Day 4 - Relying on God is Good (a.k.a. today was rough) - March 10

Today was a pretty red-letter day for the Campus side of our team! But, like I said, we don't do that here. They do that there.

5 AM start today seemed rougher than yesterday, the bus ride to the women's shelter was very quiet. Also it felt like our conversations with them were a little more subdued than usual. However, they shared with us that they have felt loved by us and by the GCLA church in ways that they haven't felt before. It's difficult to understand how we can have conversations that aren't particularly profound, when we aren't particularly awake, and we don't exactly fully understand each other, and yet they feel deeply loved. Well, it's not difficult to understand, I guess, as long as I believe that the Bible is true and God is who he says he is. Maybe it just reveals places where my heart doesn't trust God.

After breakfast and clean-up, we began preparing the shelter for transitioning back to being a men's shelter. The iglesia here is just borrowing this facility from an existing non-profit that runs a men's shelter (it's very kind of them to let us use it!). Then we split up again and half of us went back to the children's center to paint and half stayed to continue prepping the shelter and do some more renovation work. I stayed at the shelter this time for the sake of the painting going well.

We cleaned and folded laundry and sorted donations and cleaned some more. Then I got into a really long and (I think) deep conversation with one of the ladies staying at the shelter. The problem is, my brain had decided to boycott Spanish after my sleep choices last night. So, I'm not actually fully sure what our little group was talking about. I was struggling to understand and I felt a lot of anger at myself and some shame about it, which also didn't help me focus on Spanish. But she seemed to feel very heard and loved by the conversation, so God moved in and around and in spite of me.

We got back together with our team for lunch. I wasn't feeling great physically (don't worry, it was my stomach, no covid19), but it was really good to hang out and relax more with the team and the guys from the street. I think this will be a good time to introduce you to everyone:

Carlos Lagos - Lagos is amazing. He is the pastor of the Heredia church that he and his wife Ana have planted. He is 30 (I think) and a crazy hard worker and a creative problem solver and desperately depends on God for everything. Working alongside him is one of my favorite things about this trip

Ana Lagos - Ana is a total rockstar. she works so hard and is so humble and sacrificial it blows my mind. She has gone so far out of her way to make sure we are taken care of and that the ministry God has called them to is being done. I haven't gotten to work with her as closely as the campus folks, but every time I have has been mind-blowing.

Carol - Every conversation I have with Carol leaves me toeing the line of tears. Sometimes from deep sadness and frustration, other times from joy and awe at God's goodness. She is in charge of the women's shelter and loves these women so well! She is incredibly gentle with them, but fights fiercely for them. Apparently she gets flown up to Dallas sometimes to teach the Perspectives class.

Gretel - Gretel is helping Carol run the shelter. Five years ago, Gretel was a prostitute who was socially a leader of the other prostitutes in San Jose. She found Jesus through this church and now everything is changed in her. Her story is powerful, y'all.

Jovany - Jovany has apparently robbed both of the pastors here in his past. They met him on the street where all he wanted in life was drugs. He has since found Christ, gone to rehab, and been sober for a long time. Jovany is from Nicaragua and is one of our guides in the city. He is playful, humble, eager to learn, and super hard working. He's currently enrolled in school to better his life.

Don Julio - Julio (Don is a title of respect) also came to know Jesus while living in the street. Now he has dedicated his life to reaching the street. When we walk around with him, everyone we pass knows him and says hi. He only speaks Spanish, and he is always ready to preach about God's love and goodness.

Jesus - Jesus is from Venezuela (lol, who knew?) and is friends with Jovany and Don Julio. He is more shy than they are, but he is starting to come out of his shell and engage with us. He speaks more English then he lets on and is a very good listener. I'm excited to get to work with him when we engage with people living in the street.

Alex - Alex is actually from California. His Spanish is good, but he had to learn a lot when he ended up living in the street here. He is hard working and hilarious, if a little rough around the edges. He has been so helpful in everything we've been doing, even though he leans back from deeper topics of conversation.

I feel incredibly humbled to get to work with these saints. I honestly don't feel worthy to get to serve alongside them as I hear their stories and the things they have and are fighting through.

In the afternoon, we did a little more work for a project at the shelter, and then just walked around and chilled with Jovany, Alex, Don Julio, and Jesus. It was really good to be abe to engage with these men and just show them the love and dignity and respect that we have for them.

We had dinner at the hotel and hung out with the Lagoses and team for a while, then had our worship and debrief time.

Please pray for continued connection, love, respect, and planting of seeds tomorrow. The people we'll work with in the slum could very well be the next Gretel or Jovany.