Tuesday, October 1, 2013

From the Trash to School!


I feel the cool air in the break of day coming through the cracked window, as I reach to turn off the chimes that wakes me before the sun arises.  The anticipation of what will come in the next hour is enough to make my feet hit the floor.  Already my mind is flooded with what the day, the week the year will represent.  Four kids, going to school for the first time ever!  Breaking the chains of generational poverty, what does that mean?!  How will it change the existence of many families living in conditions that are beyond comprehension in the 21st century? 

As I jump in my car to drive just 3 blocks behind my apartment to another world, a place called the "Gardens."  An area where many families live in houses made of mud bricks, with no water or electricity.  They survive day to day by rummaging through the trash recycling plastic bottles and metal items they find in exchange for less than 1 USD a day.  After 2 blocks the asphalt street changes quickly to dirt and rocks.  As I dodge the holes and stray dogs that bark endlessly I arrive for our first 2 kids.  I sound the horn and quickly the girls come out smiling in great anticipation of their first day of school.  Their hair finally clean after one week of sorting through each strand for dead lice and eggs!  Their clothes filthy from the weekend spent in dumpsters, hands and nails black from sitting hours carefully breaking and eating their way through many black walnuts. 

The excitement and anticipation fills the atmosphere in the car with joy!  As we drive further on, dogs still barking we stop again for our next boy.  He bolts from the house and jumps in the back seat.  We move forward, dodging holes and driving on make shift roads, again we stop, sound the horn and in the front yard the Uncle who is sleeping outside the house arises from the front yard, sleeping outside because he was locked out for drinking to much the night before.  Out the boy comes, dressed, cleaned and wearing a suit proudly that his parents bought for him.  He is careful not to step in the mud, as his shoes are new as well! 

The chatter in the car is short lived as we drive 5 blocks back to the Community Center.  All jump and run to the door, the echo's in the hall are deafening, just after day break.  Girls in the bathroom first, as they wash, change into school uniforms and are transformed right before our eyes!  Next, the boys, again a transformation in every way is unbelievable, "From the Trash to School!"


Now our kids can pray and they thank God for the food, the Center and for God to help them learn.  They eat the cereal and then brush the teeth.  I laugh at loud at this thought, they stand at the sink and every time they spit into the sink they show each other the blood that comes from their gums.  Gross, but funny!  I assure you, after 2 weeks the blood barely exist.  Can you imagine not brushing your teeth everyday? 

The first day's excitement was short lived as quickly the war begun!  After a couple of days, they began to drop out one by one and refuse to go to school!  We called for an International prayer to fight with us and suddenly 2 of our kids had a change of heart and for the past 5 days the adjustment and change is not hard!  We have a routine in the morning and for the first time today they entered the classroom alone and began speaking to their classmates!  A miracle, I want to tell you, an absolute miracle!  Now we have some momentum and the spiritual atmosphere has freed us again from the poverty that was trying to hold us back! 


Today 2 of our older boys had their first day of school.  Although their school did not start until 12, they insisted to come to the Center with the other kids at 7.  They were so proud to go to school.  They wore their new uniforms, shoes and backpack with so much pride, they were so dang cute!  Today another link in that chain was broken.  Four kids, from 3 families who never had one person from their family to attend school and they did it!  They are the first! 



 It has rained for 72 hours straight here, and is still raining, the streets and the Center is flooded and the roof  is leaking!  The dirt and rock road where the kids live is a muddy mess and my car slid in the mud today to get them, but we go them and they went to school against all odds!  Even though we are covered in rain and clouds the Son was shining on us!  It was an awesome day! 
 

"From the Trash to School!"  Don't stop praying for us!  We are winning the war!

Together we are breaking the chains of poverty...One step at a time! 

www.steppingstonemissions.org

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Seeds Falling on Good Soil!

 




 
 
...But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”  Matthew 13:23
 
24 kids, 7 leaders and 2 weeks of planting good seeds deep into the hearts of kids who have had many challenges in their short lives.  Imagine to take 24 members of your family on a vacation and the preparation it takes to accomplish this.  The kids show up on camp day with the clothes on their back.  So our team prepared 24 sacks of clothes, 3 pants, 3 shirts, 3 underwear, 3 socks, shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, snacks, meds...well you get the idea.  If you add it all up, multiply it by 24 and you can somewhat imagine what was it was like for our team.  That does not include the hours spent sifting through mounds of hair to remove thousands of lice and eggs, haircuts for all the boys.  And all that was before the kids left. 
 
The anticipation of the camp for the kids is uncontainable!  The excitement, the joy, the smiling faces is enough to make you want to take 50 more kids! (it is only a passing thought)  It is the only day of the year they actually show up on time and clean!  We picked them up at 8 am and off we went to the Community Center for one last shower, check for lice and to change the clothes.  Each kid is given a bag of clothes, a toothbrush and a pair of shoes with their name on it!  Makes me smile, as I reflect back and remember the faces as they pull out each item and hold up and show to the others!  Such immediate ownership and value they take in one simple bag of things. 
 
Car sickness meds are given, a verification to make sure we have plenty of plastic vomit bags and bottled water are essentials as riding in a car for 2 hours is not very normal, in fact unusual for most, and off we went.  I answered a thousand times in 2 hours the question, how much longer?  And like most of you I answered the same every time, "30 minutes."  The girls did not stop speaking the entire 2 hours, some slept, some sang and all was so surreal and normal. 
 
When I was  driving I think about how much they have grown up in the last 4 years I have know them. I think about the circumstances in each of their families.  I think about how much they have learned in the programs, how the advancements at the time seemed so challenging and now seemed so simple.  Most can write their names, recognize most letters, they know the colors, numbers, simple addition and even some can read simple words.
 
The most amazing thing is that our team also taught them Bible stories, how to pray, how to ask and believe that their is a God and He has a son and His name is Jesus.  God sent us here to tell them this, to tell them that He loves them and He cares for them. Most did not have a concept of God, who He is, but now they know!  They know that He is the Creator of all things, especially them and us!   Over the last 4 years this, to me, is the most valuable, simple thing we could teach them and it is bearing good fruit!  We have a foundation to build on now, a relationship, an opportunity to build on this foundation, the possibilities from here are endless! 
 
In these 2 weeks, the girls learned about Esther and how she prayed and God used her to save an entire Nation, that they are queens, special and they to have the same opportunity as Esther!  They learned to pray out loud and on their own for the first time in their lives.  The boys learned about David, and with God they can be fearless, warriors!  They understand that they are simple kids, just like David and they too are Kings and can love, worship and be men who love God. 
 
Thank you to everyone who invested, partnered, prayed, volunteered and worked!  Your investment is changing generations! 
 
Together we are making a difference, one camp at a time, one sandwich at a time, one bag of clothes at a time, one prayer at a time, one letter at a time, one number at a time...