A garbage dump.
A place for the spoiled and the smelly, the rotten and the cast out, the overlooked and the avoided. A place of dirt and grime, long hours and minuscule money. A place of despair, appalling living conditions, and generational cycles.
The last place a normal person would want to spend their free time. The last place to go to seek beauty. The last place in people’s thoughts.
But, Stephany is not a normal person of this world.
She is a fierce woman of faith who lives by the Spirit.
She seeks to give of herself in order to bestow hope to a broken and despairing place. She finds beauty in ashes, because she sees the hand of the Lord at work. She sets her mind on things above and not on things of this world.
She works hours each day in the main city dump of Trujillo, Peru. If you were to watch her walk through the garbage piles, you would see an angel of God walking through the trash. Children flock to her and she kindly bestows a smile and loving touch to each one she encounters. Men and women brighten when she speaks, because words of life, love and care spill forth. World Racers excitedly speak of working alongside her, for even a day, because of the transformative vision she casts.
She is a confident woman of faith who is tirelessly bringing the Kingdom each and every day.
She is a selfless woman of faith who walked away from a well-paying career in order to love on those who are overlooked, forgotten, and ostracized in the city of Trujillo.
She is a beautiful woman of faith who shook my world with her story and with her unfailing hope in the restorative power of the God we serve.
Because of her, the dump in Trujillo WILL be transformed by the power of Christ. It will become a place where children are no longer truant, but, instead, are supplied with education that will lift them out of their current circumstances. It will become a place where women are taught to make artistic handicrafts out of the recyclable materials that are found. It will be a place of beauty—an oasis in the desert with an enchanting garden full of trees. It will be a place where the aroma of Christ is strong, where the light of Christ shines brightly, and where His praises are constantly lifted up.
It takes one person, like Stephany, willing to be a vessel of Christ—to show the redemptive power of the Lord in a broken, dark place that He might be glorified in His work. It takes the body of Christ surrounding these people to encourage them and further their impact – through prayers and other forms of support.
May you be blessed by her story, as I was. May you be a blessing to her.
