I have been praying for months that the Lord would break my heart for what breaks His. On October 11, 2010 He answered that prayer and it hurt. I feel like I got a small glimpse into how much God’s heart aches for His children. Tony, the missionary we are working with, has built relationships with many street kids but the Lord has placed one particular family on his heart. Lilian is a mom to Christopher (15), Josue (14 ), Carlos (13), and Fernando (11). Many years ago Lilian made a choice to abandon her four boys to live on the streets with her four boyfriends. The boys were left to fend for themselves. Their grandma, who lives a few shacks down from the boys, tries her best to take care of them but she is getting old and is not able to provide them with much. All of the boys, except Carlos, get high off of paint thinner. In that moment I just wanted to shower Carlos with love and attention. So I went and sat next to him on the mattress and just started rubbing his back like my mom would for me, and praying a silent prayer over him. Every child deserves to be loved and to have an example of what love is. They deserve to be showered with Christ’s unconditional love. Until Tony came around, I don’t think these boys have felt truly loved in years. Carlos and his brothers are only a few of the many children living in broken homes in Los Pinos. After spending time in Los Pinos I had so many questions in my heart. Where do you even begin in such a broken and dark community? How do you even begin to meet the needs of so many hurting people? How are 13 people and 1 missionary going to change one of the darkest communities in Tegucigalpa? Can we really make changes that stay in place once we leave? Can we truly have an impact on Los Pinos in just 4 weeks?…..as I worked through these questions I realized that God is the answer to all of those questions. “Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” – Isaiah 59:12 In Jesus’ name Los Pinos will be repaired and restored!
Tony with two of the street kids, Luis (14 on the left) and Henry (18 on the Right)
However, Tony has done some incredible things with the boys and with Lilian. All of them are going to church now, and a few of the boys come up two days a week to work on la finca (the farm) which is the place we are staying. All of the boys respect Tony and all of us, which according to Tony would have never happened a few months ago. So big things are happening for these boys, however they still live on their own in the poorest of conditions in Los Pinos, which is one of the most violent areas of Tegucigalpa.
Yesterday (10/11/10), all 13 of us went to Los Pinos to pray over the “colegio”, which is an abandoned school that we will be using to do ministry in (more to come about that ministry in another blog). On our way up to the “colegio” we stopped by the adobe that the boys live in. As we entered the adobe, my eyes scanned the room and stopped on Carlos. Carlos was laying on a dirty mattress in his 3 room adobe house (one of the walls collapsed a few weeks ago), holding his stomach with tears in his eyes. When Tony asked him
what was wrong he said he
Praying over the “colegio”
was sick and threw up a few times last night. That is when the moment happened. It is hard to put into words exactly what I felt in that moment but my heart ached in a way it never has before. It absolutely broke my heart to see him laying there with no mom to get him medicine, make him soup, or rub his back to make him feel better. I don’t know why that moment hit me so hard, but I had to step outside to compose myself.
My buddy Carlos (Photo taken by my teammate Mary)
Some of the kids in Los Pinos playing on the dirt soccer field.
Through God’s love and the Holy Spirit working and moving through us, all things are possible. You begin by pouring out God’s love, provide people with hope in Christ, walk in faith knowing that God can do the impossible, and find peace in the fact that God has always been in Los Pinos and will be there even when we leave. God has called us all here to fight for light in Los Pinos, and we are clothed in His armor ready to fight with everything in us to take a stand against injustice.
