March 17, 2008

• i used to pray that people would find answers to their questions…

  …but i have found that answers aren’t always all they are cracked up to be. so now i pray more for other things. like world peace. heh. no, but peace in their heart. real conversations with God. understanding. 

  a lady got saved at church yesterday. Just got up during the service and told the pastor she wanted to give her life to Jesus. it was really beautiful. and simple. it always gets me how simple these things are.

  i told the kids to wear green today at school. because if not, you get pinched. the first two minutes of school erupted in pinching caos, and the teachers gave me dirty looks for introducing such a vice to the children. i then pointed out the other obvious fact that the school uniform has green in it. so no one could pinch anyone anyways. sometimes…culture just doesn’t pass well into another culture. so much for being Irish.

  Some facts about PETI, also known as Living Stones:

  the government pays for three minimum wage workers, and then gives them 147 children to take care of in morning/afternoon programs. Most weeks, the government also gives some food…this food mostly being rice and beans. sometimes some meat. sometimes with bugs in the rice and everything past expiration date. sometimes there is no food.

  with this, they make due. there is no curriculum. there are no books. there are no supplies, no games, no plans, no anything. so if they don’t get meat one week, they have learned to make “meatballs” out of soybean products…any money to buy anything extra coming out of the minimum wage the three workers are receiving.

  Cacau, Patricia, and Mamau–the three miracle workers who pull this off, started with simple projects: respect and manners. When they started living stones, using the church property, the neighbors got together and signed a petition to make them leave. because the kids are trouble. for example…across the street from the church is a cemetery. the kids would go in and break the crosses off the tombstones. just because. so the women started teaching the basics…lesson one: don’t break the crosses off the tombstones. don’t throw rocks. and so forth. then they moved on to hygiene. like washing up. or using the toilet. they would (and still do) shower them at the church. and teach them to use the toilet because they were finding poop all over the churchyard. they asked me to come and cut hair sometime because of the lice problem. then they moved on to eating–sharing–waiting your turn. at home for these kids it is grab yours and swallow before it is taken away. now they sit and wait and even serve the others at the table. These are huge victories. even though it looks so far from what is needed. The kids are 7-16. three women trying to cover 147 children of these different ages is daunting.

  and they really are not supposed to teach them “school” things because this program is after school/supplemental/extra curricular kind of stuff. But Patricia is taking a group of six kids every afternoon and teaching them how to read. because they don’t know how. she teaches them with paper and pencils. because that is what she has and brings from home.

  I am making a list with them of things we/you/me can do to help. three P´s:

  People…they need more adults to will come and play with them. listen. build relationships.

  Prayers…just to get through each day

  Projects…and the money to be able to do things–like play a game (money to buy paper and string for kites and go to the park, Uno, Candyland, Sorry) or color a picture (paper, coloring books, markers, crayons, colored pencils)…a general budget to be able to think about a fun activity…and then put it into action (like our trip to the zoo, mall, and McDonalds…that started out as an idea from someone´s head at Circle Center, Indianapolis)…money for books–teaching phonics or math or…just anything.

  so…more ideas to come–you can bet on that.

  and something else to pray about. Community Church of Paudalho is my church. and i have been praying alot about where my place is in it. what my ministry is. and i have found it. a need i see that i really want to meet. I have always been a part of the music ministry, but the problem is, they have no projector. and hymn books or handing out papers with words do not fit in the church budget. so for most of the songs, i (and new people to the church) have no clue what is being sung. the fuzzy microphones and ducktaped together sound system doesn’t help either. Seeing the words and being able to read them is part of entering into worship for me, and something that i miss, and i know i am not alone.

  Solutions: the old-school projector they have needs 200$US of work done on it to get it working again–and then it requires someone to write out the songs on clear slides and erase them for the next week. or…like in my dreams…getting a power point projector. Jeff and Lindsay have brought down some laptops, and given me one to use. I squirm with delight just imagining if we could set it up to have the words power pointed on the wall during church!

  and wow. it is moments like this that i realize i am not in Kansas anymore. it is alittle different from stepping inside the carpeted floors and cushion benches and air conditioning of the churches i grew up in. so different…and yet the same smiles and hugs and “good to see yous.”

  so if anyone knows of a projector lying around somewhere…please let me know.
  it makes me laugh…this calling of being a “power-pointer person” or however you would say it.

  “Delight in your relationship with God. in being with Him. in learning of Him. And He will satisfy you. Those deep desires in your heart will be realized and fulfilled. Give God all your plans and ideas and decisions–trust Him with them. He will clean you until you shine with brightness of purity and He brings about the causes He has caused you to fight for. Be still and sit at His feet.”
  Psalm 37:4-7a
  paraphrased by Me

  • 8:28 pm
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