The second day of ministry hit me the hardest. When we walk towards our first slum for ministry we cross over the river on this metal bridge. The part that hit me was the view of the river. On the river’s edge was an insurmountable amount of trash. The thing is, there was still plenty of life. The coast was filled with flourishing trees, bushes, and shrubs. You can perceive that two different ways. Either that the trash is choking the life out of this greenery, or that even though pollution is present, life prevails. This reminded me of one of my favorite passages, Psalm 57. Even though David is surrounded by enemies, he finds refuge in God, and prevails over his enemies.
The afternoon slum ministry hit me hard as well. This was the first day that I got to go and fetch the kids for ministry time. We turned a corner and I saw where this kids were playing. Huge mounds of trash. The mud wasn’t even mud anymore. It was this gray slime that covered every inch of these kids. They ran wild and were content with their current situation. They had no clue that this form of play would never be allowed in our home country. Kids can play in mud, but grayish slime? Never. Once these kids saw us though, they were so happy. They screamed with excitement and began to run towards us with every intention of jumping straight into our arms. And they did. Pretty much all of them wanted to be carried to the building, but only a select few were fast enough to earn those spots. With kids in our arms we preceded down the side of the river. This was a bit sketchy since one misplaced foot meant a drop of at least ten feet. The kids didn’t care though. They just had this blind faith in us. Fear was never present when they were with us. I was just amazed. It reminded me 1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxieties upon Him for He cares about you”.
We truly care for these kids, and they knew that. Love crossed over the language barrier, and allowed us to show just a little Jesus to these kids. And if at least one kid caught a glimpse of that then all this was worth it. The fundraising, the traveling, the jet lag, and all the moments of discouragement in between.
