This month of ministry has been such an amazing one. We are in a small little town called El Alto, straight up the mountain from La Paz, Bolivia. El Alto is home to a ton of stray dogs, a corner store with knockoff oreos, and three incredible homes that offer rehabilitation to teens and children struggling with addiction. Mission Adlum was founded by a missionary from Holland who heard the Lord tell her go to Bolivia. She has such a passion for these children and for their lives be restored.
We are here with two WR teams, and every day we do ministry all the houses. every morning, we get up and go to a local market for bread and eggs and make breakfast. From 9:00 to 12:30 we work on manual labor or organzational tasks. We are cataloging a library so they can start letting the girls and boys check out books and educational materials. We have also built a roof, cleaned out a warehouse full of clothes and other goods, and put flooring in the children’s home.
For lunch we eat with the girls or boys at their houses, this is a great time to have conversations with them and build on friendships that we have been developing over the past few weeks with them. They exude such love and joy, you would never know the hurt and the pain they have experienced. It’s like their enrollment in Mission Adlum has restored, in some ways, their innocence and youth. They are able to laugh and goof off together and don’t have to worry about selling on the streets or reporting to a pimp.
After lunch we play soccer or basketball and help was dishes in the kitchen. We come back to the houses later in the afternoon for tea and bread. When we are not at the houses the boys and girls are going through a rehab program that helps them deal and cope with pain hurt from the past while looking to healthy lifestyle practices to promote healing.
After playing some evening games of basketball or soccer or helping the kids with homework at the children’s home, we house up for the night. We reflect on the day and share conversations that we have had with the students.
This month the Lord has taught me so much about himself through these teens. We have had a few girls run away in the middle of the night. When we found out our hearts were shattered to learn they chose to go back to a lifestyle of darkness and unfullfillment. The Lord tenderly spoke to me in that moment, that’s the way He feels when we, as His children, run away. We trade in the safely and security of life with Him for the satisfaction we think we’ll find on the “streets”. True freedom is not found on the streets past the locked gates, it’s found right under the Father’s wings.
Would you please partner with us in praying for these teens in rehabilitation. That they would taste and see the goodness of the Lord. That they would experience healing and restoration that only then Lord can provide. And that even the ones that have chosen to leave the program will know they are still being persued by the Lord’s relentless love.
