Serving (Breakfast)

Singing before breakfast

This morning the students helped us serve breakfast to around 20 of the kids of El Callejon.  Along with a few of ‘our girls’ were some of the younger kids of the community.  There were also a few of the boys.  The students cut up ham and cheese and rolls, and served them, along with hot chocolate. 

Although many of us might not consider this the most nutritious breakfast, it’s actually a lot more than most of them usually get.  (A typical breakfast here is a pack of cookies or chips.)

Of course, more than the simple food, we want to show the kids of El Callejon the simple truth – that Jesus loves them!  Keilah (one of our Little Girls, age 9) prayed to begin our time together, and then we all sang some praise songs. 

What a joy to see the kids enthusiastically sing out about Jesus!  After eating, we sang some more, and then Fernando (age 10) prayed to end our time. 

We love the fact that when we ask the little ones to pray, several hands immediately fly into the air.  Yes, we know part of it may be showing off un chin (a little bit) for the American students, but it’s still so wonderful to see them eager to pray. 

We want to continue to encourage them to make prayer a part of their lives.  Both being comfortable praying out loud in front of others, and, of course, a personal life of prayer, as well.

This afternoon our Adult Women came… and kept coming!  The weather has been super hot and muggy, and many of the women walk more than 20 minutes in the heat and humidity, just to spend time at the site learning about Jesus and doing crafts together.  We feel blessed, and a sense of huge responsibility to teach them each week from the Bible. 

We began our time singing praise to God.  As with the little ones, it was a joy to hear voices lifted up in worship of our amazing Father!  During our Bible study we talked about I Corinthians 15:1-10, where Paul tells us that the gospel is that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and was raised again, all according to the Scriptures.

This is the only hope, the only truth, we have, and so each week, we want to help encourage the women to persevere in seeking Jesus, through reading His word, prayer, spending time with other believers.

The women display their hard work

After the Bible study, the women got to display the table cloths they have been carefully painting for the past several weeks.  Not only will this be something lovely for their homes, but we hope it fills them with a sense of accomplishment, too. 

Smiling faces and a job well done!

So often the women are told that they don’t have skills, don’t have value.  We want them to know that they have value as daughters of our King, and that they can create things of beauty as His image-bearers.

The little ones, not-so-little ones, Dominicans, mericans, boys, girls, women...  Each person who came to the Site today is known and beloved by God.  Whether it was serving a ham sandwich to Jafresi or helping Francia find I Corinthians, we praise God for the privilege of serving Him in El Callejon.

Negra & Jeriel

This week we’ve welcomed a new team of students to the El Callejon Social Work site.  We know we have students again, because Gabriel is back.  Gabriel is one of the boys who lives close by, and when we have teams, we can see him peeking around the corner of the front door, checking out what we’re doing. 

Along with playing with kids like Gabriel, and helping with our various groups and activities, we take the students on home visits to help them experience the lives of the women in a more intimate way.  One of the women we visited yesterday was Negra, who has a new son.  Negra is 27 years old, and has five children – 11, 9, 5, 2 and 3 weeks.

Negra did not want this child.  When she found out she was pregnant, she was furious.  Negra has one of those faces that can look really, really angry – and did she ever!  She marched around the doctor’s office, shaking her head and telling Daisy it wasn’t possible. 

The truth is, it shouldn’t have been.  Negra had had surgery to have her tubes tied some months before.  A pregnancy test was done, coming back Negative.  But, she actually was pregnant at the time.  In His love and mercy, God kept the little one safe.  Three weeks ago, she delivered by Cesarean. 

Pedro, Negra’s ‘husband’, has never had a son.  He’s had several daughters (sadly by several women) but never a son.  Even though we know that’s not how it works, when it looked like Negra was going to have a boy, folks started talking.  Would Pedro accept this child?  Would he reject him, since it couldn’t be his since he only has daughters?

But, again, our God is full of mercy and love!  When he was born, 6 pounds, with a full head of hair, Daisy saw that he had the exact same face as his older sister, Jafresi (age 2).  Instead of rejecting his son, Pedro is proudly telling everyone about him.  For now, this precious little one is named Jeriel, but Negra told us Pedro may want him to be named after him. 

And… the woman who stomped around the doctor’s office now spends her days cuddling her newborn baby.  That may seem like an obvious thing to most of us, but she has not always responded this way with her children.  Her angry face softens, transformed into beauty.  We asked her if she was happy… “Yes, I am happy.” 

We pray for this family, for the lives of each child, for Negra and Pedro.  We know that it’s only been three weeks, and so much in El Callejon changes in an instant, but we praise God for the transformation we are witnessing.  We stand in awe of perfect, tiny ears, silky soft hair, ten fingers and toes, a new life. 

God knows and loves Jeriel, his mom and dad, his sisters and brothers, and has a purpose and plan for his life.  What a blessing, what an honor and privilege, to see our Father at work! 

(PS – we know, we know, you want a picture!  Jeriel was fast asleep on Negra’s lap, so we didn’t want to wake him.  You’ll just have to take our word for it for now… he’s adorable!)

Bastónes & Freedom

Today was Kaylee’s day.  Kaylee, our Summer Intern, took the lead with both our Tuesday morning group of Little Girls (ages 6-10) and our Tuesday afternoon Teens (ages 15-19).

We’re continuing to read through a Children’s Bible with our Little Girls, and so Kaylee read (in Spanish!) the story of the Israelites complaining to Moses for food and water.  She also came up with the most adorable craft… making bastóns (staffs) like Moses had! 

Kaylee helping Keilah decorate her bastón.

Ribbon, stickers, glitter & glue.

After reading the story, we sent the girls outside to find sticks out back, which they did enthusiastically.  Then, we got down to decorating.  And, that meant Glitter!!  Yes, we know Moses didn’t have a staff with stickers, glitter and beads, but, they sure did turn out cute.  It was a lot of fun, and worth all the glitter we’ll be wearing for the next week or so!

In the afternoon Kaylee shared a part of her powerful testimony.  She is just a few years older than our Teens, and struggled with some of what they are facing, and so is able to speak into their lives in ways Daisy and Kimberley cannot.  It was wonderful to see the teens really focused on what she was saying, and asking good questions afterwards. 

Kaylee shared that she used to live for herself, but when God called her, He asked for all of her.  She said she tries to live each day, not her life, but His life in her.  Wanda asked what she felt now that she was living like this. 

“I feel free.  People think that freedom means being in control of your life, but they are wrong.  Freedom means allowing God to be in control.” 

What a powerful reminder for each one of us!  True freedom does not come from grasping for control, but in opening our hands and allowing God to work out His plan, in us and through us.

We praise God for the way He has been at work in Kaylee’s life, bringing her to this place at this time.  We’re excited to see how He continues to use her life to bring Him glory in El Callejon… and beyond!

Organizing

In order to be able to minister well, to be able to welcome our next team of students, this is a different kind of a week for us.  When we moved over from the old site, we kind of gathered everything up and just got it into our new closet, without taking a lot of time to organize. 

With our wonderful and action-packed outreach, which included activities like the Open House and Mothers’ Day Fiesta, the closet got worse and worse.  In fact, by the end of last week, we were having a difficult time putting our hands on a pair of scissors!  So, this week, it was time to pull everything back out of the closet, and start organizing! 

How’s it going?  Kaylee (our awesome summer intern) said it best.  We’re in that in-between stage of growing out your hair.  You ladies will likely know that stage when hair is not short enough to be cute and sassy, but not yet long enough to really style. 

That’s what the site looks like right now.  Everything is spread out on tables, counters, the floor, and while it’s looking a bit of a mess, we know we’re getting closer to something really nice.  Because of the mess, we’re not holding all of our classes this week.  We’re still doing some one-on-one discipling and visiting, but for the most part, we’re tackling the stuff. 

Angie (center in blue) helping with our Little Girls

We have to take this time to say a special thank you to Angie.  Angie has a passion for El Callejon, and has come down for the past several summers, on outreaches, as a summer intern, and as a volunteer.  She’s on ‘vacation’ this month.  It’s in quotations, because her vacation has meant spending long, hot days helping us minister in El Callejon! 

We know she loves the community… and the community loves her, too!  We feel so blessed by Angie, and pray confidently that her new job in the U.S., working with abused women, will extend that blessing to many more hurting people.  Dios te bendiga!!

Important

We walk up to the Site, unlock the main fence, then the front door.  We walk in, put our lunch cooler, backpacks, and water bottles down.  We open the back door and the window blinds.  We pull out our schedules and sit around the table. 

As we pray for the new day and share testimonies, we start to hear giggles.  Standing in the doorway, poking heads up by the windows, little ones come.  Another day has started in El Callejon.

Frani, one of our daily visitors

Why do these kids come day after day?  We don’t have video games or television.  We aren’t giving them money or other stuff.  We aren’t feeding them.  Okay, the last one isn’t exactly true.  A bit of chocolate, a piece of gum, or a lollypop sometimes finds its way into their hands (and mouths!).  But, that’s not the reason they want to spend the whole day with us.

Why then? 

Because, the students pay attention to them.  Even without a lot of Spanish, the students try and talk with them, they play with them, they pick them up and swing them around, they cuddle, they laugh, they are happy to see them.  Such small, simple things. 

But, for kids whose moms don’t understand parenting beyond giving some food and clothes, whose dads are either absent or ignore them, this love and attention draws them to come, day after day.  

Sometimes people look at the cost of a short-term mission trip and think that the money would be better invested if it was just sent on.  There may be ministries where this is appropriate.  But, for us, it’s impossible to show the love Jesus without being here.

God showed us how important we are to Him by sending His Son to live among us. His feet got dirty walking dusting roads.  His hands full of germs touching diseased and leprous people.  The sun beat down on His head, He became tired and thirsty.  He moved from place to place, reaching out, teaching, loving, present with those He came to save. 

Immanuel.  God-with-us.  In His coming, in His being not just FOR us, but WITH us, we are transformed.  In our transformation, we are able to reach out with His love.  Watching the faces of the little ones of El Callejon light up as the students play with them, we see the possibility of transformation.  In the students’ love, we see the love of God-with-us.    

When Jesus left, He commanded us to go out into the world.  To be a part of God-with-us through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are humbled and blessed that these young women accepted God’s invitation, God’s command, to come and share God-with-us in El Callejon.

As we said goodbye to Charity, Sarah and Shelby last night, we paraphrased the familiar Forest Whitcraft quote:

A hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of car you drove, the house you lived in, how big your bank account was, even what your major was.  But, El Callejon, the Dominican Republic, and maybe even the world, may be different, may be a little better, because you were important in the life of Vanessa and Katherine and Gabriel and Frani.

We praise God for bringing students willing to come and be important in the lives of the people of El Callejon.  When students come and play with the little ones, share their stories, their love for Jesus, they let the precious people of El Callejon know that they, too, are important.  Important to us, but most of all, important and beloved of God.  And that has the potential to change the world.