Have you ever took the time to look for where God may be
growing gardens of grace? God’s grace
abounds in the least likely of places.
Saturday was a day that was inspiring, encouraging, challenging, and
heart wrenching. And yet at the end of
the day, we could still find reason to celebrate.
After a time of reflection and devotions as a group, we were
privileged to have Joel Van Dyk join us for a time of reflection. His
passionate vision for mission is contagious, and we only pray that we can take
home some of that passion and continue to make it spread. He helped us “take the stained glass off of
Scripture and look at it from below.” He
then introduced us to Liz Herrera, who is shares Joel’s passion for ministry in
the streets of Guatemala city.
And then it was time to venture into the unknown. The team loaded the bus under the direction
of Liz. This would be a good time to share how Liz's own parents forbid her to go to places like La Limonada and the Big House years ago - but her heart & God had bigger plans. She first brought us to La
Casona – the big house. Which was not
really a house at all. It was a
collection of mattresses laid out along a sidewalk that a number of individuals
called home. Liz challenged us to engage
these people with handshakes, hugs and conversation – an uncomfortable challenge to be sure. But as we talked with them and prayed over them,
we could see glimpses of God’s grace in their lives. The discomfort began to unravel - what a wonderful feeling!
Liz then took us to meet Duncan Dyason, an incredible man of
faith who began a mentoring ministry in the middle of the city.
15 years ago, the Spirit called him while
watching a BBC documentary about Guatemala city street kids.
His heart was forever changed, and he sold
everything he had in England and moved here in answer to God’s call.
He now runs a program called El Centro ("us sitting" pictured above) where
the lives of city kids are being transformed through 1-on-1 mentors.
His story broke our hearts, and yet we were
filled with great joy as we could see God’s power working through him.
Finally, we took an overlooking view of the bowl-shaped La
Limonada – one of the worst slum communities in the city. Joel Van Dyke, using water as a metaphor says, “God’s waterfall of grace
pools in the lowest places,” and that was never more true than in La
Limonada. There, people like Liz are
diving face first into the unimaginably devastating lives of the people living
there, and grace is pouring out. Through
the school at La Limonada, people are learning about God’s great love and
finding hope. http://www.lemonadeinternational.org/about-lemonade-international/la-limonada/
We had a lot to digest the rest of the day as we spent 5
hours driving on twisting, turning roads through the countryside. It is hard to put into words how our
experiences have cut into our hearts, but we want it to change us. We want it to make us more passionate. There is an urgency to tell the message no
matter where we are. It is a race
against the clock. Duncan shared that
there was a group of 60 kids he initially worked with only 2 are now
living. He senses that urgency in the
truest sense, but do we North Americans really get it?
After our long drive, we finally stopped to eat dinner at
8:30pm. It was a time of celebration as
Sadoc’s wife, Becky joined us as well as Patty’s family – her husband, Harold,
and her daughters Nimsy, Mindy, and Jeina.
The marimba band played joyfully, and a few of us moved to the
beat. We truly could experience joy in
the middle of the horror we saw. God’s
grace abounds in the lowest places. May
we be ministers of that grace wherever God places us. - Jessica
(Patty's daughter, Mindy with her paintings)
