Adventures in Peru

There will be more to write in the coming days, but for now I have returned from the jungle and will fly home from Lima today. Here´s the net net:

Highlights: Playing with the kids, seeing our taxi driver and his wife accept Jesus, delivering medicines to the doctor who serves over 80,000 people, the cool team of people I was with, swimming in the waterfalls, seeing the beauty of the jungle, meeting with high-ranking government officials, dedicating the new Mercy Home.

Sad times: hearing stories of the kids and families in need, learning about the terrorism that hurt the region, and hands down - sitting with 90 year old Augusto who lives in the dirt crippled up and blind- thankfully he will be moving into the Mercy Home.

Unexpected: Becoming a godmother to my Taxi drivers two kids in a church ceremony, having one of the tribal people at the first Inca village come running at us in face paint with a spear, seeing a freshly killed large poisonous snake, riding on the top of the van through the jungle, dancing with the Inca tribes, being interviewed on the radio, having a bat flying around on of the ¨hotel rooms¨, eating cow heart, dedicating the new medical building by breaking a bottle of champagne over it.

Pictures and video to come later. But this trip really encouraged me in the work of Giving Children Hope. The doctor, the mayor and all of the people came out and were so grateful for the medicines, which cleared customs on the last possible day (praise God). The community felt blessed. Additionally, because we worked with Mercy Homes who is running projects on the ground, they gained favor in the community.

What a wonderful thing to see all that God is doing in the jungle of Peru!

Who are the Poor?

My blog that I promised my friend and web developer Brett (although the title web developer doesn’t do him justice but I don’t know what else to call him) is about partnering in non-profits. All of the organizations we work with come together to serve the poor in one way or another, whatever that means to their specific mission.

This morning in my daily devotionals by a favorite author and dare I even call him a “friend” Henry Nouwen, I was reminded that all of our partners also need care and that many of them are the poor, even if they might be financially rich.

I was particularly reminded of this with our volunteers. We get all kinds of volunteers in our office. They might be the stable individuals who are so filled up they are over-flowing to give back. But people volunteer for a number of reasons and our Volunteer Coordinator can tell you about the people that come through her office.

We have people who volunteer with us because they are developmentally disabled and unable to perform other types of work, so they become a part of our fabric sorting through items into categories. We have the people who are socially awkward and have a hard time making friends. We have the community service workers, many who really do not want to be there, volunteering their time. We have the elderly who used to have thriving careers and now are longing to find ways to spend their time. We have young people who are required by the high schools to come in. In other words, many of the people who come through our doors to give of their time are often in need of receiving; even if all they are receiving is acceptance and belonging to a cause greater than themselves.

One of the things I love about working for Giving Children Hope is that we make space for people from all walks of live to be cared for in our facility and to me this is part of the essence of the Church. And we love it when we can mix it up. You know, have the high school service club serve alongside the developmentally disabled volunteers together. In this way, they are each crossing the other side of the aisle and “serving the poor” that is right next to them while together serving the financially poor.

Read today’s devotional from Henry Nouwen about the poor:

The poor are the center of the Church. But who are the poor? At first we might think of people who are not like us: people who live in slums, people who go to soup kitchens, people who sleep on the streets, people in prisons, mental hospitals, and nursing homes. But the poor can be very close. They can be in our own families, churches or workplaces. Even closer, the poor can be ourselves, who feel unloved, rejected, ignored, or abused.

It is precisely when we see and experience poverty - whether far away, close by, or in our own hearts - that we need to become the Church; that is hold hands as brothers and sisters, confess our own brokenness and need, forgive one another, heal one another's wounds, and gather around the table of Jesus for the breaking of the bread. Thus, as the poor we recognize Jesus, who became poor for us.

So the next time think about volunteering I encourage you to not volunteer with just your large group of friends or Bible Study as a service project, but go rather with one or two and meet some new people. As you work together to serve the financially poor, meet some new people that might be poor in spirit and serve them as well. You might find that as you serve those people that they will in turn serve deep needs within you and you might in turn be richly blessed.