This month I’m working with The Street Revolution in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The Street Revolution is a ministry that reaches out to street youth. My heart is filled with so much joy because this is my passion and this is what I love doing! So far we have gone to the bus terminal to put on a kids Bible program, played games with some youth on the street while they inhale their glue right in front of us (heartbreaking), played soccer with men in a rehab program, and visited woman at a home for battered woman speaking Life into them while painting their fingernails! This is what we’ll be doing all month and I’m so honored and feel so spoiled that God would give me this ministry this month to FINISH STRONG because this is what I want to keep doing after the race for the rest of my life! — only in Colombia.
I want to share with you a story from today. I took my mandolin downtown where we hang out with some of the boys/men. These boys/men are homeless and drug addicts. They are invisible to the rest of the world but to me they are dearly loved! We played card games, talked, and I took out my mandolin to play. One of the men has a recorder without a bottom piece and a turtle shell that he uses his recorder to hit the turtle shell to make a drum. It’s quite humorous. He loves playing music so we had that in common.
I started playing “Eres Todopoderoso” and then a teen asked for me to play another song. I then found myself playing “Cambiaré mi Tristeza” (Trading my Sorrows). As I was playing I looked at the man and I noticed tears starting to flow from his eyes. After finishing the song he was telling me with tears streaming down his face how he has suffered so much in this life. I then was able to share how God takes our sorrow and turns it into JOY. I shared the gospel how Jesus came and suffered, died, rose again, and is sitting at the right hand of the father and that he is coming again for those who believe in him and proclaim Him as their Savior to be with him forever in a place of no more pain or suffering!
We made cards for the guys that on the front said “Usted tiene el poder para vencer” (You have the power to overcome) and on the back we wrote a verse, “Somos más que vencedores por medio de Cristo que nos amó Romanos 8:37” (We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 6:37) I gave this man one saying a few words of encouragement about how through Jesus Christ we can overcome! Not by our own power but by Jesus’ power! He had the sweetest smile on his face while tears were still flowing. I could see a spark of hope in his eyes. I can say with confidence that I know that today, this man was touched by Jesus.
We plan on going back to the same spot and I’m not sure if he’ll be there again or not but I do know that Truth was spoken to him and a spark of Hope was heard by his ears and I pray that that Hope gets planted in his heart. Please join me in praying for this. Also pray for the rest of the month. This is a hard ministry but to me SO rewarding knowing that we are reaching the people that usually get left out and giving hope to the hopeless.
