I think I already said this, but Team Transformers is working with Team Green Light in the slums neighborhood of Barroccones. some background: this neighborhood is roughly about 10 years old and was actually started by the DR government. Most of the people living here use to live in Guachupechu, which is another slums neighborhood nearby. However, there was major flooding there a while back and so the government deemed it unlivable and forced the people all to Barroccones. The sad thing is that Guachupechu now is full of a whole new set of families that technically the government could come in and kick out at anytime. We actually have another team working there this month.
Everyone we’ve talked to can’t believe we are working in this neighborhood. They say it is full of deaths, crime, violence, poverty, prostitution, drugs and just not safe. I would definitely not want to be there at night, but in the daytime I feel God’s protection over us. I haven’t been worried yet.
We begin our days at 8AM with a 45 minute walk there. yepp, 45 minutes. This is actually awesome for two reasons. 1- I absolutely love using the time for praise, singing and prayer. This past Monday morning as I was walking I had a super overwhelming sense of joy. I can’t even explain it, but I just started crying out of happiness in the Lord. If my short legs weren’t already putting me behind the group I would of dropped to my knees right then and there. It was an “I can’t believe you chose ME as one of your disciples God?!� moment. 2- it is great exercise to shed off all of the carbs we are eating. All we can afford on our budget is rice, beans, bread, pasta, PBJ sandwiches eggs and oatmeal. soooo I need all the exercise I can get.
Back on track… once we arrive, kids start coming from every direction following us. It is like monkeys waiting in the trees for us to play with them :] Pastor Tony, our contact, has established a quaint church inside the neighborhood. We go there first. The building is smaller than my apartment was back home, but yet it feels so homey there. A barbed wire fence, that doesn’t even seem to faze the kids, surrounds it. They climb all over it when we are eating lunch inside. exhibit A:
We take some time to rest from the walk, listen to worship music and begin our day in prayer. Then VBS time it is!! This week has been Old Testament week. We have already taught the kids on the beginning of God’s creation, Noah, Moses, Joseph and David and Goliath. Next week is all about Jesus!! The kids love all the fun games, like “God says� instead of “Simon says�. And nothing puts a smile on my face more than when we ask the kids questions at the end and they know the stories.
Within an hour of being there, all the kids start yelling “pelota� which means ball. We try to hold out for a bit longer on the balls to show the kids we aren’t here to just play with them, but to love and teach them about Jesus first. But sooner or later a game of baseball breaks out on the field, a game of jump rope, Frisbee, mickey mouse patty cake or my fav teaching them English. I love this because they help me with my Espanol back.
On Tuesday during our lunch break I was really discouraged and frustrated because the kids were being so disrespectful and violent; and to be completely honest, not that I don’t love those kiddos, but they take up so much energy, I was ready to be done for the day. There is always a lot of fighting; some of these kids just don’t have discipline or know how to share. Others on the other hand are great, both typical in any type of setting with children. I wrote in my journal asking God to show me why we are here… “Are we really touching these kids lives and not just babysitting them Lord???â€� After our break is started to rain (which was a miracle in itself, because it is so dang hot here) A big chunk of the group left early due to sicknesses so it was just 5 of us left all afternoon with about 40+ kids when we all speak pequito Spanish. I had the BEST time with the kids yet. God showed me these kids need so much love and by just being there I was doing my part. They were so much better behaved that afternoon. God showed up big time. I asked and He gave. We even got a game of Ninja going without it becoming total chaos! I realized that just our presence, being in the Light, was a blessing to them.
We’ve also been helping clean up the field some. When I say field I don’t mean a nice baseball field. The kids don’t even have bases, a bat or a real baseball to play with; they use trash for the bases, a led pipe for the bat and a tennis ball we bring them… sounds like a game of clue. And the field is a very uneven grassy, muddy, rocky part of land covered in trash and glass, lots of glass. Mind you most of these kids don’t have shoes. And it seems the hotter the day gets, the more and more of them show back up after lunch naked. ha. it’s so funny, especially when you’re the one they choose to follow around when they want to be picked up and held. hand sanitizer is our best friend these days.
We’ve met kids of all ages, one young girl is 16, looks 12 and has a 5 month little boy of her own named Elvis. This is very common. She is such a good mother and I make sure and tell her that everyday. Another young girl was so fascinated by my tattoo. She herself has 2 and kept asking me if she was allowed to travel with them. Tattoos are not common here without a negative connotation and so she thought she could not leave the DR with it. Her heart desires to travel and see the world. She is also 16 and has been married since she was 12. I continuously pray that even once we leave both these beautiful young girls know how much Jesus loves them and that no matter what they have been through they are His precious children.
Pray for a little girl named Carla. Here heart is so pure, but she has a lot of anger issues. When she does hug me though I feel how valuable she is. She needs love. lots of it.
I will be posting more pictures of the slums and the children later on, but our team has really wanted to build the relationships with the kids first, before we took a bunch of photos of them. Be praying for the kids of Barraccones. Their home lives are not the best and many of them will never know a life beyond what they have now apart from God. I just pray they come to know Jesus. His will be done. I pray they are not forgotten about, that they can break the generations of poverty and move foreword. That they too will not grow up and have kids who suffer from the same pain and damage. That God will bring Light into their lives for generations to come. I know He is in the DR watching over His beautiful children already.
