Wow, its Wednesday already. The days fly by as we spend time in La Chureca (the city dump) and spend time as a group, worshiping, praying, and seeking God, and his purpose of this trip. As the days move on, the intensity of what we see continues to build.
Yesterday, on a path in La Chureca, Moises (Moist with an es) stopped our friend and guide Daniel and asked him to pray for him. Moises has been addicted to glue for years, and he was high when we saw him yesterday. His desire to let go of the burden of addiction was evident by his stopping us and asking for prayer, but we also know that addiction is a hard burden to let go of. As we prayed for him, he dropped to his knees, and began to weep: asking God to help him.
The story of Moises is not an uncommon one. Addiction grips La Chureca, where its residents find any way they can to numb the pain that they feel, the children are left desperately wanting to be shown love and affection. They run up and hug you, clinging to you in hopes that you will touch them, giving them a second to feel the love that they so seriously need. We met children as young as 11 years old, already addicted to glue. Their eyes, just dark holes in the sockets, nearly void of life, numbed to the world that they live in.
Some people would argue that that is the only way to go through life when hope barely seems to exist. I argue that with love, and the peace that experiencing love produces, a stronger drug than anything they could ever afford, is produced. As proof, we went to the local school and fed the kids during lunch. We played with them, sang with them, and saw joy in their eyes from love, and affection freely given. Regardless of the conditions that they have to go back to, for a while they were totally free to be kids.
We also visited a girls home that Daniel and Jessenia started this year. We had a craft time, talked, played, and then they put on a performance for us. This home is important because the girls and one boy (Elias) are all from La Chureca. Their parents want to see them have a different life, and have allowed them to come to a place away from drugs and violence. A place where they can learn and grow as children.
As we ate and settled in for the night, we prayed as a group, and began to experience Gods presence like most of us had never felt before. Im still trying to work through what I was witness to, but you can check out our group Blog Mission 2 Nicaragua for Pastor Dougs thoughts. All I can say is I have never been in the presence of something so powerful, so clearly other-worldly.
On that note, its time for breakfast now, and Im really hungry. Enjoy some photos from the trip.
Check out some of our group blogs.
Mark:
http://leavingthemabetterplace.blogspot.com
Group: Aka Pastor Doug
http://mission2nicaragua.wordpress.com
More to come later today or tomorrow.
For the photographer minded out there. the majority of the photos are shot with a Nikon D2h in its 4megapixel glory with a Sigma 70-200 2.8. The rest are with a Nikon D700 with a Nikon 20-35 2.8. I’ll also have some film and Polaroids coming thanks to a SX-70 and the Impossible Project.
