missionary story

For some reason or another, I happened to wake up at 5 am this morning without the help of an alarm.  I was tempted to stay in bed a little longer but God must have known I would need this extra time with Him this morning.  I need my morning alone time.  It is how I focus and prepare for the day.  The last thing I do before I finish is pray for a verse to help me through the day.  I usually write it on a post it note and carry it in my purse.  The verse He gave me to hold dear today was:

“Praise be to the Lord~to God our Savior~ who daily bears our burdens.” Psalm 68:19

Then I begin my day by doing all those things we moms just do.  I take the washing off the line, put up another load, feed the children, get ready for school, possibly do some housework.  No one knows better than another mother the many tasks we have to accomplish through the course of the day.   I don’t have a crazy morning commute but my day can get crazy in other ways.  

My big day of the week is always Friday.  That is the day we hold the free breakfast for the moms and children of the Tepehua mountain area.  I collect my stuff here at the house and make my way up the bumpy back road to my office.  Today I had planned to look at 3 computers people had blessed the office with and organize some pre-loved clothing for a few moms.  I also needed to make a few food bags for the elderly.  I knew I would be busy.

No sooner had I arrived did a grandma arrive with her two grandchildren ages 7 and 8, crying her sweet eyes out.  I have a lot of women come in and out of my office for many reasons, but when they come in because they need help in an abusive situation, I can feel myself get angry.  Apparently this boy and girl were her daughter’s children and her daughter had them taken away by the government because she was violent.  More than once, more than twice.  The children stood silent, in very dirty worn out clothing.  As a matter of fact, all they had in the whole world were the clothing and shoes they wore and one small notebook the little girl had for school. 

Grandma explained she was going to love on these kids and care for them but had no idea how she was going to do it, she had nothing and no job.  They needed everything.  This is where I get to do what I love to do the most and immediately jumped into action.  They needed to eat.  I directed them to a table for the breakfast.   Guillermo, the little boy, began to sweep.  As I reached for the broom, he startled back in fear, a tale tale sign of abuse.  I told him I did not mean to frighten him but that today he was not going to work, he was going to have presents.  “Eat, rest,” I told them both.  “I will be back for you after breakfast, I have work to do.”

Because of the many food and pre-loved clothing donations, I was able to put together a good start for them.  I even found a few toys and coloring books.  Those two precious children gave me the best hugs, so sweet.  They will be back for follow up, and hopefully we will be able to help them continue to stay in school and live in a loving and safe environment.  Things are looking up for them, but they still have a long way to go.

“One of those days,”  have you ever had one?  I reached for a bag of rice in my filing cabinet and it popped.  Now I have rice in all my files.  The computers?  They were just empty plastic towers boxes, and the final box I opened up was just a monitor.  The dirt and dust, the piles of clothing to be sorted out for babies in my office.  All the hustle and bustle sprinkled with the joy ~ hugs from grateful children or mommies who want to give me something in return.  “Don’t forget the free clinic on Tuesday”, I tried to remind them all.  The Health Center was providing a free immunization clinic and I offered the office for them to hold it at. 

The truck came for those collecting recyclables, as we help them make money by taking their recyclable items to the plant in a truck and covering the cost of the gasoline.  The bread donated by the local store was all given away.  Several sick babies were checked.  A couple of important meetings were held. Then I had to take my godsons to school.   Their mom, my dear friend and sister, usually takes them but because the heat was overpowering, and she and the baby were still recovering from being ill, I offered to drive the boys to and from school. 

I ran home in between to fix some food for my family and I think I accidentally fell asleep for a few minutes while I hugged Ella and Noah on the sofa.  I usually tire out by 2 in the afternoon.  Siesta is really a cultural reality here, and because of the heat and eating the big meal in the middle of the day, most people take advantage of the two – three hour lunch.  But there was no time for a nap today, I had to see a few other moms still.  

I happened to have a bag of food in the car, and I had bought a few groceries for us.  I felt it important to check on this one family that lives in the mountain.  She came running down the hill when I beeped for her.  I told her that I had some food for her.  “Auntie, I prayed, the verse you gave us, (while praying over the breakfast and giving the announcements I shared my verse with them ) I gave God my burdens, and He answered.  We have no food, nothing.  Thank you.”  I told her it was not me, but Him, who gave her the food.  He wanted to bless her for being obedient to His word.  How wonderful that she has this story of His provision to give her hope for the next time.

When I got home, Sam and Eden were waiting for me.  I home school our Pastor’s high-school aged children, and they are doing a great job.  Their work is all computer based, and they left their computers with me to grade.  Another mom was waiting at the tree outside our gate.  We live at the corner of a busy bus stop and most everyone around knows who we are and where we live.  This momma had 3 little ones in tow.  The 5 month old baby obviously had the chicken pox and conjunctivitis.  The others were hungry.  No sooner than this family was taken care of did two other sweet children come asking for food. 

Not all my Fridays are this hectic, but today seemed to be full of surprises.  Coming home to my precious family is wonderful.  Noah greets me with lots of affectionate hugs, Ella usually waves her artwork under my nose for approval, dear Destiny has done some school or helped me with some big task and John is still working hard with setting up this website for Justice For Youth. 

After everything settles down, the children bathed, stories read, big drinks of milk and night time routines finished, I get to tuck in my sweet babies and pray with sincere gratitude for all His provision.   Just thanking God for the water to be ale to bathe my babies because some people don’t have water.  I can thank God for my stove to cook the kids’ noodles, because every mom I helped today has to go and search for firewood for fuel.  I sat down at the end of the night to write on a lovely pre-loved computer with a nice cup of tea.  I am soo blessed. 

One day I was sharing some photos with a friend of mine and I came across this one.  It was her!  I couldn’t believe my eyes.

This photo was taken at the Posada we helped host at Christmas time.  I remembered her because I had posted a photo of her baby who was so ill on my Facebook account.

By and by I heard more snippets about her and her family.  I had heard one day she was upset with her husband and threw gasoline on him and lit him on fire.  Some people said she was crazy.  I knew she had a sister.  I didn’t know if anything else I had heard was true.  Honestly, I did not care.  For some crazy reason I just wanted to know where she lived.

Then one day driving through the rough Tepehua area, I saw her.  She was washing clothes on a stone.  The steep, muddy, dirt road I was on did not permit me to stop.  My heart beat faster.  I knew something would happen soon, I just did not know what.  It was kind of exciting.

 Her home

Then one day coming home from the orphanage I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to buy some food and take it to her.  I only had about $15USD left, but I knew from experience that if I didn’t do it, I would be up all night struggling with my emotions over it all.  So I stopped and bought rice, beans, bread, eggs, milk, fruit, tuna, toilet paper and some soap.

Destiny was with me and by this point we had had many conversations about this whole situation.  “Aren’t you mad at her for taking our stuff? I mean you helped her and everything, mom,” she said.  “No hunny, I am not upset with her at all.  I forgave her.  I mean she probably would not have done what she did if she wasn’t desperate.  In fact, if I was in her shoes I might have done the same if it meant feeding my babies.”

We made the crazy drive up there and I saw her children chasing some wild turkeys.  I told them to go and call her for me.  She came with her head down, and I smiled and held out my hand and said, “we know each other don’t we?  I know we have met before, I saw you at my house, remember?”  She nodded, but did not speak.  “I am Stasia, what is your name?”  “Hermina,” she replied.  I asked her to introduce me to her sweet children and I introduced Destiny.  She seemed very uncomfortable.  I tried to smile a lot to help her feel easier.

I began to tell her that I had been praying for her and her family.  I told her that God loved her and that He had told me to bring her these bags.  It was not a lot, but it was all I had.  I also mentioned that we would be having a clothing give away soon and would it be alright for me to come over and let her know when that would be.  Did she need free clothes?  She nodded.  She extended her hand, and I reached out and hugged her.

Then this last weekend I drove to her house and told her to come to the Tepehua center to get some free clothes.  She promised she would come.  She came and brought a couple of the children with her.  She was shy and never spoke a word.  She chose a bag full of clothes and tried to sneak out.  I asked her to wait a moment.  I had stowed a bag of rice under my seat and gave it to her as she left.  She spoke, her eyes met mine as she said, “Gracias,”

I cannot express how privileged I feel to be a part of adventures like this.   I learned that just at moments when it seems as if we need it the most, someone is worse off than we are, and somehow we learn to survive.  We are all in this together and that we need each other.  And most importantly, you cannot learn to love if you cannot learn to forgive.

The best thing is how good you feel when you just get over it and help someone.

The first time I saw her she was going through my rubbish.  Well, at least that was the first time I thought I has seen her.

You know that nagging feeling you get when you feel like you have seen someone before?  That was how I was beginning to feel about her.

On with my story.

Destiny saw her first, “Mommie someone is digging through our trash.”  I said, “It’s okay Destiny, don’t go out there,

just let her be.”

 I have come to know through our travels that sometimes and for some people, their only source of provision for their families is from other people’s trash.

 I did not want to embarrass her so I carefully peeked out the window to see who it was for further reference, maybe I could help her in the future.

To my surprise she was not alone in her task.  She had three little ones in tow and carried a baby with one hand as she rummaged through our garbage.

My heart was touched.  What if it were me, and my children?

 I quickly and quietly got some things from my kitchen,

a bag of rice and beans, a loaf of bread, milk, juice,

 eggs and some fresh mangoes.

I went outside and approached her.  She worked quietly at her task and kept her head down in shame.

 Her children stopped and stepped back.

 I grabbed some of the mangoes and handed them to the children,

who quickly began to eat them peels and all.

 I handed the eldest of the children one of the bags.

 I reached out to shake the mother’s hand saying, “Mamma, if you need food or something,

 please feel free to knock on my door, anytime.

I am a volunteer here at the albergue, and sometimes I have food and sometimes I don’t

 but whenever you have a need come over, I know God will provide for us.  Here,

 please take these bags.  I know it isn’t much but whenever I have it I am ready to give it away.”

Her eyes never met mine, she motioned for her little girl to take the bags I was carrying.  I went in the house and let her organize her things alone.  She looked a bit more in the rubbish and then left.

A couple of hours later one of my neighbors knocked on my gate holding my rubbish bin.

 Actually, it is really just a large plastic box with a lid so the street dogs don’t toss my rubbish everywhere.  A real lidded trash can would get stolen quickly and they are too expensive anyway.

As the rubbish truck comes every day except for Sunday,

 it works well for us.

My neighbor had seen me give her food, and then seen her take my rubbish box

when I went back into my house.

She then chased the woman down

and brought my rubbish box back to me.

Knowing that our family is serving the orphanage here, she thought is was a horrible way for the woman to show her gratitude, and told me so.

I thanked her for helping me.

 Two weeks later the woman stole my rubbish box again.

 We found another lidded box for the rubbish

and that one was stolen as well.

I also had a beautiful flower plant that John had planted

on the sidewalk in front of my house for me.

 There was a big hole left where that flower bush used to be.

I have to be honest at this point and tell you that I was upset.

 Mainly because we were broke and no had no way to buy another bin,

or fill the huge hole in front of the house.

 Also, we had no money for food that week, and I was almost regretting giving away

 food to someone who was so ungrateful as to steal from the hand that helped her.

 I did not know how to handle my feelings in it all so I took it to God in prayer.

Eventually I began to forget about it and occasionally I would see her

going through the trashes up and down the street.

 I wanted to know where she lived but I was unsure why I wanted to know that.

 I knew I had seen her before.

 Where had I seen her before?

Even though the weather started out horrible,
I was able to drive to the toddler house and make
them pancakes for breakfast.

I usually end up making too much food when I cook,
which is always fine because it won’t go to waste.

After washing up the dishes I started getting a few of the
children ready for church.

However I did need to get back to my family as Ella
has been sick and feverish.

As I was driving home I saw several things that stuck out
in my mind.  
The first was the very elderly man on a bicycle.
He already looked as if he had been working all day and it was but 9am.
His cheek bones were overly defined and his eyes looked sunken in
and tired.  His dirty, tattered clothes hung on his delicate frame and were
secured with a rope around his waist. 

He had a bucket
of nopales for sell strapped to the handlebars.

He looked as if he had never
had a chance to rest the whole of his life.

The sight of any elderly man riding a bike or hauling a load of cactus
down a street always strikes heartstrings. 

I think of how I would feel if
my father had to do that kind of manual labor at that age.
It never fails to make me sad.

It is not uncommon to see young boys about 9 years old driving
around here. 

It is also not uncommon to see drivers drinking tequila
or beer while driving. 

But the sight I saw next was rather uncommon
for me.
There were 3 people on a motorcycle. 

The man driving the motorcycle was steering one handed
because he was holding a large bottle of tequila in his other hand.
The next man was holding a plastic milk jug full of gasoline
with one hand and with the other he held a young boy.

The boy was holding a gun. 

Yes, it was a real gun,
and he accidentally aimed it towards my car.

His eyes met mine and for an instant I was frightened. 

But it
didn’t stick. 

He obviously did not mean to hold
the gun in a threatening way and I did not feel
threatened, but I was a bit shocked. 

Unfortunately
I did not have the camera with me.