A Forgotten Place

The Garbage Dump. Not many people give much thought to where their trash goes nor do they really care; its just trash, right? Well in Trujillo Peru, its not just trash, its someone livelihood. The men and women in the dump look for reusable plastic, glass, food for their pigs (or themselves), cans, and anything else that maybe reusable. Then they will take these items into town and sell them. The smog filled air with all of it's smells is almost beyond compare and not to mention all of the flies that swarm everywhere you walk. I had the opportunity to visit the dump a few times. Often people talk about how their first visit was the most impactful, for me however it was my last. 

On my last ride over I battled with the Holy Spirit for why I felt such a need to come this particular time. I had been a few times before and knew the routine, buying fruit at the market, then going into the actual dump, handing it out and asking people if we could pray for them; but keeping in mind that the men and women are working so to be respectful. Earlier that morning and even the previous night I felt a tug on my heart that I should be at the dump. It's not like I didn't want to go because I did but I wanted to go to another ministry during that same time. I also knew how difficult was going to be, it is always really hard to see people digging through trash.

Sitting in the seat, the Holy Spirit called to mind a deal I made with Him. The first time I went to the dump, the idea came to me to give away my shoes, so I said “hey if you remind me, I’ll gladly give them away.” Well He kept His end of the deal, so here I was faced the decision to keep mine. I was actually really excited and immediately begin to pray for Him to send the right person along.

So we finally arrived at the dump and broke into small groups to hand out fruit. My group quickly found a woman working alone. My co-intern, Natalie, begin to help this young lady search through the trash, holding up different items in order to figure out what she was looking for. After several minutes, the woman began to laugh because Natalie was picking up things that were of no use to her. While we helped her we learned that she was 16 years old and was there with her brothers. She also told us about her child and her aging mother who took care of the baby. I found myself praying “Lord, her?” No reply so I thought “well why not?” The next thing I knew my group was off to the next person and I was walking this beautiful young lady to the bus and taking off my old ratty boots.

I don’t remember her name but I do remember the lesson the Lord taught me that day. Humility. I was so humbled by that experience. Looking at her shoes worn ragged from use and covered in black tar from the dump; then thinking about how my own shoes would have eventually ended up in the trash.

These amazing people spend their days looking through what someone else considers trash to find a treasure. I suppose much like God, who looks at what the world throws away, gently picking it up, He takes us home to make us His treasure. Oh what value we have in Him!
P.S. Natalie did find stuff the young lady could use and eagerly gathered as much of it as she could.

Me and a little girl from the children's ministry there

 
P.S.S. I'm back at CIU (Columbia International University) for one last time. That's right I'm a senior! and quite honestly so not ready for this whole being an adult thing. (haha) But here we go ready or not senior year here I come fully armed with the strength of my Savior.

Inca Thakhi

"Inca Thakhi is an outdoor ministry of Inca Link’s (www.incalink.org) that provides an ideal space for people to foster a deep relationship with Christ through personal development and adventure in nature. Our vision, guided by God; is to run a Christian camp in Peru, to support Inca Link’s children’s home, “Pasitos de Fe,” (the orphanage from my earlier post); and to continue working with future generations.
This year Inca Thakhi is focusing on the Christian discipleship of children, adolescents, and teenagers by practicing adventure sports such as sand boarding, skim boarding, mount boarding, and hiking. These activities create opportunities to evangelize and build relationships with young people so we may guide them and share with them God’s irresistible love.
Most of the young lives God is allowing us to impact are at risk of being lured into joining gangs that will use them to murder, to assault, and to extort their enemies, but with your prayers and support, we can spread the message of love and peace they so desperately need to experience." (quoted from incathakhi.org)

I want to introduce you to a few of these young lives. First, lets begin with the youngest.

Meet Danny, a shy, quite 3 year old

Danny is rather small for his age and sometimes gets picked on by the older boys in the ministry. He is cautious yet brave. All the boys in the ministry live in a near by neighborhood, so they just walk over to the orphanage. On their way they have to cross a large ditch. The ditch is about 3ish ft deep and 2ish ft wide; when filled with water it can act like a small raging river. One day when Danny (2 years old) was coming to the ministry with a few of the older boys he suddenly fall into this ditch that was full of raging water. Danny was not big enough to climb out and was getting sweep up by the current. The two older boys (Jon Piere, 9 and Romario, 6) jumped in without even thinking and pulled Danny to safety. Once safe Romario and Jon Piere gave Danny their shirts to keep him warm and dry. Then proceed to the orphanage for ministry. 

Joca, the leader of Inca Thakhi, loves to tell this story because it show how God is at work in these young men lives. AND IT'S SO TRUE! Here are a few pictures of the boys playing with Danny after the event:

 

Danny's muddy shoes

and just one more for good measure:

Joca and Danny on their way to mountain board

 For more information on what the Lord is doing in the lives of these young leaders please visit incathakh.org 

Back in South Carolina

Hey! I'm hooooome! But really I am after a long and beautiful summer, I'm back in South Carolina and hanging with the family.

In the airport Mom, Dad and Carolyn had balloons, a sigh and a flower

 WELCOME HOME BEKAH!!! 

Peach clobber, vanilla ice cream and Dunkin' donuts coffee :)

Just a heads up, because so much happened over the summer and me not having enough time to blog means there will be several more post to come. 

So, to start... well I'm not quite sure where to. The Lord did so much this summer, not just in my life but in the lives of so many others as well. 

Most of the summer I and 8 other interns lived at the orphanage. At the moment there are no children because Inca Link Peru needs to raise 150,000 in order to have children inside the walls and are currently at 60,000. Here is a video with more detail. A lot has been done on the orphanage, like painting, pouring concrete, leveling the road, and much much more. I had the honor of helping with these tasks and leading short term teams, who brought man power to do the same. 

It has been a very long process to open the orphanage (Pasitos de Fe as it's called or in english Little Steps of Faith). If you could please join me in praying that the Lord will open this place very very very soon. It breaks my heart that there is a home waiting with open arms for children but there are so many blocks in between the children and their home.  

Ignacio and Meylin Mireles:

Have been working endlessly to get this place open. Ignacio is the president of Inca Link Peru and Meylin is his beautiful little wife. If would please pray for them as well. Quite honestly they never have a minute to themselves because they live at the Pasitos de Fe and are always giving their time the orphanage. I was encouraged by the relationship they had with Jesus and how He oozed out of every part of the Mireles' lives. When we (the interns) did not have teams we would have devotionals with Ignacio and Meylin. (This became one of my favorite parts of not having teams). During those devotionals Ignacio would pour out wisdom and knowledge on us. Oh how I enjoyed working with the Mireles this summer. 

To Ignacio and Meylin: Thank you Ignacio and Meylin for your hard work and for allowing the Lord to use you in Peru. I pray that He bless you as much as you have blessed others (which is quite a great deal). Amen