This week I decided to check out some of the things that are happening with children in the United States. I’ve been reading stories from Haiti and several places in Africa, as well as seeing things firsthand in Costa Rica, but do I even know what’s happening in my own country? Well…as I was searching I found an article about a pediatrician who’s been charged with 471 felony counts for the sexual abuse of his patients. Four hundred and seventy-one. That’s a large number. For more than 10 years he has been sexually abusing children, all but one of them girls. Ten years. That is unbelievable to me. It’s really pretty crazy that for ten years you can be taking your child to a doctor, completely trusting him, and all along he is abusing your child. How does that even happen? My mind can’t wrap itself around that.
It’s like I was learning this week, “If you aren’t looking for it, you won’t see it.” If we aren’t constantly aware that our children could be in danger or that there are people out there hurting other children, we won’t see any of it happen. This is so important, especially in the States where everything seems wonderful or easy. We need to remember that bad stuff still happens there, not just in developing countries. It’s in our backyards. I can’t stress that enough. Let’s open our eyes.
If you’re interested in reading the article, here’s the link: Delaware Pediatrician
Posted by
Amanda
3:02 PM
Speaker: Dave Swann
Topic: Project Planning and Development
This week was full of hard questions and inspiring ideas. We were probed to dig deeper inside ourselves. We learned how to ask the right questions and conduct research that will help us develop projects and create change. One of my favorite things about this week was that our speaker came from South Africa and brought me five of my favorite South African candy bars! He was also an amazing speaker, super down-to-earth and full of lots of great insight!
Last September, I took a school for Community Development here in San Jose. I learned a great deal from it and could really see myself using it in the future. This week totally reinforced that idea. I find myself always coming up with different ideas for projects or building on projects that I’ve had in my head for awhile. We were able to see how to use those ideas, write them down, present them and expand on them.
One thing I really loved is that Dave asked questions. Like, “How do you know where God wants you to be?” and “What is worship?” and “How are we going to open people’s eyes?” What does it mean to do these things, to really be a missionary? They might seem like easy questions on the surface, but once you get into them they are tough. I’ve seriously had to evaluate and consider why I do and say many things in my life. But I think it’s such a great approach to things. Each of us have answers to just about everything deep down inside of us, but most of us like to be fed the answers from other people instead of taking the time to pull those answers out of us. We are all “resources” and have tons of knowledge and wisdom about things stored up inside of us. Let’s take the time to ask ourselves questions and really look hard at our answers. Let’s not be apathetic.
Something Dave said this week was that the excuse “I don’t have any personal responsibility,” has killed millions of people. When we look around at issues in the world and hear the stories, but simply say that it doesn’t affect us and not do anything about it…we are killing people. People are dying, because we just aren’t doing anything about it. “It’s not my responsibility,” or “I have my own life to worry about,” or “I’ve made a way for myself, why can’t they do the same?” When we don’t do anything about child prostitution, human trafficking, poverty, child soldiers, violence, racism, gangs…people are dying. This is our responsibility, our call as Christians and as people, really. We are hypocrites if we say we will love our neighbors, but don’t help the ones that are starving to death in Africa or being sold in India.
Another quote from Dave was, “If you’re not pissed off with the state of the world, you’re not paying attention.” If you aren’t seeing what’s happening in the world, you aren’t looking. Things are happening even in our own backyards, but we don’t see it because we are only concerned about our own little worlds. The world is in chaos right now. How do you feel about that? Are your eyes open?
I realize this blog had little to do with development and planning projects, which we actually talked about quite a bit throughout the week. It was all great stuff and we even started planning a bit of the projects we might do in Jaco, but these are some of the things that really hit me this week. I left asking more questions and learning more about my character, God’s character and the world. I think that’s a good thing…
Posted by
Amanda
2:23 PM
At the end of our 3 month lecture phase, we go on to do a six month outreach phase. For my outreach, I’ve decided to go to Jaco which is a beach town in Costa Rica about two hours outside of San Jose. Jaco is basically known for its surfing and prostitution. There is a beautiful beach, but the town is dirty and full of men “looking for a good time.” There is such a mix of wealth and poverty, all in about a four or five mile strip. The main income of the place is tourism, so if you can’t speak English and sell things, you basically don’t have a job. It’s a hard place, a mix of good and evil, and it’s where I feel called for the next six months of my life.
On Friday afternoon, a group of us who are planning to do outreach together set out for Jaco. We spent a good portion of the week observing what was happening there, in order to get an idea of how we could do ministry there. On Friday night, we attended one of the churches there and met some awesome people. After church, we walked down the strip to see what the nightlife was like. It was hard for me not to get absolutely disgusted. I don’t even know how to describe what I saw. There were old men, young men, middle-aged men. They were mostly white, completely drunk and absolutely obnoxious. They were being swarmed by girls prostituting themselves, some sitting around, some heading off in Taxis with the girls. I wanted to punch those men, in all honesty. But God reminded me that He still loves them, which is such a hard concept for me to grasp. He HATES what they are doing, but He loves them and they are broken men who have no idea what they are doing.
On Saturday, we sat down with a lady who had been working with the prostitutes for the past couple years. She gave us some ideas for how we could work with the women, because everyone on our team has a passion to help women out of prostitution. One thing she said really stood out to me. Prostitution in Costa Rica is legal, so one of my classmates asked how many of the girls in Jaco are forced into it and how many do it by choice. Her answer was, “Does it matter? They all need help and none of them do it by choice. They might not be forced into it by a parent or pimp, but they were abused as a child, in poverty or some other circumstance which forced them to that place. None of them want to do it.” It’s so true. She told us a lot of the women will stand across the road from the bar and look for every excuse not to go over there until they run out of excuses. Something has led them to this place and I just want to bring hope to them, that there is something better, they are valuable and have a purpose.
On Saturday our school leader was out surfing and overheard a conversation between an older man and younger boy. The boy was asking advice for how to have a good time here and meet the local girls. He didn’t want the prostitutes, but to meet tourist girls or girls from the area. The older man was telling him, “Just pay the extra hundred bucks, take a couple girls up to your room and have a good time. That’s what they are there for.” He was urging him to just use the prostitutes. What do you do with that?
I’m still not sure, but I do know that we can do something. Outreach there is going to be hard, but worth it. Our team is strong and full of love. We are so ready to get things started there, build relationships and change something. It’s going to be great, but now I need to start preparing myself for what’s about to come.
I feel like I am now obsessed with researching. I am constantly reading articles, finding new websites, looking up YouTube videos that will keep me more aware of what's going on in the world and what people are doing. It's crazy, but so good. I think if we all took a little more time out of our day to focus on what's happening around us, we would be shocked and amazed on what we were missing out on.
Anyways, with that being said...just wanted to share a couple of websites and some links to some videos that I think would be really cool for you to check out.
This week we are talking about project planning and development. I think one of the best organizations that I've found who are working towards transforming communities is World Vision. When I thought of World Vision before, I thought the only thing they did was "Sponsor a Child" programs, but they do so much more. In fact, their website can almost be overwhelming because they are doing so much! While they still do child sponsoring, they also do disaster relief, awareness programs, and have found creative ways to get everyone involved in what's happening all over the world.
Another organization I was thinking about this week was Invisible Children. They are simply storytellers working towards ending the war in Africa. They make documentaries, rebuild schools, provide scholarship for children, among many more things. I think what I love most about this organization is that I can identify with them. They went, saw the need and knew they needed to do something about it. It's awesome that they are using their documentary skills to raise awareness about what's happening. I think that media has such a huge impact on people and also has the ability to make people feel something. It seems to me that people in the world are becoming more and more desensitized to the horrible things happening all over. They forget that real people are hurting and forced to face terrible situations for their entire lives. In our Western culture, we are free. We forget that most countries in the world don't have that luxury.
Anyways, what these organizations are doing is pretty cool and you should definitely check it out!
Also, if you're up for watching some videos you should follow these links:
Eight Dollar Hot Dog
Modern Day Slavery
Global Forum on Human Trafficking
Speaker: Rick Allegretto
Topic: Servant Leadership
We teamed up with the DTS (Discipleship Training School) this week and held classes together for lecture on servant leadership. I feel like this is an area that I am constantly learning about and trying to apply to my own life, so it was nice to be able to focus on it for the week. We started out by talking about our attitudes and how we face situations. Our attitude has the capacity to alter the outcome of every situation and can also affect and change the attitudes of others. This is especially true when you live in community like I do. We are around the same people every day, all day long and it is very easy for attitudes to affect each other. Another thing we discussed was the people that influence us and the qualities and characteristics we see in their lives that make us look up to them. Generally we saw the same characteristics in all of the people we admired and most of their characteristics could be drawn from the fruits of the spirit (love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). These are all actions—things we can put into practice.
In the middle of the week, we had a night of worship and God totally wrecked my heart. I was sitting there, thinking about different situations in my life. I was thinking about what my life would look like in the future: marriage, kids, traveling. I was thinking about how I wanted to love others more, how I wanted my love to change people. I want to just be a simple instrument in the hands of God, loving people and bringing them hope. And then I felt like God said, “Would you give your future up, your hopes, marriage, kids, traveling, in order to see people’s lives changed through your love?” I basically crumbled to the ground. I think I spent an hour there…just thinking, crying, praying. I want to serve others through love and I want people to know the enormous love of God, but was I willing to give some stuff up in order to see that happen? I don’t know, honestly. It was hard. I argued with God for quite a while. I always pray things like that, such powerful stuff like, “God, I want to give you my everything. Use me to show Your love.” But man…do I know what I’m praying? That’s so intense. Anyways, I feel like something changed that night. I don’t know if I actually gave those things up to God. I do still desire those things so much, but I know God is good and I’m content in Him. I think it’s a process, I mean life is a process…but slowly, surely God is giving me a bigger heart, more capacity to love and more wisdom. It’s pretty cool, I think. So I’m really hoping He will teach me how to be a servant leader as I walk into my future. I want to get to the place where others are really more important than myself and where I’m not selfishly putting my needs before everyone else. Again…it’s a process. But it’s good.
For outreach this week, a group of us went to Casa Viva (the Foster Care organization). They were holding a meeting with all of the Foster parents, so during the meeting we took care of the kids and held a program for the older children. Becky and I were in charge of the babies and we ended up having five of them. I’m not gonna lie, it was a rough night. Becky and I both had headaches and it seemed that we always had at least two crying babies. Some of the staff was there helping us out, so that was good. There was one little girl who was all smiles the whole time. She was constantly blowing me kisses and seemed to enjoy anything that was happening around her. Her smile definitely blessed me in the midst of all the crying and headaches. Everything went great with the older kids. They played some games, colored pictures and had story time. Overall, it was cool to be able to take care of the kids, but still a bit hard.
Here's a picture that one of our classmates, Daniel drew for Becky and I:
Posted by
Amanda
2:20 PM
As I was browsing through Relevant’s Reject Apathy magazine this week, I came across an article about a man doing “Apartment ministry.” I thought it sounded kind of interesting so I checked it out. Basically, the article is about a middle-class man who works with kids in low-income apartments. I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says in the article, but it actually really hit home with me. One of the things the man talked about in this article was his struggle between living his comfortable life and working with the poor.
Something I have constantly struggled with is this very issue. Growing up, we were never rich. Money was tight sometimes, but my parents really provided for my brother and I. We had a great childhood, a wonderful house and enough food to fill our tummies. If I were living in Indiana right now, I would have a job, a car and would probably be working towards a degree in University. I have all of those things at my fingertips, yet I’m living in San Jose, Costa Rica, sharing a dorm with five other girls and working with kids at risk.
Still…I struggle so much. I work with kids that have NOTHING. Even though I live in a community and don’t have all the comforts of home, I still have 3 meals a day, a comfortable bed, a computer and a nice living area. How is that fair? How is it fair that so many are living on less than $1 a day, but I can still lead a comfortable life and don’t even think about it or give thanks for it every day? We leave the base, hang out with these poor kids for a couple hours and then drive back to our nice, comfortable home. To me, this seems wrong, but I don’t know why. I can’t seem to justify anything in my head.
God called his disciples to go spread the Gospel and not take anything with them. They lived in poverty, they were rejected, and they were thrown in jail. Basically, they weren’t comfortable. Jesus wasn’t comfortable. He was even homeless. Should I live like that? By faith, following Jesus, without my comforts but trusting Him to take care of me. It would seem a lot easier to minister to the poor if I were one of them. But what does that look like? Like I said, it’s a constant struggle in my mind. Any thoughts?
I feel like as Christians and as missionaries, this is something we should take the time to think and pray about. We need to ask God if our “comfort” is getting in the way of our purpose. We need to pray for the poor and those that are living in conditions where they don’t have the chance to live a good, easy life. We need to pray for those who are working with the poor and working for justice, that they will have the grace to understand and empathize with those they are working with. Lastly, we need to be thankful, every day, for what we have been given.
If you'd like to check out the article, here's the link: Apartment Ministry
Our topic this week was servant leadership. At one point during the week, our speaker mentioned Mother Teresa. To me, Mother Teresa is the epitome of a servant leader. The woman gave up her entire life to love and minister to the needs of the poor and sick. She was humble, full of love and truly cared for others. She spoke up for justice and said she was "a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." I admire the way she gave up her life for God. She let go of having material possessions, having a husband, or a nice house and a car. Instead, she devoted herself to love. This is a beautiful thing.
In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love. Mother Teresa
As I was thinking about this, I also remembered some more people who are showing others the same heart as Mother Teresa. In Philadelphia, PA, a man named Shane Claibourne started a community called the Simple Way. About three years ago, I read a book called the Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claibourne (highly recommended!) and it totally changed my life. The Simple Way is a community of people living in the ghetto, who spend every day loving their neighbors, helping the poor and loving Jesus. They are also incredibly involved in social justice issues. They have an after school program for children in the neighborhood and are currently working on building a garden in their community. I would definitely recommend checking them out and the things they are doing!
If you would like to check out what they are doing: The Simple Way
Another person that I was reminded of is a man named Brandt Russo. I learned about him last year as I accidentally stumbled across an article about him in Relevant Magazine. Brandt was leading a fairly normal life, lived in the States and loved Jesus...but he knew there was something more. So, he gave up everything that he had, purchased a bus and started driving around the States, living and helping the poor. He's lived on the streets for a year and has been jailed for trying to bring about justice. God has taken him on such an awesome journey and it's cool to read about. His mission is to love, to bridge the gap between the rich and poor and to meet the needs of the poor and neglected. He also began a t-shirt company called "Can't Ignore the Poor." The proceeds from his t-shirts go to help those in need.
If you would like to read more about Brandt's vision: Where's Brandt?
Or to check out his T-shirt company: Can't Ignore the Poor
Love God...Love others. This is what it's all about.
One of the things I love the most is finding practical ways to change my life and the lives of those around me. There are so many small opportunities out there to make change, but we just don't look hard enough or feel like it's too much work. Well...it's not!
Most of you buy shoes, right?
...I'm pretty sure that's a yes.
About a year ago, I discovered something called Toms shoes and I was blown away. A man named Blake Mycoskie met some children when he was traveling in Argentina and realized their need for shoes. After that, he created a shoe company, where every pair of shoes bought provides another pair of shoes for a child in need. One for one. You buy the shoes, another pair is made for a child who really needs them. Such an easy way to help a child! Not to mention, the shoes are stinkin' awesome.
Here's a little excerpt from their website about why they chose shoes:
Why shoes?
Most children in developing countries grow up barefoot. Whether at play, doing chores or just getting around, these children are at risk.
Walking is often the primary mode of transportation in developing countries. Children can walk for miles to get food, water, shelter and medical help. Wearing shoes literally enables them to walk distances that aren't possible barefoot.
Wearing shoes prevents feet from getting cuts and sores on unsafe roads and from contaminated soil. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected.
The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and the risk of amputation.
Many times children can't attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don't have shoes, they don't go to school. If they don't receive an education, they don't have the opportunity to realize their potential.
There is one simple solution...SHOES.
Of the planet's six billion people, four billion live in conditions inconceivable to many. Lets take a step towards a better tomorrow.
So....go buy some shoes! :)
Link to the website: TOMS SHOES
Break
Break
Break
Shatter…
God’s heart shatters.
Because…
Because Joe was supposed to live.
Because Nancy was His ballerina
Who’s feet never touched the ground.
Because Rosa’s smile was supposed
To fill rooms with light.
Because Greg was His soccer player
With a heart full of love.
But…
But instead God’s heart is in pieces
Because there never was a Joe…
Or a Nancy…
Or a Rosa…
Or a Greg…
Their breaths were never counted
Their smiles never enjoyed
Their eyes never opened
Their cries long forgotten.
They were never known.
But God knew them.
And now His heart is in pieces.
Tonight at prayer night, we prayed for abortion. It’s said that 24% or 1 out of every 4 children are never born because of abortion. Think about that.
My heart broke when I heard that statistic. Not only that, but God showed me how broken His heart is as well. I sat and thought about all the children in my life: the kids on the base that I see every day, the children we work with through our ministries, my cousins back at home, the kids from church. I see their talents, passions and the joy they bring to people. I’m so blessed to have each and every one of them in my life. But, what if 1 out of every 4 of them didn’t exist?
Millions and millions of babies have been aborted. Those are millions upon millions of lives that God planned out, but ended before they even had a chance to begin. God is crying…His heart is broken because He knew each one of those children and had a specific plan for their life. He knew what they would love to do, He knew each moment of pain, love, joy and anguish that would happen in their life. He was SO excited to know them. But then, someone made a choice. And that life is no longer being lived out. And God lost someone that He was so excited to know. And He will never have a chance to know them ever again. The weight of this is phenomenal. God’s heart is breaking. So is mine.
Local outreach seriously keeps getting better and better! On Wednesday this week, we went to downtown San Jose with a ukulele and some songs and set up on the streets to play. We were kicked out of our first location, but moved onto the street and while doing so met some awesome people! Three young adults that were studying English at a local Institute came up and asked if they could practice their English with us. We spent the next couple hours hanging out with them and met a couple of other people as well. I’m so excited because they live close by, so we are going to be able to hang out with them a ton more!
On Saturday, we went to Metro Ministries again. This time, our team did most of the lesson so we had to practice our Spanish a little! My lesson was on “Little Miss Costa Rica” and our main point was that the power of our words can bring life or death. They can totally change the situations we are in. It was fun to put the crown and sash on one of the little girls, although I think she was a bit shy about it. It’s also so awesome because I get to see the same children every week and I have a nice following of little girls now. They are so precious and it’s awesome that I get to keep building up these relationships with them. Scott, the director of the ministry, says that the kids from the area that we work in are the smallest amount of kids he works with throughout the week, but also the most faithful to come to the program and the poorest. I know that by the time our three months is up here, I’m not going to want to leave them.
Posted by
Amanda
1:33 PM
Speaker: Greg Burch/Brooke Burns
Topic: City Wide Strategies/Setting the Captives Free
I feel like this past week was one of the most intense weeks we’ve had here so far, at least when it comes to emotions and feeling overwhelmed. The first half of the week was taught by Greg Burch, a missionary from California who has been working in Latin America for over 15 years. He talked to us about pulling together ministries that are working in the same city to help each other out. Each ministry offers something different and when working together, they can really help and change the lives of children holistically. We also spent a lot of time reading different stories of people that had tried to start ministries for children and analyzed what we could take away from their efforts. Before we start doing ministry, we need to do our research and not just “jump” into something. So often, I get the feeling that I just “want to do something,” which is a good feeling to have, but I also need to take precautions and not go into things ignorantly.
On his last day of teaching, Greg shared with us some videos from Nigeria about “child witches.” If you have never heard of this, be forewarned…it is really intense stuff. Some evangelical churches in Nigeria are claiming that children are witches. When this happens, the children are basically thrown out onto the streets and left to die. The parents no longer want them because they are a “witch.” These kids can be as young as four- and five-years old with absolutely no knowledge of what a witch even is. Then, the pastor of the church will have the parents pay for them to “exorcise” their child, which involves brutal beatings and things they could not even mention or show in the videos. After watching these videos, I honestly felt depressed. There is so much corruption in this world, even in the so-called “church.” It’s super overwhelming.
The second half of the week, Brooke Burns came and spoke to us about human trafficking, especially in Costa Rica. One of the things she brought to our attention is that Costa Rica is the #1 destination for child sex trafficking in the Western Hemisphere. There are around 300 brothels in San Jose alone and about 3,000 children on the street of San Jose on any given night. Yet even more intense information…
But then I remember that the change starts with me and each individual child and person. These are hard situations, but what I can do is begin with myself, my resources and focus on the individuals I am meeting here. The reality is that I will not be able to stop all injustice from happening everywhere in the world, but I can help change a few people’s lives in an amazing way. For that, I am insanely thankful.
Whenever we think of Haiti and the aid they need there, we typically just think of food, water and health care as the main needs. However, this week I read an article that shows those aren’t the only needs Haiti is facing right now, especially for the children. There were tens of thousands of children who were affected by the earthquake and very few of them have received counseling. The most important thing for those children is to start talking about what they experienced and how they feel, and also to get back to a somewhat normal routine such as school. Here is a link to the article.
I think something we need to remember is that those children are the future of Haiti. The nation will be built back up through them and their needs are so important right now. If they don’t psychologically heal from the things they have experienced during this earthquake, how can they be capable of bringing any change or transformation in the country? Yes, their physical needs definitely need to be met, but I think it’s important to also bring in more counselors and people to train others to counsel these children.
Some things we can all pray for in this situation are:
v Counselors would come help these children heal
v Children would be able to talk about their feelings
v Children would be able to develop a routine, such as school and time with their family
v Continued relief for children and families after the earthquake
Posted by
Amanda
12:14 PM
We had a few days of teaching this week on child trafficking and also watched a movie called Trade (which I would highly recommend, but prepare yourself before you watch it). This topic has really hit home with me and I think the rest of my classmates as well. It’s hard to hear stories about 12-year old girls trapped in the sex trade and not be moved to do something about it. Worldwide, there is an estimated 27 million slaves. There are more people enslaved now then there ever has been, even during the years of the Transatlantic slave trade.
If you would like to get more involved in this issue, I would love to recommend a few websites for you to check out. Last week, I recommended IJM (International Justice Mission) which is a great organization doing amazing things all over the world. Another organization I would highly recommend checking out is Not For Sale. It’s basically a campaign that brings together all types of people: artists, athletes, students, entrepreneurs, social workers, politicians and anyone who is looking to seek justice and end the global slave trade. On their website you can read about slavery in the world, the projects Not For Sale is doing and find out how you can take action. They also have a book called Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade—and How We Can Fight It. I’m currently reading it and would definitely suggest that you add it to your reading list! http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
Another great organization that is working in Chiang, Mai Thailand is called The Garden of Hope. They have several programs working with women, youth and children to restore and equip them to live purposeful, loving lives. They also have an awesome ministry that helps train the woman and youth that they rescue in vocational skills so they can support themselves. They are doing really great things and you can easily get involved and even go and volunteer with them for a while! http://www.thegardenofhope.org
If you have any questions or thoughts about human trafficking, I would love to hear them. This is quickly becoming a subject that I am super passionate about and want to spread the word about what’s going on. If you’d like to help, that would be awesome!
Speaker: Matt Rawlins/Students
Topic: Understanding the Nature and Character of God/Child Development
This week our teaching was on the nature and character of God. How you can possibly describe something like that in words, I’m not really sure. The basic concept of the week is that it’s all about God. God is big, He is good and we were created for Him. He is worthy of my life.
You would think that these are all foundational concepts that you may have heard of before, but they are life changing. This week brought so many new questions about God to my head and so much new revelation about the selfishness of my own heart and how much it affects God.
I think one of the most impacting things that I learned this week came out of a quote. The end of the quote stated: “I am not the point, God is. I exist for Him. He does not exist for me.” So often, I find that I put myself at the center of the universe. Everything revolves around me. God needs to fulfill my desires. I’m hurt, I’m upset, I’m happy. Me, me, me, me, me. Well…the point is not me. The point is God. He put me on this earth so He could enjoy me, spend time with me, love me. But the point is that my focus should be on Him and using the love that He pours into me to give out to others.
Another thing we talked about this week was understanding value. As human beings, we tend to put our value in other human beings, in what people think and say about us, in our material possessions or our looks. But it’s funny, because the God is so much larger than man. He created billions of billions of galaxies, knows every single star by name and knows every single hair on the head of every single person on this entire planet. But instead of finding our value in this huge God, we want to find it in imperfect, finite, limited human beings. What is wrong here?
Something else our teacher said that was pretty impactful was that the “essence of sin is finding your value in anything else other than God.” So this hit me pretty hard, because, well…how many times a day do I find myself looking for value in things other than God? The answer is…a lot.
So I’ve been asking myself a lot of hard, challenging questions this week when it comes to God and myself. Things like, “Where do I really place my value?” and, “How can I let myself exist for God?” These are easy questions to formulate, but hard questions to actually answer. The challenge I’ve placed in front of myself is to remind myself of these questions everyday and to be constantly asking God more and more questions about His character, about who I am and what He wants to reveal to me.
Posted by
Amanda
9:19 AM
For outreach this week, we went to work with Metro Ministries again. I was able to go back to the same location we were at two weeks ago. I can’t even explain how much I love hanging out with those kids. There are two girls there in particular that I just adore and I’m excited that I’ll be able to build some friendships with them during these next two months.
Basically what we are doing is having a mini church service for the kids. Today consisted of playing soccer, worship (more like, jumping around with air guitars), a lesson and playing some games. I really love just being able to laugh with the girls and jump around with them. I want to give them the love and attention they deserve and let them know for at least an hour that day that they are important and cared for. It’s funny how they just rattle off to me in Spanish, telling me about their little brothers and sisters and even though I don’t understand most of it, they just love being able to talk.
One thing I’m realizing and something I was talking about earlier this week with another classmate, is just how important it is to build relationships with the kids. The lessons and fun things we do are essential, but the things that the kids remember the most are the relationships, the people they talked to and the ones that paid attention to them. So there is my mission: To get to know these kids, to pay attention to them, to love them and to show them Jesus through my actions, as well as my words.
This week we've been learning about the nature and character of God, but we are also having some classes on normal child development. All of the students in our class are assigned a certain age group and have to research and teach our class about the development of that age group. I get to teach about the emotional and social development of adolescence...how fun! :)
It is really cool though and definitely important information to know so you can identify "abnormal" behavior in children. I found a great website that not only gives information about child development, but also advice for parents and safety tips for children. I think it's really important for everyone to learn about child development, if not for any other purpose than to understand ourselves better.
If you would like to check out the website, it's here:
Child Development Institute
Within the past week, I've picked up a book that is totally changing my view of Justice. The book is called "Good News about Injustice" and it's written by the President of International Justice Mission.
International Justice Mission (also known as IJM) is an organization that works, case by case, to fight for justice, convict perpetrators and provide after-care for victims of abuse and injustices. They really have a passion for what they are doing and are doing it in excellence.
This book has really been showing me a lot about God and myself. In one chapter it says, "I have had to imagine what it would be like if I, like my God, had to watch, hear and witness every brutal act of injustice on the earth, every day." He talks about the fact that God is with every single person that is hurting and prostituting themselves and being beaten. He sees all of those people and feels the depths of their pain everyday. Now, since we are human we do not have the ability to do that, but if we want to understand God, we need to understand how much His heart is breaking for these people. In another chapter it says, "He doesn't need our "help," but he chooses to use us." We are the hands and feet that God uses to bring justice and love on this earth. So what has God given us to use that we can help those who are being oppressed and have no voice to save themselves?
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News!" --Romans 10:15
Posted by
Amanda
2:27 PM
My mind is absolutely blown away by this situation with the ten Americans in Haiti. I've been reading several articles about this situation, the most recent one talking about the children they took that were not actually orphans (click here for the link to the article). They were promising the parents a better life for the children and the parents sent their children with them, some even as young as 4 and 5 years old.
For me, this situation is hard in so many ways. I sit here and read the articles and I am not sure who to believe. I desperately want to believe that it was only good intentions within this group of people to help these children and that they were insanely naive. However, I know that child trafficking happens, as well as many other terrible situations in the world and just because someone looks like a "good" person does not actually mean that they are. It hurts my heart that these were Christians and that so many people are now pointing fingers.
I would really love to hear others opinions on this situation. I, myself, don't know these people personally and I don't know the story behind their intentions or what they have done. Therefore, the only thing I know how to do is pray for them and not judge them. I hope that others will be doing the same.
I'm praying that:
--the children would find emotional stability and peace admist the chaos and confusion happening to them right now
--the true motives and intentions of the Americans would be revealed
--people all over the world would keep their hearts open and not judge, but let the truth be revealed
--children would be safely returned to their families or another safe haven
Speaker: Christy Scott
Topic: Inner Healing
Wow. This week has been amazing. We’ve been talking about inner healing and the lies that we are deceived into believing about ourselves and God. All of our problems have a root and we have to go back to that root to get healing. The only way we can get healing is through the truth and the truth is Jesus. We also talked about strongholds and soul ties, as well as finding our identity in God first and then in ourselves. Really, what it all boils down to is God. If we look to Him, and only Him, we will find healing.
One of the most interesting things we learned this week is that your beliefs (about who you are, the world, ect.) are developed between the ages of 0 to 6. Even things that happen while the child is in the womb affect that child’s beliefs. If a woman was to get pregnant and didn’t really want the child, that child would be born already feeling rejected and would carry that feeling of rejection their whole life unless they get healing from that. This totally reinforces how important children are, because the things that happen to them when they are young are the things that shape who they are for the rest of their lives. We spend our whole lives trying to get past these things that happen to us when we are young. Some people even live their whole lives without getting any healing from their past and are stuck with those same insecurities and problems from when they were little.
When I was thinking about that this week, I looked at myself. I grew up with amazing parents, an awesome childhood, in a nice small town with a great school, but still I find myself with problems, insecurities and things that I still dwell on. How much more do these kids who grow up in homes where they are beaten, sexually abused or neglected need healing? How much more are their lives affected because of these things? For me, healing is such a hard, messy process. I can’t imagine what it’s like for those children.
Healing is such an important thing, not only for the children and adults still dealing with problems, but also for ourselves. We need to be healed so we can help bring healing to these children. This week I found myself asking, “What can I do?” “How can I help these children heal?” Even more so, “Can these children get healing even when they are in these horrible situations?”
God has really healed my heart this week and made me look even deeper into who He is and what He has for me in the future. I’ve been able to let go of so many things from my past and I feel ready and excited to start living in the present and looking forward to how I can help others in the future through what I’ve learned.
Posted by
Amanda
8:16 PM
Every week I feel like I love our outreaches more and more. This week we went back to play and hang out with the foster care kids. This time, we were able to take care of a baby who is about 6 months old. He was so adorable and none of us wanted to let go of him! It’s so cool because we have these four brothers and their sister who are all in different foster homes and once a week we are able to bring them together just to spend time with each other. We drive around and pick them up from their homes and get to see the joy on their faces when they see their brothers or sister. For me, that makes it worth it.
The kids are all so great though. One of the little boys is about five years old and this past week he made me smile so much. His two older brothers were kicking soccer balls outside and he wanted to play so badly. He and I started to play a game where he hid in the bushes and threw the ball out “mysteriously” from behind the bushes and tried to score a goal. It was so precious just to see his excitement each time he threw the ball and thinking that no one else could see him. To see his excitement, his smiles, his happiness…it makes me wonder how anyone could have ignored him, not wanted him, left him behind.
Also this week, we were able to go to Jaco (a beach town about two hours from San Jose) and see some of the different ministries they were doing there. Jaco is known for its prostitution and many children get trafficked into Jaco for this very reason. We were able to meet with a woman named Blue who is working with a poor community that is located on a river bank. She has started an after school program there, so we were able to go with her and meet some of her kids.
They all ran up with smiling faces and lots of hugs to give her. It was cool to see what she was doing there and the relationships she has with the kids and their families. She was telling us about all the changes she has seen in the community just since she’s been there and it reminds me how much friendship and love really can produce transformation.
We don’t know yet where our outreach will be after the lecture phase, but Jaco is another place that is open for us to go to. Some of us were interested after going there, meeting the kids and seeing the needs. I’m praying that God will show me if that’s where He wants me and if so, what I can do there.
