About 6 weeks ago, some 60 people began the journey through the first book in the discipleship series we use. More importantly, they are learning through God's Word what it means to have New Life in Christ and guarding God's Word in their hearts.
I have been blessed to watch four women from Los Guido, Lucia, Rosa, Sandra and Luisa, not only desire to make disciples in this area, but take in action and begin these groups.
This may seem like a relatively easy task, but it involves quite a bit of planning on our parts as missionaries, as well as theirs, as the teachers. Coco has taken the responsibility of overseeing new ministries and so is overseeing these new groups. Melinda is working with the women to coordinate and organize our time and efforts their. They both work together to ensure transportation to and from La Carpio each week. This is where it gets tricky. The women get picked up near their homes in Los Guido each week, as well as one of the LG leaders, Evelyn. Then all travel to a hospital near La Carpio to park the van. (we still have no secure place to park the van each week, so we do not drive in- we take the bus). So, the car gets parked and we all walk to the bus stop nearby and wait for the next La Carpio bus. We take the bus into the stop that is closest to the first group and get off the bus. We then walk downhill about 2 blocks or so through a rough part of town you could say to get to la casa de Don Juan. The house where the first group meets is where a man named Juan lives. There is a little girl that lives in this house named Stephanie who is 4 years old and needs oxygen to breathe. She has been told she'll be on oxygen for the rest of her life. Melinda and Coco teach this group so they stop there and we walk on another 3-4 blocks downhill on a dirt path that cannot be considered a road but leads to a road. Granted this "road" is another dirt path but cars make their way over it every day. When it rains it is nothing less than a river flowing through the city. Doña María's house is next and is where Sandra and Evelyn have their first group. I've talked about this family before. Matt and the kids and I were able to go with Mark and Meg take this family out for lunch and to buy shoes through the gift of an offering a couple months ago. I love being in this house. It is nothing like any house you have probably ever seen and my heart breaks thinking of the conditions this family and all the others God has touched our lives with from La Carpio, but the love and happiness we feel from this family is unmistakeable. Luisa, Rosa, Lucia and I walk on down a little farther on this road and Luisa and I reach our first group, Doña Helen, a single mom in her twenties with four small children. She is so sweet and her little boy Daniel has a smile that will light up any room! Rosa and Lucia walk down a few houses to their first group that meets in a small pulperia or corner store. After Luisa and I finish with Helen, we walk back up the street, greet Doña María again and head to our next group which is in the home of Doña Adrianna. Also in this group are Glenda and Sabina who are both single mom's and Adrianna's teenage son Emilio. A couple of weeks ago, Luisa and I learned that Sabina's brother is the father of three children whose mother and grandmother were shot and killed. She had been taking care of them for a while for her brother and told us that the oldest, the only girl, had witnessed the murders. The life these precious people live is so very different than anything I can even imagine and I am with them every week. So I understand if you are gasping with your hand over your mouth right now. It is tough to write about, tough to read probably, but it is real and it is every day for them. My daily prayer is that it be through God that they find hope. It is that hope that saved us a little over 10 years ago and that brought us here and is what keeps us here. Each pair has one other group as well and so all in all we spend about 2 1/2 hours there each week. Time that I cherish each week. After the groups are over, we all meet together in a desiganted location and walk up the hill to the bus stop. We generally have to wait anywhere from 5-15 minutes for the bus. Once we catch the bus, we take it to the hospital and walk the 4 or so blocks to where we parked the car. Then, I usually get dropped off at the spot where I meet Matt and we head on to Tejarcillos for the Wednesday night prayer service. The others head to Los Guido to return the ladies to their homes and families and then the members of our team return home. I usually get picked up around 10:30 and I meet Matt around 3:00 or so. Matt and I arrive in Tejarcillos about 3:30. I prepare to disciple a young lady at 5:00. Then the prayer service is at 6:00. We usually get home around 9:00. It is a long day for everyone, but well worth it! The kind of day you feel good about being tired about!
This Wednesday, Matt and I took our kids and we all went to La Carpio. We left to pick the ladies up in Los Guido at 9:30 and went through the whole routine. We ended up with a packed van as several of the youth had no classes and so were able to come with us. Coco and Melinda had planned to make arepas for Doñ Juan and his family and the rest of our team, so we spent an hour or so in his home. It was wonderful time of fellowship and he told me so several times. He is such a sweet humble man. Isabelle came with me to the groups Luisa and I have and Matt and Audrey and Ethan went with Mark and the team here now. We met us a little later and Ethan came with me to the last group. He apparently was really tired because at one point Doña Adrianna got my attention and said "Look, he's sleeping!" Poor guy! But they were wonderful the whole day! It was great and I love watching them mix it up and play with the kids in the ministry. After taking the Los Guido team home we made a quick stop at the Golden Arches to grab supper and headed to Tejarcillos or our Wednesday routine there. After the prayer service, we met with Pastor Rogelio, Neris and our four leaders to cover some things about an upcoming church event. We arrived home about 9:30, all terrbibly exhausted, but happy from a wonderful day. We were able to be in all three areas today and it was so cool. The time spent with the ladies and youth of Los Guido was really priceless.
I am amazed at what God is doing in La Carpio. We ask you to pray for these discipleship groups and the people in them. Pray for long term fruit in that these disciples will go on to make disciples and so on.
On September 7th, our team is planning an outreach where for the first time ever all three ministries areas will be together at La Finca! We look forward to this day with eager anticipation.
Here are a few pictures of the day in La Carpio.
Don Juan, Melinda and Coco
fellowshipping in Don Juan's house
Doña Helen, Luisa Brooke and Doña Ponchita
Isaura and Sharon, Helen's daughter
Mi amigo Daniel. ¡Qué Guapo! ¿verdad? (How handsome, huh?)
Doña Adrianna, Sabina, Glenda and her baby Rachel, Luisa and I
Please pray for these families as well as the others that are being discipled in La Carpio.
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