Did I ever think I was going to sell books door to door? Nope, but have I done it? Yes.
Did I ever think I was going to evangelize door to door? Nope, but have I done it? Yes.
Almost every day my team, which is a group of 6 other people that are considered my family for the next 8 months, and I go into the barrios. The barrios are the neighborhoods that surround the outskirts of Jinetope. By American standards, the barrios would pretty much be concerned slums, where homes have insufficient plumbing; trash and sewage float along the curbs of streets; kids run around freely with t-shirts reading Boy Scouts Troop 39, Hilton Head Island, Powder-puff Purple team, etc. No matter how accustomed we, a group of gringos, become to our routine of walking, smiling, waving, talking, and praying our way through the barrios like we are in some parade, I still find myself uncomfortable everyday. This is specifically due to one reason – the language barrier – as we all long to dig deeper into their lives and share the Gospel.
It’s kind of funny how old habits never die. I still find myself using a structure very similar to the approach I learned while selling books. I approach them with a samile and a wave saying hi [hola], introducing myself [me llamo Audrey], what’s your name [como se llama], saying who I am [soy una estudianta de los EEUU], and why we are there [nosotros somos missionarios and vivimos en la iglesia Nueva Vida por tres meses]. Then it’s up to the Holy Spirit what happens from there. Recently, it is cool to slowly start to see what fruit has come of our and previous teams’ efforts and relationships.
As we return to places we have visited on multiple occasions, we great others with besos (kisses on the cheeks) and hugs. Sometimes I feel like I have never felt so much affection and openness from someone. For example, one little boy ran up to me today in an area we had never visited, and I expected to greet him with a high five; nope, he wanted a hug. These are the moments where I feel God’s love that He so freely gives to us to pour out on others.
It is so easy though to just keep floating on in our little gringo parade as we play with kids and small talk with parents. The more challenging and uncomfortable thing to do is to stop and listen for the Holy Spirit to guide us. We are here to bring heaven on earth, and more specifically in the barrios we are there to flood them with the truth of our heavenly Father. My prayer is that we are vessels for God to bring His glory and we humble ourselves to actually kiss the arthritic hands of an elderly woman; pray for a little baby’s asthma to dissipate; or even declare to a teenage girl the beauty, worth, and voice she has. I pray that this is our heartbeat while we are here.
One thing that has really struck me as we have visited the barrios the past couple of days is actually seeing the people from the church, who we now dearly consider our friends. We first met them at the church so we don’t know their stories on how they started attending Nueva Vida, but for me this gives me such hope. For many of these people the way they heard about the church was through a personal relationship or interaction with a gringo in the barrios. To me this is very humbling…that God would actually choose someone that is made of dust (Psalm 103) to actually use to help foster a relationship between Him and another person. May we, as your humble servants, have your heartbeat with its intentionality in the barrios.
Go Audrey, go!
I am most impressed with your missionary fervor. As a “home missionary” priest back here in Georgia, I do so many of the same things you are doing right here in the rural USA, just 200 miles south of where you grew up. Having been in ordained ministry for over 36 years doesn’t change anything from the gift of home visitation with people whose language you barely know. You are relating to them as a child of God, as your brother or sister in Christ, and that is exactly what we should all be doing all the time. Unfortunately, in our busy land of abundance while are not faced with the material poverty that your friends in Jinetope are [or my friends in Vienna, GA are], we often neglect to take the time to be so humble and so human, to share affection so openly, to be “an instrument of God’s peace” so unconditionally as you are doing now. Being able to laugh at oneself [the Gringo Parade] is at the heart of ministry. It sounds and looks like you are doing the Holy Spirit’s most blessed “thing” in Latin America.
Dear niece, I am so proud of you! love, Uncle Bob
can i be envious of your freedom? your willingness? your poverty of environment but fullness of life? so glad i am in relationship with you!! many hugs across the continents, momma ali
Amen to your prayer and praise the Lord for His Holy Spirit and divine presence within you! How amazing it is that we are His temple, His Body, His Bride, His children – adopted, chosen, and dearly loved. Love to you xo
ya, it kinda wierds me out the way selling books applies to every aspect of my life. I totally understand your frustration at the language barrier and I am so praying for you and your group. Hey- we must become less so he can become more, so now you are REQUIRED to trust that he has it in his hands. LOVE YOU!
Dear One, Thank you for the time you journal your most inward thoughts and share them so openly for all to read. Your heart is an open door, the Holy Spirit engulfs you. I am so happy for you to be in such a place as Jinetope, where the physical “stuff’ that enwraps us in our American culture is joyfully absent in your current journey. All the physical & emotional space that material things take up in our western culture are replaced with the freedom of the Spirit to move about freely.
I think so much of my dear mother, your MomDee in reading your account of experiences. My mom always had a heart for those of poverty and imparted to me a heart for those less fortunate. Though Mom’s dementia presents itself that she no longer understands what we tell her, I know she is still very much as emotionally & spiritually alive as I always knew her. In my visits with her I’ll continue to keep MomDee apprised of your journey throughout the coming months. Last week when I read your blog to her Mom showed such sweet expressions in response; I choose to believe she understands and that she continues to do for you what she’s done for all of us for so many years, cover us in prayer; after all, MomDee’s “direct line” to the Holy Father was kept in constant use throughout her adult life. I thank God for answering her prayers for her children & her children’s children; that you are choosing to seek Him is a direct result of your grandmother’s prayers. Love You With the Love of The Lord, Mom
So wonderful to hear your experiences, & to know how God is pouring Himself thru your open & willing heart. My prayers are with you for continued fruitfulness as you abide in Him