It’s a mess

(Please note that wifi availability isn’t good this week - our blogposts May be infrequent)

On Sunday night at our team debrief we opened with a round of complaining- on purpose. There are things that make us uncomfortable, that are inconvenient and that just don’t seem right, just or good.  Sometimes we try to bury those thoughts and say something nice instead. We threw all our training out the window for one short moment in time!

The reason we did this was so that we could all agree that we are in a mess. We feel personal aspects of disorder and we see, hear and smell so many other messy realities while we’re here, working in the poorest of the poor communities. And then...

We were reminded that Jesus enters into the mess to proclaim His Kingdom! The mess isn’t a sign that Jesus isn’t there. It’s the indication that He is already at work.

And then came today.
We experienced a lot of personal inconvenience: our work sites ended up being too far apart; our two way radios died, our cell phone didn’t have reception, one team ran out of water, one team didn’t have first aid kits, and on and on. It was a logistical mess. Being reminded that Jesus works in the mess was timely and we certainly saw the Lord bring order from disorder: 4 families received homes that will change their lives. Their mess was and is greater. They needed to know that Jesus is present and He would care for them.

In the midst of the mess we saw the Kingdom of Jesus settle in and wrap around some families. One lady, Dalmi, needs you to talk to Jesus on her behalf. Yesterday her husband left, leaving her to raise two young children. He was going to try to make it to the US. Many don’t make it. Most don’t come back for or send for their families. She was fearful that she would be left, and we couldn’t say anything that would counter those thoughts.

Instead we committed to sharing her story so that others would pray to God on her behalf. We reminded her that God holds the broken-hearted close and that He promises to provide for the fatherless. We reminded her that God was already providing- with a house and we encouraged her to meet each day with gratitude and expectation that God still had good days ahead for her and her children.

People sometimes ask why we don’t just send money. Why? Because a cheque can’t drive an hour into a remote country village and climb 20 minutes up a steep mountain pass and sit across from a despairing woman to listen to her painful mess and commit her to the love and mercy of Jesus. She’s knows God has not forgotten her because God sent us to her. We know God has not forgotten her because he provided for us to get there.

Pray for Delmi. She’s in a mess but Jesus is with her and because of your partnership she now knows that.

Meeting the families

Sunday mornings are always anticipated because it’s the first chance we get to meet the families that will be receiving homes. Admittedly, the excitement in meeting them has, in previous years, been dampened by the fact that a few barriers exist. You may think it’s the language barrier, but that’s not it. The language barrier has always been closed by the excellent work of our interpreters. It’s the awkward barrier. The awkwardness of us Canadians being seated in the front row. The awkwardness of having families paraded in front of us and them having to answer questions in front of a group of strangers. There was plenty of awkwardness to go around.

But, something new has been done in recognition of that awkwardness while trying to forge a bond between two groups of strangers. The solution: fun, plain silly fun!!  Circle game laughter-relay game running-balloon passing-water being dumped on your head kind of fun! It’s a small change that acknowledges the awkwardness everyone feels and using that to show how similar we are in our initial apprehension and our ability to laugh at ourselves.

Today we played those games with 14 families. We will be working alongside them, as a first time recipient community.

Tomorrow we start to build...relationships and homes.