This week has been so challenging for our team and this ministry in a number of ways. The darkness is trying to rise against us and it can definatly be discouraging. However, God has shown me a perfect picture of finding joy in the darkness this week.    On Monday we took the kids from the tutoring class in one of the slums to a beautiful beach away from the darkness and grime. They dressed in their best clothes and you could see the light and excitement bursting from thier smiling faces. We had a picnic with lots of cookies and soda and chips…things they...

Every Thursday night is house church. My team and I each grab a plastic lawn chair and make the minute or two walk down the road to our pastor friends’ house. I’ll be honest, sometimes after a long day of ministry, bus rides and shoveling down dinner in the 10 minutes we have to spare, the last thing we want to do is try and keep our eyes open during a church service. But I also look forward to it because I know the kind of encouragement it brings me. Most of the time we’re a song or two late (actually I’m convinced they start early), so we discretely sneak in the...

God has really been teaching me about faith this week, trusting in Him and knowing that He’ll lead me. Two passages in the Bible that have really touched me were 2 Kings 6:8-23, and Daniel 3:19-30. To have faith like Elisha! When you see with your human eyes a whole army of the enemy surrounding you, but more than that, seeing with your spiritual eyes the chariots of fire protecting YOU. And we serve the same God as Elisha did, and God loves us just as much. How awesome. You really need to have that faith too, to know and believe that the people here will come to know the One...

     I can’t believe I’ve already been here for 3 weeks and I’ve been away from home for a month! Wow, time is flying and it’s insane! It makes me even more aware that I need to take hold of every moment God is giving me because it will soon pass away. However, that is proving to be a huge challenge for me….      This week I was faced with a lot of worry and concern as my mom was going to the doctor. She’s had many health challenges in the past 5 or so years and has gone through 2 brain surgeries already…she had a...

Healing Is In Your Hands Working in the slums everyday, I have to constantly stop and remind myself that I cannot fix these people. I cannot snap my fingers or wave a wand that will instantly take away the beatings, the abuse, the rape, or the lack of work or basic necessities for survival.  But I am comforted knowing that I know the Ultimate Healer and that he not only cares about the least of these, but he lives among them.  And he passionately loves every person that lives in the slum, in spite of themselves or their circumstances. And He is the only one who can bring ultimate...

Rain. Who doesn’t love a good rain? It refreshes the earth y makes it smell clean. Well, not so in thr slums. In the slums it kind of makes a really muddy mess y little rivers of water that smells like poo. Anyways, as I was walking through this rain in the slum the other day, I watched the brown water going by my feet and I couldn’t stop thinking about the song we always sing with the kids, “Waves of Mercy.” Waves of Mercy Waves of Grace. At first it was kind of sung mockingly in my head, but as I watvhed the water get my feet dirty, the song started playing softer...