Becca's Blog
This blog is from our experience this past week at the city dump, and felt it was important to share it with you all.
Okay… processing… today we all loaded a bus and went to the “dump”. As we approached, the smell grew stronger and stronger, so strong that I started to gag as we passed piles of rotting trash. I held my shirt up over my nose, but was ashamed of my own discomfort as we began to pass people that lived in this stench everyday.
When the bus came to a stop, it was described as something like a scene from Zombieland. Out of the wasteland came people, men, women, and children alike. Although they craved food and water, I know what they really needed is spiritual provision. In John 4:13, Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The men lined up on one side of the bus and the women and children on the other. Their faces looked empty as Jacob and Christina shared messages with them. Jacob told them that they were beautiful and that it didn’t matter to God what you looked like on the outside – that He loves you anyway. While he spoke, a man approached me and asked me for water. I told him that he could get in line and that we would soon be serving spaghetti, tortillas, and water. I thought once again, if only you knew the living water that Jesus gives.
After the food was served, I surveyed the area, asking God where he needed me to serve others. Some girls were feeding a baby with no diaper, while others stood in circles praying. Our squad leader Robby followed a women around as she rummaged through the trash, carrying her bag of prized findings as she continued to search. I spotted several teenage boys lounging on a stack of flattened boxes covered in a blanket of flies and who knows what near the front of the bus, watching from the sidelines as us ‘gringos’ executed our typical efforts of feeding and helping the scavengers. The smallest one, whose name I later learned was Ronnie, was lying back like he was king of the mountain. I struck my best tough girl pose and waited for him to notice me. He smiled. He pointed to my shoes, motioning that he wanted them. I shook my head. I asked the boys their names and ages. To the best of my memory, there was Ronnie (14), Evan (16) and his brother who almost looked like twins (15), and Johnny (15).
Wanting to know more, I grabbed Christina D., a girl from my squad who speaks Spanish very well. She asked them if ‘gringos’ come to the dump often. They said yes. She asked if they liked it. They said it made them less hungry. Then she asked what they ate instead, and they said whatever they can find, usually watermelons or oranges.
Ronnie was back to his typical stance. So I pulled out another tough girl pose, he smiled again, and pointed to my shoes. One of the brothers then moved over and made a spot for me next to him on the boxes. I sat down. Looking down, I noticed that none of the boys had matching shoes on and only a few had laces. A girl approached and started to untie my shoes. I retied them super tight. She then pointed to my watch. I told her the time in the best Spanish I could. The boys all laughed, as I clearly didn’t understand what she meant.
People began to reload the bus, and I was swept up the stairs as the girl once again pulled adamantly at my shoe laces. As quickly as I had entered this completely different world, I was out of it.
As I reflect, I think about the reality that some people don’t have a choice as to where they live, what they eat, what they do for a living… I think about the baby that the girls were holding. That baby was probably born in the dump, and it may very well die in the dump.
So who will be willing to bring Christ’s love to the least of these? Who will tell them that God has a plan for their lives, hope and a future? Who will tell them that God is the living water and if they drink of Him, they will never thirst again? Who is willing to put aside their comforts, expectations, and standards of living so that these “untouchables” will experience eternal life in heaven?
These questions continue to echo in my heart and as we continue the race.
On another note, we will be leaving Honduras early Wednesday morning, August 1st and will be heading to our next month of ministry in Antigua, Guatemala. We should have a pretty stable internet connection, so more updates will be coming soon.
Financially, we still need to raise a total of $12,700 in order to finish the race. The first deadline we need to meet is October 1st, $3,700 more than what we have now. The final amount must be raised by January 1st. We are confident that this is what God has in His plans for us right now and ask you to consider supporting us as we continue in this crazy adventure God has laid before us.
Thank you for your prayers and support! Let us know if there is anything we can be praying for you all about!
