The Alaska team with the members of the church that they helped
with construction
We arrived safely down in Chapala. Thank the Lord! The other
ministry intern, Cameron, and I drove all the way from Indiana. We were warmly
welcomed by Doug and Kari, the couple that runs the ministry we work for. We
have a really nice furnished apartment that is right across the street from the
Love in Action (LIA) orphanage that we work at. Our official roles are as
ministry interns for Deeper Water Ministries (DWM). Our responsibilities with
DWM will also include helping at Hope House, a boys only orphanage, hosting short-term
teams from the US, and helping with other outreaches in the community.
Just 3 days after we arrived our first team arrived from
Anchorage, Alaska. They were all happy to leave their igloos and polar bears
for a while and come down to the warm weather. :) They were mostly high school
students many of which had never been out of the U.S. or Canada before. Over
the course of the week I really enjoyed getting to know them and watch them as
they were stretched, being put in many new and sometimes uncomfortable
situations. They were a lot of fun.
They worked hard, helping a church in a small town about an
hour outside of Chapala pour a new section of concrete floor for their building
expansion, removing a large section of a concrete driveway at LIA to make way
for a new one, and doing several painting projects. At LIA, I spent 8+ hours
burning a pile of debris, mostly composed of leaves and branches, that had
accumulated over the course of several years (a very Mexican way of dealing
with the problem). The pile had become a breeding ground for bugs and rodents
(I found a giant possum and it about scared the pants off of me!). When we
started, it was probably 10’ wide, 30’ long, and 5’ high. We were able to burn
about ½ of it before the local environmental agency came and told us we were
generating too much smoke.
The team also helped with food donations in the same town as
the church. We went to a very small, poorly lit house with a tin roof and gave
a bag of food to a very old couple. The man was 100 years old and could not
speak. He could barely walk, but when he arrived he insisted that we all had a
place to sit. There were about 10 of us. He dragged chairs in from every part
of the house and then he walked down the street and bought us a bottle of Coca-Cola
so that we would have something to drink. It was absolutely stunning. It was a
herculean effort for him to do this for us, but that is the kind of man he is.
Hospitality is still very important in small town Mexico and it was even more
important for his generation.
The team also spent some time with the kids at Love in
Action and Hope House. The kids are truly wonderful and are always eager to
play. They are all dealing with the very real issues of having been abused,
neglected and/or abandoned, but they are wonderful nonetheless.
Orphanages are bittersweet places. All of the children are
in a much better situation than they were in before they were taken to the
orphanage (most were in some form of abuse or neglect), but none of the
children have what they really want, a traditional family. I wish the orphanage
could feel more like a home and less like an institution, but there is only so
much that can be done with the resources that are available. Just imagine if
you were in the 3rd grade and instead of going home after school you
and your entire class walked over to another building where you all lived
together. Imagine you spent all day everyday with the same 25 kids, eating
together, playing together, brushing your teeth together, and sharing
everything. It’s not a summer camp, it’s daily life for these kids. They are
well cared for and truly loved, but all they really want is a family of their
own.
One little boy, whom I will refer to as Juan, from the
orphanage has had some serious behavioral issues, including self-destructive
tendencies. He scratches the skin on his arms until he bleeds and then picks
off the scabs. This is a very dangerous habit as it puts him at a high risk of
serious infection. The first time I saw Juan I thought he had a skin disease,
but I later came to find out that it was a self-inflicted condition. Much like
the phenomenon of cutting that is prevalent in the US, Juan is probably looking
for a way of escaping the very strong and difficult feelings that come from the
abandonment and the abuse that he has suffered. We talked specifically about
Juan in our weekly staff meeting at LIA. He has dramatically changed in the
last 6 months. His behavior is much more positive and he has almost stopped
scratching altogether which is allowing his skin to heal. We are so grateful
for the work that God is doing in his life and in the other children.
The last day that the team was here we drove to a beautiful
lookout over Lake Chapala, standing under large majestic looking tree with
branches growing in all directions we prayed for each member of the Alaska
team. It was a really powerful time. God was moving in many of their hearts and
I believe that moment could have really cemented the impact of the trip in
their lives.
I am thankful to you all for your prayers, encouragement, and financial help. For those of you who would like to pray for me and for those who have
committed to praying for me my prayer requests are listed below.
May the Lord bless you,
Daniel
Prayer requests:
- For these kids to really feel loved by God and
by the staff
- For God the Father to give me his heart for
these children. I want to love these kids with a supernatural love that is
stronger than I am able to develop myself.
- For healthy team dynamics among the staff of LIA
and the staff of Deeper Water Ministries
- For a good church community for me to get
involved in and for a community of friends in Chapala
- That I would learn tremendously from this
experience and be able to discern if I should pursue this kind of work long
term.
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