Today I walked up to a house for ministry and my heart immediately broke. For some reason, I was not expecting to see such poverty. I had seen gypsy kids in the street last month roaming the streets of Bulgaria, but I had not seen where they live. Today, Lisa and I were assigned the task of going with the missionary contact, Florina, to help visit families that she has developed relationships with. When we drove up, the oldest daughter informed us that the police had just picked up their mother. Florina was definitely caught off guard. What I didn’t connect was that we had just seen the mother a few minutes earlier and told her we were on our way to see her. By the time we had run an errand and returned, the police had come and taken her away. Florina quickly informed us what was going on and asked if we could manage while she went to the police station to see what was going on. We of course agreed and sent her on her way.
I looked over at the cement house and saw 2 little boys peering from the lace curtain that was the “door.” They both were naked and were just looking out confused. Lisa and I did our best to make sure that we appeared as if everything was under control. My first act was to find some clothes for the two naked boys. I went into the house and saw a small room with a bed and two bowls of yeast. Nothing else. The second room had two double beds, a TV, a satellite box and a DVD player. No clothes. I stood there a minute and looked around. My mind began questioning how 9 children and 2 adults live in this house. Where did they all sleep? Where were their clothes, shoes or blankets? And WHY was there a nice TV set up when they didn’t even have a kitchen. I knew my mind could not judge them, because I am sure their living conditions were not good. Maybe their TV was their only sense of normalcy. Or maybe it was their only way of entertainment or a look into the outside world?
I knew I wouldn’t fully understand their life, so I quickly went outside and tried to find something for the boys to put on. I found a clothes line with 2 pairs of underwear. They were still damp, but I figured it would suffice. Lisa helped and we put the underwear on the boys. Our purpose for going to this house was to help pick up garbage around the yard. Once we started picking up trash, the two oldest girls and the older brother (who was wearing red snow bibs and nothing else) began helping us. They thought it was so much fun. We quickly filled the 9 trash bags that we had brought. Collecting trash was fun. At least when you sing songs and make it fun!!
The little 2 year old was crying and I tried holding him. Fail! The only person who could console him was the oldest daughter. She was 11. The kids loved each other so much. I had not seen such a strong love with such small kids before. They were not frightened that their mom wasn’t there because they had each other. They were best pals. They were everything to each other.
Within an hour or so, the mom and the oldest son returned home. The oldest son was suspected for stealing. Fortunately in his case, he was innocent. His mom just had to go and be with him because he was a minor. But, their life is still something difficult. It is something that is much different than what I think I could handle. But, they are happy. They have each other. Family is number one for them.
