Hey all! I am SOOO sorry about the lack of an update here. I promise to give a full recap.
To begin--My third week trip in Libertad was one of the most intense trips. We did a VBS and home visits. We saw a very broken place. A place where there was a lot of substance abuse, and physical abuse of women and children. It was heart-wrenching. I met a woman named Diana. I and some others sat down with her at her home and made casual conversation. But then I asked her about her husband. She was disheveled looking, but had seemed proud of who she was, until I asked her about her husband. That's when her shoulders slumped, her eyes looked down and glossed over, and her breathing became weak...She went on to explain that her husband had been addicted to drugs for fifteen years and has left her to fend for herself and their eight children. She said she is exhausted, and wants to feel what she knows Christians feel, she said sometimes she cries to God to take her away from this life. Steven Inman got to share his testimony to her and give her hope for her husband. We got to talk to her about the love of God. And she expressed a real desire to come to Jesus. She didnt' want us to go. She just wanted us to be with her, to share in her struggles, and to love her. That's what compassion is--it means litterally, to suffer with. To truly identify oneself with the sufferings, oppression, distress, hurts of another. That's what Christ did.
Libertad was set ablaze. I saw young men--young men, hardened by the world of alcohal abuse and drugs--come to Jesus and hunger for his word. I saw a blind baby with a tumor on her neck who was abandoned by her mother receive nourishment thanks to the love of our group that week. I saw Jesus walk amongst Libertad.
After my time in Libertad, I moved to Red Bank, in the far south of Belize. Red Bank is a unique community in the mountains. They are Mayan! Still speak the language actually. One of the coolest moments of the week for me, was a day when I was helping the cooks prepare snacks or lunch or something. (Mind you, cooks cooking over open fire on the floor of thatched-roof hut. Oh yes, and did I mention the jaguars??) And, they wanted to teach me Mayan. I was shocked. A people so reserved, wanted to invite me into their world...to speak their language. To talk with them, like them, be a part of them. I was touched. How often do I invite people into my world??
In Red Bank, we painted the inside and outside of a church, did VBS, and prayer minsitry. My team was amazing...God was growing them up in their faith for sure. But God was also convicting me of my own pride and sin in my life. I have so much more to learn. So must to let go of. I am not God, nor do I understand His ways. I am just a broken vessel...and it needs to be that way.
This week, I'm serving in another southern rural community called Armenia, but we're staying in Belmopan, the capital city. We are putting a ceiling on a church, and doing a lot of sports ministry. I'm excited to meet this community. I'm learning to be more and more open to the peopel I'm serving. They have so much to teach me.
I love and miss you all at home! Please pray for me to be receptive to God's truth in my life, and for me to have renewed strength and energy!
Love.
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Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose"...Amen!
ReplyDeleteGreat work Hannah! Allow the Holy Spirit to work in you as you serve the Lord through these people. Remember, what we might consider a "flaw" in our character, God created it and has other ideas and uses for it, He will teach us! Think of that as you read the story of the water bearer below!
A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."
"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"
"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always know about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them.
For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.
Each of us has our own unique flaws; we're all cracked pots, but if we will allow it, the Lord will use our flaws to grace His Father's table. In God's economy, nothing goes to waste.
So as we seek ways to minister, and as God calls us to the tasks He has appointed for us, we shouldn't be cautious of our "flaws". We should acknowledge them, and allow Him to take advantage of them, and we, too, can be the cause of beauty in His pathway. Go out boldly, knowing that in OUR weakness we find HIS strength, and that "In Him every one of God's promises is a YES."
Great Job!
That's an awesome story about the two large water pots! I know, Hannah, that flowers are popping up all over the paths you've trod since your Belize journey began! I think you should bring your mom a wild flower back from Belize that I can keep pressed in my Bible! So much love to you! How I miss you! Your mommy!
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