I met Jesus in the trash dump today. He was using a mattress that had been thrown away for his bed and our bags from our water for his blanket. He had probably been eating and scrounging through all of our trash bags for food.
I woke up this morning with a stomachache having to use the bathroom. Really that’s nothing new for my time her in Peru, frequent bathroom use has become a norm for most all of my teammates. It was my team’s day to clean the dishes and the bathroom so I told them all that and no one really responded so I ended up doing the dishes with a friend whose not on my team. Then we began to worship through song as a team and I joined in continuing to have to push through my stomach pain. It is hard for me to want to worship and sing when I am feeling so crummy, but today I chose to press in and worship God the ultimate healer and provider.
We’ve come across a lot of sickness this month and I’ve struggled to know why we’re sick and how we’re supposed to be healed. In the United States we rely so heavily on medications and our own strength and knowledge to heal us; and we usually blame sickness on food or a number of other random factors. So I’ve questioned for a while now if I really trust God to be my healer. Can God really heal my stomach or any other ailments? Is the sickness an attack from Satan or just a consequence of being in a new environment eating random foods? I never thought of my sickness before as an attack from Satan. I’m still relatively skeptical but at the same time I want to believe that God can heal anything despite my doubt.
This morning despite my doubt and stomach pain I chose to worship God. I told my team again after worship that it was our day to clean the bathrooms and a few responded they were filling ill and others had other things to do. So I decided I would just do the cleaning on my own and try not to grumble about my dislike for the work and that no one was helping me. I knew I just needed to keep my mouth shut because if anything came out of my mouth it would not be pleasing to God or my teammates. As I began cleaning I was reminded of the week prior when a teammate and myself cleaned the bathrooms, and I grumbled the whole time because I had to clean people’s poop with my bare hands and a washcloth. God spoke to me during this time telling me that I needed to clean by myself and not say a word to anyone else. So as I finished cleaning I gathered the trash and headed to the trash dump that is just a little ways from the church where we are staying.
As I approached the trash dump my eyes were directed to our water boxes and then to a Peruvian man sitting on a mattress at the other end of the dump. I could see that he had a backpack and something that looked like an emergency blanket. I said Hola to him and he responded with the same and then I threw our bags of dirty toilet paper into the dump that is his home. Here I had been grumbling about my stomach and having to clean bathrooms and there is a man living in the place where I threw away our dirty toilet paper. Who am I? I stopped walking about ten feet away from the dump and was humbled by the Lord; I began to cry as I realized my selfish human nature. I turned around and went back to ask him if he was hungry and he responded yes, so I returned to camp to retrieve him some food.
As I was walking back I was thinking of who I could get to go with me since I am a girl and it wouldn’t be safe to go back to this man by myself. I immediately thought of Matt Snyder who has a passion for people who are homeless. I gathered food and asked Matt to walk with me and I explained the situation as we approached the dump. As we began our decent into the dump the man got up and met us in the center. He began speaking to us very rapidly and we tried to understand but neither of us speak Spanish. I caught that he kept saying something about Dios, God, but other than that we just listened to him talk for about ten minutes. During this time I kept asking God to give me the ability to understand and at random times the man would say words in English and some other Spanish ones that I knew. Many times I was tempted to tell him that I don’t understand but I was reminded that it is ok to just listen and stand humbly before him.
What it came down to was that all I really had to offer this man was my time, some food and the universal love that the Lord has given to me. I really wanted to understand but I don’t really need to when God already understands and knows him. We were able to listen and pray for him, and the simplicity of that was perfect. After we were done praying for him we began to walk up the hill of the dump humbled because we knew we had just encountered Jesus in the dump.
We found out later that the man may be a drug addict and that it is understood that he used to be a Christian. We were also told that he has been told about Christ and the importance of cleaning up his life but he hasn’t made the choice to change his life yet. We were then cautioned that it was probably best to leave him be because he may steal from us. We walked away understanding and respecting what was told to us about this man but choosing to not agree with the answer that we should stay away from him. We believe that if God wants us to serve this man that we should be there, now it’s up to God.
As I think about this situation I am reminded of Matthew 25:31-46 specifically verse 40 when Jesus says, “I tell you the truth whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine you did for me.” I’d rather help the least of these than consider them hopeless because of their sin they are stuck in. Today I chose to love despite my conditions and what the world and others tell me to do. Despite how I feel God is my protector, provider, healer and sustainer and I MUST FOLLOW HIM FULLY!
