. We took a group picture, Leanna was sitting in my lap for it, and then one of the older sixteen year old girls, made a little speech to thank us, making it evident how much the church appreciated our energy and joy and presence there, how we impacted them, and pray for us. I think that was the moment it hit home for Leanna and water works started operating. She cried for a time or two and hid her face in me. I honestly didn’t know how to help console her with not speaking her language so all I could think to do was hug and pray for the human on my lap. When she felt ready she lifted her face and grabbed my hand to go get a cookie and some juice. I watched her much on the goods on the curb and this was a summary of our last moments together. I gave her a good hug and one of my prized necklaces, I figured out how to tell her this wasn’t goodbye but a see you later in Spanish, and then that was it. It was my toughest goodbye yet. Tougher than the goodbye I said to South Africa as a whole, and I had been there for three months.
One would think it takes time to build a strong friendship. Years. Months. At the very least weeks to get to really know a person. And then when you “know” the person, you consider them a friend, and then you go out of your way for a friend and love them well. But contrary to popular beliefs, I can testify that the most beautiful of all friendships can form in a matter of five days. And you can love a person well whether you truly know them, their story, or not. If you would have told me we would make such a great impact on this little church and these kids in less than a week, I probably would have laughed it off in disbelief. But it was such a God thing to be able to taste and to see some of the purest acts of love displayed with people who went from strangers to friends in a matter of minutes. And it wasn’t just us loving them, they loved us, and the exchange was irreplaceable.
Having said that, Leanna loved me fully and in a way that was not rushed. One would think it would feel hurried, since we had such limited time to construct the relationship, but it was in fact the opposite. Instead of focussing on the time, Leanna would put her attention to the present and be a good steward of whatever time we had to play together. She wouldn’t get tired of a song that was blasting so easily and wish to skip it, but she would dance it through, all the way to the end. Even when no one else was dancing. She would make the most of her hours with all of us, love us well in them and have the time of her life.
Thanks to Leanna, I’ve made my New Years resolution for 2020 to stop living my life in a hurry. To slow down. Be where God has me. And just be. I’ve realized I’m kind of terrible at staying present. Naturally I have a whole agenda in my head for everyday and for life in general and I am someone who likes to check things off a todo list (thanks Dad). Recently I’ve been trying to make less lists though. I’m trying to be Spirit lead and be most aware of the people I’m gifted with now and the places I am in. Trying to find a healthy balance of planning my days, my future and being where my feet are now. Praying into it a lot and so far so good. Feel free to keep me accountable if you see me slacking, too.
Peace and love from Ecuador,
Julia
