During our meeting with the Madrinas, one of the ladies that was so angry at the lack of change in her community at the beginning of the meeting was weeping and praying out to God with hope after the meeting was over. Wow… it’s amazing how changes in others can change me! She was looking forward to the next few days as we began coming, building relationships and starting programs to help the community. What God did the next couple of days was simply amazing.
We decided the next day would be set aside to dedicate our work to God. We separated into the different rooms with the kids and began to pray. Hearing 11-17 year old boys, the future leaders of Los Pinos, praying to God for change was one of the most encouraging and brave acts I have ever seen. They knelt, putting their hands on the graffiti filled walls declaring God will overcome the evil that has inhabited the school for years. This wasn’t just a prayer, it was a declaration in front of their friends and family with no reservations as to what other people would think about them. They could have been on the streets begging for money doing paint thinner, but instead they were on their knees pleading with God for change.
We arrived the day after with machetes, brooms, and rakes and started working. As we worked the community stopped and watched. Some even came and helped. It must have been a comedy as they watched me and Dexter attempt to cut down all of the brush with a machete (weed eaters aren’t popular in Honduras), but the point is they were watching. We didn’t have to speak a word of Spanish as they saw our love for their community and our hope that we would empower them to change it. Finally, an older man named Marcos came and showed us up on correct machete techniques, but while I was working I looked up and saw Jake and the kids painting. God had brought Matthew 5:14 to my mind earlier, and as a surpsrise they were painting it on the front of the school. The kids were great artists and they knew that the gangs would more than likely paint over it, but it didn’t matter. Tony told them we would just paint it over again and again until the gangs got tired.
Towards the end of the day, all of the girls were playing ring around the rosie in one of the freshly cleaned rooms. Even though it still didn’t have a roof and needed more paint, by the kids actions you would have thought it was brand new. In a matter of minutes every one from 2 to 48 joined in. Keep in mind, these are teenage boys playing a kids game and loving it! This is something that you would not find in the states and it could pass by real easily, but the reason they were enjoying it was because they never had a childhood. It is little miracles like this that make up what we pray for. God redeeming something as simple as a childhood shows his deep love for his children and made an impact on my life that I won’t forget.
“You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden” Matt. 5:14. To most Hondurans Los Pinos is poor, dirty, and insignificant to the affairs of the country. It is on the hill looking over Tegucigalpa for a reason, so others can see something different that this community has never had before. They can see Christ’s love filling it’s residents and slowly taking over a community that, apart from God, will never change. It WILL happen and it WILL changes lives “so that others may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven” Matt 5:16. This is why I am here.
