Hope Shifts

Because of all that we have been through in the last 2 days, it is difficult to recall everything and we've already shed a lot of tears processing through what we saw and heard. So, this post at least will try to give you the overview of yesterday without too much processing stuff...we'll save that for when our hearts stop melting....here goes:

Monday - A very good day
We awakened early (even Seth was up by 6:30) as our bodies were still on Ohio time. After breakfast of beans, eggs and freshly rolled tortillas, we moved to the chapel to process our Sunday, study the Word, take communion and pray a lot. That is when we had our first encounter. Right before I served communion, Sergio Gomez (see Todd's post earlier), came in and interrupted us with his beautiful story of serving Jesus in Tijuana. The man has given his life to meet needs and his smile and laugh come from a deep place when you know that he had just come from visiting the home of the dying. Read Todd's post for more on this...needless to say, we were led into communion better by his story than what I had prepared :)

We then visited Sister Myriam, a Catholic nun who has opened up her house to feed and shelter the homeless. She is about 4'5" tall, covered in white cloth and has the eyes of a saint who has climbed the mountain with God and has carried the dying with her. She brought us into her little chapel, her prayer room where she told us her story. It was incredible. In the middle of it, I was moved by her asking US, "are you hungry?" It came from a sincere desire to meet OUR needs. (all of this while some of the most "needy" are outside the gate waiting to eat). Then she prayed over us all, read scripture over us and missed her scheduled meeting because of her desire to spend time with us. We were so humbled and broken by her joy. I'll have some more thoughts on her from other teammates too.

Then, on our way to see an orphanage for children of prostitutes, we made our way through the Red Zone (Zona Norte--Red light district) at 1 in the afternoon. I have done this about 5 times before but this time, Beth and I noticed something. One girl, maybe 18 years old was standing outside waiting for a client, scantily clad, with her hand pressed up against her eyes to keep the tears from falling. She was crying. Beth followed her with her eyes as we turned the corner. A man walked up and took the crying girl into the hotel behind her. Her tears still there.

We pulled up to the Purple Palace (again see Todd's post...he's really smart) where we were ushered into a beautiful, prestine, huge home for kids from prostitues. We met the pioneer who started it but then she had the Director share her story. She sat down on an ottoman surrounded by us and humbly told us about her transformation. Her name is Franceria and she had been working as a sex worker since she was 11 or 12. She did it at first to earn some money and to earn her grandmother's affection. Then, years later and 8 months pregnant and now with a drug addiction, she travelled to Tijuana to have her baby and work the Red Zone. It became her job and the source of income for her addiction. She had numerous children after that one and even told us times of when she would beat and almost kill the men she serviced because of her anger. Over the course of years she met a lady who kept coming into her life to show her love. Her name is Connie. Connie started the purple palace and because of her friendship and love, she rescued Franceria from the streets, introduced her to Jesus and got her into rehab. Now Franceria is telling us her story!!! She has forgiven the men who hurt her. She prays for them now. She has a vision to open a home for the women on the streets and she routinely visits them to share God's love. She is God's miracle! We prayed over her with tears a flowin'.

If that wasn't enough, it was 2:45 now and we stil hadn't eaten but we weren't aware of it, we met up with Horatio and his wife Jill. They are youth workers now for a church down here but 12 years ago, Horatio worked for the gvt. He was part of a task force that researched child trafficking and prostitution. He told us his story and then drove us around the Red Zone again to show us things that we couldn't have known without him. We saw hidden hotels, drug lords, pedophile hangouts and heard stories of corruption. But we also heard stories of how his research and efforts rescued many kids. He has been getting his education so that he could go back, this time with an army of God to do more on the streets (that was God's vision to him). He is amazing and his passion and leadership skills are astounding.

Finally, we made it back to TCM. We couldn't talk. We couldn't cry. We were spent. We needed to sleep and we did. This morning we awoke to another new day, another new hope and a passion to be broken and poured out again.