When I left the United States I didn’t know how I would feel about the poverty that would surround me this year. This month I started out right in the midst of it. When we first met Raul we were told that Azua was the desert and that the place we would be staying was where no one wanted to live. It is the poorest of the poor. At one point Raul said that in all the places he has been it is the poorest place he has ever seen. When I got here I saw the city life…it wasn’t much different than anything I had ever experienced in the other countries I have been in. But then we were taken to the houses of the people we would be living with for the next 18 days. The houses are made out of concrete, they have tin roofs.The roads are horrible to drive and to walk on because of all of the rocks. There are dirty people and naked children that run freely through the streets. Many people just stand around all day. The poverty was apparent from day one. I don’t think I really reacted when I arrived. I was numb to it all. How do you comprehend something totally different that the life that you have always lived? How do you process a different way of life?
Now that I have been here for two weeks I see things alot different. When we enter the city where people are not as poor I see more poverty. It is a poverty of spirit. There is very little hope in the city. The looks of hopelessness is etched across there faces. Many people see us and either “pst” at us or say “americanos”. They want our attention, they want the hope that we have, but the hope they are looking for comes in the form of making more money and living life in their own power, with their own security and on their own terms.
When I enter the area of the poorest of the poor, in the area, I no longer see hopelessness. The ministry that Raul has brought has lifted the peoples eyes to God. I see a community who rely on each other. They weep with each other, laugh with each other, walk in abundance together, walk in poverty together and share everything. This is the church. Walking down the streets we might still hear “pst” and “americano,” but then we see smiling children running to be hugged, people waving, and our names being yelled out. The night ends together, everyone comes to one house and watches movies, plays games or just sits around and talks and shares with one another. They have learned to live in the hope of Christ. It reminds me of Isaiah 58:11, “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame, You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” There is still alot of desperation in this area. People are still miserable and trying to live life without Christ. But the example of the people who are following Christ is echoing in a mighty way in the community. People want to know the hope that they have.
I have had the priveledge of being part of a ministry this month where Christ is glorified. I have had the blessing of coming alongside many ministers of righteousness. It’s not just Raul and Zanza, but the youth in the church…Jennifer, Saraida, Saranyi, Joel, Eliezer, Hancel, Josevan, Arodi, Leo, Valentin, Kelvin…and the church members…Bella, Berta, and many others that I don’t know there names. Kids overwhelm the church and the school and the neighborhoods, yet they are quick to help each other…they are the future and now they have a future in Christ!
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9
