breakfast, the most important meal of the day!

Some time ago, inspired by the “Tea and Toast” ministry at Calgary First Nazarene church, Manuel and I started a little breakfast time at church before the service. It’s been really neat to have this time to get to know our church family better (some of them, most of them still come late!) We started this with the idea of blessing some of the people who come to church who aren’t always able to have breakfast at home, but it’s really been a blessing to us to see a community form. So I’d definitely agree, at least on Sundays, Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

peeling potatoes

 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30, MSG

Work can be stressful, and even though it definitely has it’s rewards, it’s easy to get lost in the urgency of life and ministry. It’s nice to have time to get “down to earth”.

Yesterday, the staff of Casa Adalia were invited to participate in a retreat day at a beautiful property outside of the city. We had some solo time, which I spent lying on the grass surrounded by lemon, mango, mandarin and avocado trees. I may have fallen asleep… just a little bit though. The focus verse of the day was Matthew 11:28, and then, as if God wanted me to really get it, it was also the daily devotional in Max Lucado’s “Grace for the Moment.” (July 30)

Then, today I had the opportunity to play hooky from work and go with Manuel to Otavalo and spend time with our Pastor friend and his family there. I was able to find rest and distraction squatting on the ground peeling a mountain of potatoes with my indigenous friends.

I love how nature brings me closer to God, and I will try to find more space in my life for times like this!

 

angels in disguise

about a week ago I posted about how Casa Adalia wasn’t getting many girls, and I was getting kind of burnt out. Well, God has a bit of a sense of humour. Casa Adalia is now FULL with 3 ladies and 5 kids. It all happened so fast, it’s been a crazy time of adjusting, all of us staff have lost our minds a few times this week.

One of the struggles is with the kids, a very young mom with four children aged 8, 5, 3, and 2 is now living at Casa Adalia, and we don’t know what to do with all those kids! It seems like they just fight all day, colour on the walls and lock bathroom doors from the inside (the only bathroom with a shower, might I add). Anyways, today was one of “those” days, but at the end of the long day we had a little prayer time with everyone in the house, and the 5 year old said she wanted to pray. She prayed the most beautiful prayer I’ve ever heard, for her mom, for the rest of the girls in the house (by name) and that her and her sister wouldn’t fight anymore. And then her older sister wanted to pray, then her younger brother, and then they all wanted to pray again. It was so sweet, and peaceful. These kids- who drove me crazy all day- allowed me to go home in a good mood. They are angels in disguise… sometimes a really good disguise 😉

didn’t expect to see you here!

God’s done it again! But first, let me back up a bit.

Casa Adalia has been running the house for over a a year now, and honestly, lately I’ve been feeling somewhat burnt out in my role as “house coordinator”. As with any new ministry, It’s been a lot of work, mostly administrative stuff, and we’ve been working with very few women. For the majority of this year we’ve had only one girl at a time (we had 3 for one night!) We’ve been in contact with many other women, women who need someone to walk alongside them, help them as they struggle to take their lives back into their hands, but don’t want or need a foundation to live in. I’ve been thinking for a while that l’d like to focus my energies on reaching out to these women. A few weeks ago I was able to talk to my team, and my director told me I could take some time out of my “house coordinator duties” to try and do something with these other women. So then I had to figure out how to start. I know quite a few young women (connections through Casa Adalia, church, etc.) who could benefit from a “support” group of sorts, but it’s hard to start when no one knows each other. I started trying to get to know these girls better, waiting for a good opportunity to come up.

So, at church today one of these particular young women that I’m starting to connect with comes in with a friend. I couldn’t believe it, I had met this friend (“P”) at Nuestras Jovenes (that foundation we used to volunteer at before they got shut down 2 years ago), and haven’t heard anything from her since! She has been bumped from foundation to foundation in the past 2 years and is now living with this other family who brought her to church, to my church! We talked and I invited both girls over to my house this week so we can continue chatting and bake a cake or something, and P mentioned that we should start a womens group and do fun things together… just what I’ve been wanting to do!

I still can’t believe how God works.

stealing from the grocery store… but not really.

I got a little New Year miracle the other day, or maybe because it was New Year Eve and I was wearing the lucky yellow underwear (Ecuadorian tradition). I wanted to buy a new cookie sheet because my old one started to rust. Regular cookie sheets don’t fit in my tiny oven, so I always buy the same kind from the same store, cheap ones…which is why they end up rusting after a year… Anyways, they didn’t have the kind I usually get, but I saw another small one- but it was good quality, nice and heavy with a ceramic coating (oooh!). I figured it’d be super expensive, as similar items of that quality were pricey, but this was unmarked, so I thought I’d ask. It was only $3.33! I’m convinced it was priced wrong… so I bought 3. Can’t pass up a deal like that! (And I can justify it to Manuel because I used a gift card I got for Christmas… so I can do whatever I want with it 🙂 And as a bonus, we could use the old rusty tray to use as a base to safely burn our “old year” doll (he’s the little fellow in the photo) as we celebrated the New Year in the typical Ecuadorian style.

Happy New Year! I hope you can see all the small miracles that happen every day in 2015.

worst coffee ever

A few weeks ago a couple from church told me about their neighbours, young women, teenage mothers living in a very complicated situation. Although the older couple from church also lives in this subsidized housing (a building where families live crammed in one room apartments, shared bathroom and water supply for everybody- no kitchen sinks!), and their personal situation really sucks, they have hearts for these girls they live with. It was really eye opening to see how they lived there, a good reminder as to what kind of backgrounds the girls that come to us come from, it’s easy to forget.

I went with another team member from Casa Adalia to visit these girls, we played games and had a good time just getting to know them a little bit. We were served to worst coffee I’ve ever had, but we washed it down later with some coke and fresh baked buns from the bakery we shared with the girls.

Last Sunday the couple told me that all of these young women were getting kicked out on Monday, basically for the type of life style they led. I didn’t just want to leave these girls with just one visit, it was important that they know that they are cared for, so I went with my director on Monday for a surprise visit. I was hoping that if we showed up unexpected, there wouldn’t be any coffee…but there was. And it was still the worst. I guess it was worth it.  Only one of the girls was around, one was just leaving to look for another place to live. But I was able to encourage at least the one that was around, and tell her about the work we do with Casa Adalia, letting her know that it could be an option for her and her friends. We left her our contact info, and well, the balls in her court now. I am praying that she and her friends will be able to get out of this situation, and be able to move forward in their lives, and be able to create good lives for their children.

I hope we can get in contact with the girls again, but I won’t miss that coffee!

Kristin–

lets hope it’s worth it!

The other night I got a phone call that there was a foreign woman who basically had been kidnapped by some people she came to visit here in Quito, and needed a place to stay until she was able to fly back to her home country. She had been with these people for about 2 weeks before she was able to escape, and wasn’t able to fly out for another month. I went to the hospital with another member of the Casa Adalia team and brought her to stay with us. The poor lady wasn’t in great shape, it sucks that things like this happen to smart, educated women. 

She’s been great to have around, bringing a lot of culture! The situation sucks, but know what kind of cool, I think she’s starting to love Jesus a little bit, at least opening up to the idea of Him! I hope in the end, it’s all worth it for her, that out of 2 weeks of hell comes eternal life!

ministry chocolates

What’s better than seeing fruit in your ministry? Chocolates in ministry of course! Even better when they go together 🙂 

A little while ago one of the girls who works with the jewelry had the idea that it would be really cool if they (the girls in the jewelry workshop) could bless others, she thought it would be awesome to go visit hospitals and orphanages and encourage the kids, leaving useful gifts and sharing about Jesus. How cool is that! I was so impressed when she shared her vision and got the rest of the girls excited about it. Of course, before we can do that, we needed a little cash to be able to buy diapers and little gifts to give away (they didn’t want to show up empty handed!) So they thought of a few fundraiser ideas, bought ingredients to make chocolate, face paints and balloons and today we went to the community park and painted faces ($0.75, with a balloon animal) and sold chocolates! 

I’m excited to see what else God is going to do through these girls! 

Radical Transformation

Do you have a few minutes? I feel horrible and really need to talk.

That is how we were greeted a few weeks ago by a young man named Raul while getting ready for our Wednesday Bible Study at La Roca. With tears in his eyes he began pour out his heart and his desire to change his lifestyle. We chatted for a while and he asked me to pray for him, which I did. I then invited him to pray, which he did. He thanked us, said he felt much better, and went off to skate.

Raul lives in the rougher part of Quito and is an exceptional skater, probably one of the 10 best in Ecuador. He also parties pretty hard and isn’t particularly respectful of women. We had chatted a bit about God before, but nothing about the way he was living showed any indication that he was interested in changing. I was curious if this time would be any different.

A couple of days later I saw a long Facebook post from Raul mentioning things like feeling blessed, full of love and thankful for what God has given me, thank you God for taking away my envy, bad thoughts, bad habits, and more, I am a new creature, I’m crazy about Jesus Christ. He filled my void and is my best friend, do not be surprised if I act different, I apologize to all those who I’ve hurt, I’m really sorry, my eyes had been blinded, and with my hand on my heart, I apologize for everything, but now give the glory where it’s due. To the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The post thrilled and surprised me, but I honestly wondered if he was drunk or high when he wrote it. We had talked about getting together again, so I sent him a note and we met up a few days later at a local skatepark. During our time there, he was asking lots of questions and witnessing to the friends that he normally parties with. He was being extremely honest with them and they were not quite sure how to respond.

On the way home I asked him what had happened; why the sudden and drastic change? He responded;

The Lord really convicted me. I realized that I was wasting my life and the talent that He has given me. I’m 24 and have been smoking weed for over 10 years. I see young kids at the skatepark, who look up to me, doing the same thing, trying to be like me. I don’t want to be a bad influence any more. Now I’m talking to them, telling them about God, and trying to be a better example.

As we drove along, we talked about a Christian book he was reading, the fact that he used to only listen to gangsta rap and now he is into worship music, and how he is all in and ready to die for Christ. He said that he used to be disrespectful at home, but now tries to help out as much as he can. His dad has been a smoker for a long time and is trying to give up tobacco. Raul now reads the Bible with him and they pray together.

The transformation in Raul’s life is one of the most drastic we have seen at La Roca. We pray, share, and try to influence, but often don’t see much change. That being the case, it is easy to get discouraged and start thinking that our small contributions aren’t making much of a difference. But sometimes God lets you see and hear what He is doing and it is a huge shot in the arm.

I smile when I think of what God could do with a talented, well-known skater like Raul who is open and willing to share his faith. That being the case, I know the devil is going to be working hard to trip him up and make sure that doesn’t happen. Please join me in praising God for changing Raul’s heart and praying that his faith and witness will remain strong.

If you’d like to see a bit of Raul’s skating, here’s a link to a video put together by one of his sponsors;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZykTQ7caAo

 

PS. sorry if you read this twice. This story was first featured in the La Roca newsletter, by Brock 🙂

A Tale of Two Spots

Today was an interesting one. You see we had started a bible study in one of the skate shops in town, so today, as every Tuesday evening for the last three weeks, I got together with a bunch of guys to read over the Word and challenge ourselves into following Jesus’ example.
Now, this is all fine and all, actually today we had a very interesting discussion and a bunch of different temptations and struggles that some of them are facing came up and it was so refreshing to see them encourage each other and come up with examples or advice on how they have been able to deal with similar stuff. All in all a good bible study if you ask me. So that’s spot number one. One of the realities that I live in.
Spot number two is a bit different. The skate shop where this bible study happens is located about 5-6 blocks away from one of the skate spots in town. A rundown park kind of at the back of an alley where people have built over the years “do-it-yourself” rails and cement boxes. It’s an area that has seen a lot of gang violence in the last 4-5 years. And you can tell. I had made it a point to go by the that park and try to skate some before going to the bible study. And so I did today. Today was a bit different because today was the first sunny day we have had in weeks, so the park was full. However, out of the 20 or so people there only a couple were skating. The rest were just hanging out doing drugs. Even those that were skating you could tell were high. That’s the other reality I live in. Where drugs and gang violence are taking these lives away.
Those are my two realities, my two spots. I see God working in awesome ways in these young mens lives, and in the same day, just a couple of blocks away I see some heading down a very dark path
I can’t help to ask myself, How can I be a bridge between these two realities? Can light shine in such dark places?
Have you looked around yourself? What is going on around you? Which are your realities?