So last Thursday night, we went out again to the migrant worker camps and shared the love of God with the people.
Now, before I tell you about this particular evening, I want to explain that there are a lot of migrant worker camps within an hour of this town and every week they go to 2 different migrant worker camps for adult evangelism. The next week they will target 2 other camps and the next week 2 more. The rotation begins over about every 5-6 weeks. Occasionally they will hit the same camp within a few weeks of the last visit but usually it's a fair rotation. Well, our first week here we went to a camp that's called ????? (I don't know how to say it or spell it so I'll call it North of Camalu). At this particular camp, there was a certain woman that I connected with and so I've been hoping to see her again but not expecting too. Also, Anna really hit it off with some of the children and cried all the way back to the orphanage at the end of the night because she had to leave them. The next outreach was at a place called San Francisco and again, Anna had a following!
Well, every week since we arrived, we've been either at one or the other of those two camps each time we've done adult evangelism. It's been crazy but amazing to have the opportunity to build relationships with these people through "sign" language, broken Spanish and love.
So, back to this week....we went back out to North of Camalu, and the woman that I had hoped to reconnect with wasn't there but this other woman was. Now she had watched me very carefully the first time we had gone there and even laughed at me a few times (I'm sure my Spanish is funny), and I was certainly making an impression...however, not a favorable one I was afraid. But this night when I saw her, she stared at me again and then started to watch me as I talked with other women but I was determined not to let her intimidate me. So after about an hour, I began to move her direction. Now this is the setting: there is an oversized lot full of rocks and trash and somewhat of a building that's about 20x20. There are multiple people sitting around the door, including this woman, with barefoot children running about. I began to make my way towards her and stopped about 10 feet away and said "Hola!". She nodded at me but didn't smile or respond with an answer. Then I asked in Spanish how she was doing? She nodded again. I smiled and just turned my body away from her towards the group but didn't leave. After a few minutes she got up, went inside and brought out a 5 gallon bucket, plopped it down on the ground and then backed up while motioning for me to sit down. I did and said "Gracias". A few minutes later she said something to her son, he went inside and came out with the biggest brussel spout I had ever seen. She held it and asked me if I liked them. I said yes and smiled real big (considering that's the first green vegetable I'd seen in a month!) and then she said something else to her son and he disappeared. We began to make small talk due to my limited Spanish vocabulary but had a nice conversation. I progressed slowly with it not wanting to overwhelm her with my type A personality and discovered that she wasn't as hard as I had originally thought. She was very soft under her rough exterior. A few minutes later her son emerged from their "house" with a plastic bag FULL of brussel sprouts and she handed them to me and insisted that I take them. The night continued to unfold, our group fed the migrant workers and then there was a time of ministry and we stayed near each other through the whole time, with me managing to visit with other women in the process. She occasionally gave me a nod of approval and a smile. A little while later she went back to her home and sat in her doorway again and periodically I'd look back her direction and she would nod at me. As the night came to a close, she approached me. She gave me another bag full of brussel sprouts. I tried to decline but she insisted. I learned from her broken English that she gleans these from the fields she works in all day. I was so honored to have received that gift from her. Before the night ended, this woman would end up sharing her food with me, giving me many smiles, a bucket to sit on (multiple times) and several hugs. The sweetest was when we stood side by side as the Gospel was presented.
I'll try to post a picture from that evening. Please keep this woman and her family in your prayers. As I looked into her home I was astounded at how much lack they have (no mattress, chairs, tables, only a pile of clothes and a few pots on a makeshift stove) and yet realized why they can't have anything. They move every few months and possessions are burdensome and yet, they need so much. It seems a contradiction. So her name is Reyna and she has 5 or 6 children, (I can't remember). Pray that the Lord will water the seeds of love that were sown into her heart and that even though her life is spent moving every few months, that she will find her lasting home in Christ.
I have tried to upload a few photos. There's one in there of Stephen and a little boy. Stephen gave this little boy his Crocs because he didn't have shoes. It turns out that this little boy is the son of the woman I spent time with that evening! God must have known that her family needed the extra attention.... God is good! Dios de bueno!
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