* This is a blog from one of my teammates, Lindsay. That describes perfectly the ministry her and I sought out last month with the beautiful street children!
A Rainy Tuesday by Lindsay Davis
Crossing borders is a funny thing.
By crossing borders, I mean physically lugging all of the things you thought were important enough to carry around on your back with you for a year across the border of one country and into another.
We crossed from Cote d’Ivoire to Ghana (we were able to leave our things on the bus), Cambodia to Thailand and Thailand to Myanmar. The first two times, there wasn’t a huge difference between the countries.
But crossing from Thailand to Myanmar was a different story, it was like night and day.
Everything was different. Simply crossing a border felt like I had stepped into a different world.
The atmosphere was totally different.
The air.
The people.
The vibe.
The buildings.
It was so eerie. So off.
Every month is a transitional time, but in this season-everything is new.
New team.
New country (duh).
New ministry (duh).
You never truly know what ministry is going to look like-because ministry set up sheets are not always super accurate. This month we are teaching English and passing out flyers to promote the English classes we are teaching. When we arrive to our new home for the next three weeks, we learn we are working with a YWAM team for two of the three weeks!
New team.
New ministry.
New roommates.
There isn’t really enough room for all of us in our room, so Jess, Amanda and I kept our things by the wall and slept out in the main area. Each night we carried out sleeping pads like surf boards out to our bedroom.
Although it was such a blessing to have new friends from all over the world, this month was a little overwhelming with all the new.
I know, you’re probably like “Lindsay, do you know what you signed up for? You’re moving every month-shouldn’t you be used to this by now?”
Yes, I’m aware-this month was different.
We split up who taught which classes-which left Jess and I passing out flyers most days and teaching English only two mornings. Each day was a new adventure-we went different directions, talked to the same people a few days in a row, walked far-stayed near. If passing out flyers was the bulk of our ministry, we were going to do it well, dang it. (Side note-the three weeks we were in Myanmar, the classes grew tremendously-so handing out flyers is the way to go.)
Since handing out flyers only takes maybe twenty minutes to an hour, we had plenty of free time.
We are in the middle of a city-lots of people, buildings-you know things that cities consist of.
Each and every day we passed some kids who sat in the same area with a bag begging for money. I was in the middle of reading the book ‘Radical’ by David Platt, and I was convicted,“As I see their faces, I realize that I have a choice. You and I both have a choice. We can stand with the starving or with the overfed. We can identify with poor Lazarus on his way to heaven or with the rich man on his way to hell. We can embrace Jesus while we give away our wealth, or we can walk away while we hoard our wealth.”
Passing these kids every day who make a living on begging for money in order to survive. I couldn’t just pass them another day without doing something. So, another day Jess and I checked passing out flyers off our list and we approached our street kid friends once again.
Instead of just passing them today, we went and got them some snacks. After we handed them some orange juice, oreos and crackers, we hung around as long as we could in order to try and establish a relationship. Initially they wouldn’t even give us high fives.
So, we played. We laughed and giggled so hard. Jumped around. Did cartwheels. We danced. Thew a book around as if it were a ball. Chased each other around and just had the best time ever. We met their parents (we assume) and exchanged waves and smiles.
This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Each time we passed our new friends they ran up to us for high fives, blew kisses, dance moves and giggles. Even the parents would smile, wave & even blow kisses to us! Each time we passed this spot I stopped listening to any conversation I was in to seek out my new sweet friends (whoops-sorry).
They brought me light and joy each and every day this month. They broke my heart and gave me hope.
A few days later Jess and I brought colored pencils and paper out to play with our pals. We colored-snuck in some Jesus songs and laughed for as long as we could. Our sweet gal passed out her artwork to people sitting all around the area. They were always super polite-they even organized and gave back my colored pencils in the sweetest way. Our coloring session ended when someone yelled ever so faintly. Immediately our friends ran up to those around us to continue begging for money. Jess and I realized we overstayed our time today, so we prayed and then walked away with broken hearts for these kids.
On another occasion, Jess and I tried to color with our friends with an ABC’s coloring book. Today was a flop. A fail. It broke our hearts. We knew they wanted to play with us-but who was stopping them? Who the heck is behind this? How can we help? Can we stop this? Today we walked away with even more of a broken heart.
Jess and Linds take on Yangon yet again-passing out flyers. We went the long way around town, we sweat buckets, so we hurried into the mall to cool off in the AC. We were tired. Discouraged from yesterday.
I asked Jess, “should we try again today or should we wait and come back another day?”
So, we went for it. What could we lose?
We sat down with a coloring book and colored pencils. We waved over our friends as discretely as we could. They made their way over-slowly but surely. As we began to color with our friends, more street kids came up to us. Even a man. Everyone was sharing and coloring. Jess and I were sitting their in awe.
From babies to twelve years old and even a man, Jesus sent these kids to us today so that they could bask in His refuge which Jess and I held. We were amazed and heart broken at the same time. How many of them are there? Where are they normally? Who is in charge? How can we help?
One of the girls was holding a baby with a sash and as her sash moved a little to the side, it read “100% Jesus.”
Hmm. What? Jesus, you are so funny. So evident.
Another shirt said “Trust the Lord your God with all your heart.”
Okay, Jesus we hear ya and we see ya. Jesus was telling Jess and I that He has these kids who make a living on the streets. He has their families. He sees them and He loves them. Most importantly-He is taking care of them better than we ever could.
They are seen.
They are loved.
They are chosen.
They are good.
Their destiny is in HIS hands-not Jess and I’s.
We are just here to shine His light. This gal left for a moment and showed up with some yellow flowers. Jesus has been romancing and talking to me through flowers-so this was a bright sign from the Lord that He is here in Myanmar-with these kiddos.
The story does not end there. Bare with me.
A rainy Tuesday in Yangon-work does not stop for these kids. They sit in the rain, soaking wet, shivering, begging for food and money. After Em and I had a little lunch date, we come home to Jess super bummed. Super heart broken. Our friends are shivering. Cold. Wet. This is their life. This is how they survive. She bought them snacks and an umbrella. What else could she do?
I sat there pondering what we could do. We can’t fix their problem, but we can show them sunshine on a rainy Tuesday. Emily encouraged us to go all go and hang out with them.
We quickly got our things together and ran out to shine Jesus’ light on a rainy day. Flowers, music, nail polish, coloring book and pencils in hand-we were ready to hang out and love on our friends.
There were a bunch of moms sitting in a circle all together-we gave them some flowers. I gave the mom we initially met (OG mom is what we call her lol) flowers and she immediately put the rose in her hair-my kind of gal
Man oh man. Was it a party. At first we were listening to some Jesus tunes-but Emily’s speaker unfortunately died. Luckily-you don’t need music for a dance party. We colored, jumped and dance around, painted fingers and toes, colored, put flowers in our hair, sang Jesus songs, and sprayed silly string all around.
We were able to throw these kids into the air, swing them around and dance under the bridge on a rainy Tuesday.
Thank you Jesus for rain.
Thank you for breaking our hearts and piecing them back together again.
You are in Myanmar. We see You & we hear You.
So I encourage you, your circumstances may not be ideal. You may be in a new eerie town living with people you don’t really know. Each day you may have to do things you don’t really want to do-so go above and beyond. See those around you. Really, see them-and then go do something about it.
Jesus wants to use you for His glory-so go do the thing on a rainy Tuesday-or any other day.
