Heaven and Gauchupita

Dear Blog Readers,
      I know I haven’t written for a little bit so I wanted to tell you about how my time in San Juan is going.  I have gone through so many emotions here.  Sometimes I think I CAN’T MAKE IT 11 MONTHS!! I want to go home where things are clean, toilets flush toilet paper, running water is ok to drink, you don’t have to worry so much about getting worms or amoebas (which MANY people have gotten amoebas so far), and where there is AIR CONDITIONING!!! I have thought a few times I just want to go to MY HOME and escape this place.
     The crazy thing is…. this place that I describe to you…. This place where the houses are made with literally junk, old tin, barbed wire, sticks, garbage….This place where the water is unhealthy to drink, it is normal for people to lose limbs because of infection, poop is laying in the dirt roads and sidewalks, dogs have bones sticking out of them, children have only a few pairs of clothes which often don’t even fit them right… This place that I have wanted to escape from time to time… This Place IS these peoples HOMES…  I don’t know if you can quite wrap yourself around this idea.  The people here are comfortable in this living arrangement.  Most of them don’t even realize that it isn’t NORMAL or UNHEALTHY to live in a place like this.  When they want to escape… This place I describe IS THEIR PLACE TO ESCAPE TO….
     This blows my mind! As I walk through this town and have only been here for a few weeks it has become NORMAL to see these images.  I have found some comfort in this place, or at least I don’t really feel uncomfortable.  Sometimes I forget that what I see in front of me, is not what I am used to or normal for the society that I have been raised in.  My heart goes out to the people here.
     I just pray that we have influenced them some to become curious about God and How Jesus can save us from the things of this Earth.  I KNOW what it is like to live in American Society where things are ALWAYS convienent and for the most part clean and happy.  When I think about the people of Guachupita not knowing what it is like to live in a place where I grew up it makes me wonder about Heaven.  We don’t know what to really expect when we get to Heaven but we do know it is going to be soooo much better then Earth.  I can only imagine that the luxuries that we so desire here on Earth are NOTHING compared to what Heaven will be offering.  Kindof like on Earth we are living in Guachupita and Heaven is like America.  (Not that this really compares to Heaven and Earth but you get the point).  I pray that the people of Guachupita find God and are rewarded so deeply Heaven.