Virginia- God heals the hardest heart

This is a post about a teen whose story impacted my life while I was in Cancun. For her security she will be referred to as Virginia in this entry.

Virginia looks to be about twice her actual age. She acts very mature and her body suggests maturity as well. I met her on the first day that I met Jamie. She was wearing a tight tank top with the casa hogar button-up shirt placed provocatively over the top.  I have never really understood what a face of stone looked like until I met Virginia. Her face was beautiful, but ice cold, her jaw set in a clench like I have never seen before, her eyes icy.  It was clear that she took out her pain in sarcasm and in disgust of those around her. Even with the hard shell it was apparent that this was a very hurt young lady.

In the first conversation I had with Virginia she made it very clear that she hated her life and hated the children’s home she was temporarily staying at. All I could think was how hurt she must be.

Two days after I first met Virginia our team of ladies returned to the children’s home to host a Christmas party. When we entered the home, my good friend and fellow staff member, Priscila, was encouraged to go up and talk with Virginia. “You have got to be kidding,” was Priscila’s reply. “Look at her, she wants nothing to do with us, let alone me! ”  However, the Holy Spirit kept prompting Priscila until she went over to introduce herself to Virginia. Priscila found out that Virginia was 15 years old. “My fifteenth year was very impacting,” Pris shared. “That year God placed many Christians in my life who spoke to me about Jesus. It was when I was fifteen that I had an experience with God and I have never been the same.”

Virginia stared at Priscila in surprise. “That is weird that you say that,” she said. “Just last night someone told me that I needed to have an experience with God.” Virginia then went on to share about how the night before her mom had come to get her and bring her home. When Virginia arrived home she began arguing with her mom, started uncontrollably freaking out, and tried to commit suicide. At this point her mom got scared and called the police to come and take Virginia back to the children’s home. As Virginia and the police officer were sitting in the squad car outside the children’s home, the officer turned to Virginia and said, “Virginia, have you not had an encounter with God? You need to have an experience with God.” Virginia was startled that now Priscila was also talking with her about having an encounter with God.

Priscila came up to me after this conversation with Virginia and told me what happened. As Pris was talking, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, that God wanted Virginia to experience Himself that day. I told Priscila that she needed to go back and share the truth of the Gospel with Virginia. Today was the day of her salvation, I was sure of it.

A little later Pris found Virginia and asked if they could finish their conversation. I saw them sit down on a stone wall and begin to talk. I knew that Priscila was sharing the gospel with Virginia, so I began to pray. Virginia was sitting very straight with a face of stone as Pris began to share.  I kept praying that the Lord would break through. That he would soften her heart so she could hear and receive what Pris was sharing. Suddenly as I was watching, and it was as if the stone mask on Virginia’s face began to crack and slide off. I have never physically seen such a change happen in a person. One moment she was sitting erect hard as stone, the next second she had tears streaming down her cheeks and a wide smile spreading across her face. That day Virginia’s name was written in the Lamb’s book of Life.  With tears streaming down her face, Virginia was laughing and smiling. Her countenance was completely changed! I went up to her and gave her a huge hug. I told her I knew that God had a plan and purpose for her life and for her being at that home. She hugged me back and through her tears said, “I feel so happy!”

It was apparent the moment Christ entered Virginia that she was completely changed. She had an experience with God that had been prophesied to her the night before. She was a new creation! Virginia was supposed to leave the children’s home that night to go back with her mom. God was so purposeful and strategic in his timing of things! There is not a doubt in my mind that He divinely ordained the events of that day to bring Virginia into his kingdom. Through this I saw that God can heal and soften the hardest of hearts.  Please keep Virginia in your prayers.  Her family has been involved with drugs in Cancun which can get pretty serious. Pray for her protection and for her continued growth in Christ. Praise Jesus for this salvation!  

Virginia and her friends at the casa hogar.

Thanksgiving at El Retiro Juvenil

I was privileged to go with a group out to ERJ children’s home the day before Thanksgiving. After a day of work and ropes course events, we came up to the cafeteria to see these friendly faces!!! 

A turkey :)

Pilgrims and a turkey

A pilgrim, or as Luis told me, "a north American"... I tried to explain to him that he was dressed as a north American from a LONG time ago and that most of us, don't really look like that anymore.... I'm not sure he totally got it! 

Some of the children were involved in a Thanksgiving play that night. I was touched to see all the hard work put into their costumes. Literally there were at least 3 encargadas working all day on the costumes. I remember my mom spending days making Indian outfits, or pioneer costumes for me and my brothers and sisters.  It was beautiful to see these kids getting the same treatment from their caretakers.  One thing I love about ERJ is that the directors and caretakers really treat the kids as their own. The costumes were well-made and very detailed and the kids were having the time of their lives!

Thanksgiving in the Rio

Thanksgiving was a joyous time in the Rio this year! We were accompanied by a wonderful group of mothers and daughters from Columbus. We really wanted to talk to the people about giving thanks to God for the things that they DO have and the many things God has blessed them with. Often the focus of the people in the Rio is on their needs, their insufficiencies, or the things they are “faulta,” as we say in Spanish.  We wanted this day to be a day when the people we minister to put their sights on God and thank Him for the things they do have… life, health, family, friends, etc. … for in fact, He has given them many things!

To help the women and children count their blessings I designed a “Thanksgiving Tree.” Each person wrote on a leaf what they were thankful for that year and stuck it up on the tree. It was a great time to count our blessings together and focus our attention on God who fulfills all our needs.

The afternoon was spent playing with the kids and making fleece blankets with the women. What a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving. 

Putting up leaves on the tree

  

                                                   

                                           

   "Thanks God for B2B"

 " Thanks God for having guided me up till here and for giving me some brothers in Christ Jesus. Thank you for giving me wisdom and intelligence for everything or almost everything in life.
Thank you Father - Benny" 

 "Thank you God for... (a truck)"

Eating delicious Mole made from scratch. 

Making blankets with the ladies! 

Can we be Thankful for Poverty?

I remember as a child sitting around the Thanksgiving table with my family and all of us taking a turn to say what we were thankful for. The common things mentioned were family, friends, warm house, clothes, and it never failed that someone was thankful for turkey! We always mentioned the things that we had and gave thanks for those things. In my mind I would compare myself with someone who didn’t have the possession or positions I did, and sincerely thank God that He had chosen to give those things to me.

After working closely with the people in the Rio for over a year, my thoughts on giving thanks have changed a bit. It is easy to look at poverty and feel sympathy, pity, and guilt about what we have and what they don’t.  However, have we ever thought that poverty could be a thing to give thanks for in and of itself?

A family in the Rio.

Poverty is “the state of one with insufficient resources” (Merriam-Webster). It is the knowledge that you can’t take care of yourself and your family on your own. With poverty come dependence and humility and the deep realization that you need help, that you can’t satisfy your own needs. Many times we look on poverty through our self-sufficient lenses and are disgusted by it. However isn’t humility and dependence on God to satisfy our needs exactly what our Father in Heaven desires of us?

Often, when we have all the material possessions we need the thing we lack is dependence on God. We are able in many ways to provide for our own needs. We don’t really need Him. When we have too much we are tempted to disown our God, forget about Him and say “Who is the Lord?” (Prov. 30:9).

In Matthew 5 Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” ‘Blessed’ is a word that means so much more than happiness. It means a spiritual joy and well-being.  Oh how much eternal joy a person has whose spirit is dependent on God and humbled before Him!

 Recently I was talking to a Mexican friend who experienced a severe time of financial need before coming to serve with Back2Back. His told me stories of walking 4 miles to get to school because he couldn’t pay for a bus ticket and about how he and his sisters would go to bed early at night because it helped them forget about the pain in their gnawing stomachs. “That time was hard,” he said, “But I wouldn’t trade what I learned for anything. During those years I saw the Lord’s provision for me in ways I never could have dreamed.”  He then went on to tell story after story of the miraculous ways his Father in heaven provided him with food, clothing, school supplies, etc. Stories of people calling and inviting him and his sisters to eat the day they ran out of food, others dropping by with bags of groceries right when they weren’t sure what they would have for dinner, stories of finding the materials he needed for school laying on the side of the road. As a result of his poverty, the man’s faith in God is unlike any I have seen.

The Kingdom of God is about the least being the greatest, the last being first, and the weak being strong so that ultimately the Lord is glorified. We can praise God for weakness, humility, and poverty when it causes us to be dependent on Him and when it builds in us a testimony of His faithfulness.

Are there ways in which you can thank God for poverty this Thanksgiving?  

Welcome Home J.J. !!!!

On Saturday J.J. Lail was welcomed back to Monterrey, Mexico by this happy crowd of B2B staff and teens at the airport! J.J, a fellow staff member, has been fighting jaw cancer for the past few months and had to go back home to Ohio for surgery and radiation. Four months later he is back with us in Monterrey ready to continue the journey here! We praise God for J.J.'s return and continue to pray for whole recovery to his body!

A Thank You for our Rio Servants

Meme with her children (and spouses) and grandchildren at Santa Lucia. 

What a great day it was about a week ago, when Cathy Huffer and I took some of our Rio friends out for the day! Meme has been serving faithfully at the Rio soup kitchen for several years. She cooks, cleans, sings, preaches... does whatever she needs to to serve the Lord and love the people. About a year ago another woman from the area, Anita, began faithfully volunteering her time at the soup kitchen each week. Anita has been a huge blessing to Meme and to us! She arrives early every Saturday to help with the cooking which takes quite a load off of Meme's shoulders. 

We wanted to thank these ladies for their faithful service, so Cathy and I organized a trip for their families to a local park for a picnic and boat ride.  Santa Lucia is right in the downtown part of Monterrey. It is a beautiful river with parks and swing sets beside it. It is similar to the San Antonio river walk and passes right through the center of the city. Meme is forty-something and has lived most of her life in Monterrey. This would be her first time ever to Santa Lucia. 

So two Sundays ago we loaded up two suburbans with fried chicken, tortillas, and 16 people and headed out for the day! 

Anita and her children.

 The kids and adults loved the play sets in the park, the fountains, and boat ride. It was fun for me to see them enjoying themselves so much. .

Mariana playing on the swing set.

All of us before the boat ride!

Five fascinated girls on the boat.

We are truly thankful for the service these families give into their own community! It is hard work each week but both Anita and Meme faithfully show up to serve at the soup kitchen. It was a pleasure to bless these families with just a tiny taste of our gratitude, but we all know that the best reward will be when they hear their Heavenly Father say, "Well done good and faithful servants!"

Little Boys :)

I just had to put this picture up on the blog because it makes me chuckle! These are little boys from Rio3 having the time of their lives :)