The long anticipated day...

If twenty strangers walked up to your front door at 10 AM on a Monday morning, would you invite them in? Most of us, if we answered, would feel annoyed and quickly find an excuse as to why your guests should not come in. Whether it be “my house is dirty”, “I haven’t showered yet”, or “the kids are napping”, a majority of the population would not graciously invite those people in.

Today we visited La Chureca. For some of our veterans, it was a long anticipated and joyous reunion. For the rest of the team, their eyes were opened. As we unloaded the bus we were immediately greeted by Wendi, the young girl that touched so many hearts last year. Pastor Ramon, from El Faro (the church we visited yesterday) and his assistant Marcos, gave us a tour around the dump. He introduced us to several families, who graciously welcomed us into their homes. As many of us found last year, these people don’t have much of anything. What they do have, however, they are proud of. The families showed us their homes, introduced us to their families, and shared their stories with us. How many of us show that same grace to strangers at home?

For many families, the only source of income is sifting through acres of garbage for recyclable products that they can sell to the merchants. However, with the shift in the economy, the value of recyclable products like plastic and aluminum has plummeted. In most of the homes we found huge bags of plastic and metal that probably took weeks to gather. They are holding onto it in hopes of the sale price going back up. They said that one bag, the equivalent to a regular sized dumpster, would sell for about 50 cents right now where in the recent past they would have sold it for a whole $2.00. The average family living in La Chureca earns about $2.50 per day. Imagine if your whole family worked an entire day just to be able to make the amount it would take to buy a large cup of coffee from the local Starbucks.

This information may shock you. Frankly it should. However, more importantly, what every one of the team members saw today (once they got passed the initial shock to the senses) was a village of people that work hard to provide for their families, just like we do. They live in despair according to our standards, but they don’t realize it. The children run and play all day long. They have an enormous sense of pride for their homes, their families and their friends. In ways it is beautiful in others it is terrifying and absolutely heart breaking. There are generations that live within this dump and the prayer is that this cycle can be broken. The hope is in the children. We’ve all heard the saying, “It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.” If we focus our attention on the children and teaching them that there is a better way of life and that God has more in store for them, we can save them from the Hell that awaits.

When we came out of the dump we all went to El Faro church to eat lunch. We ate PB&Js and ham sandwiches. Afterwards, Georgia, Trevor, Heather, and Jeremy all went back to La Chureca to feed the children and hand out pink lemonade. Kris, Jen, Dan, Julie, Paul, Rick, Amy, Wayne, Kelli, and Ben all painted inside the El Faro church outside the dump and played with the toddlers and babies. During the weekdays the church has a daycare where children from La Chureca can come while their parents are working. There they are sure to have a good breakfast, lunch, nap and play times. El Faro’s ministry is not just taking care of babies. It is a true example of what loving the unloved is. They are providing opportunities for residents of the dump to come out and intermix with people that they otherwise wouldn’t ever talk to. It provides opportunities to show them life outside the dump.

The people of La Chureca need prayer more than anything. More than food, more than clean water, and more than a nice pair of shoes. God can and will change their hearts. He will show them that there is a better way of living. Pray that those people will listen when God calls and that they will turn and run towards Him.



Just for you Judy....