I had the privilege about a week ago of hanging out with some doctorate students taking Joel VanDyke's course on leadership in urban missions. We did a lot of field trips. One morning we spent some time in La Limonada, the largest slum in Guatemala city, with a ministry working in the community. We visited the home of a couple with 4 kids, the husband an abusive alcoholic, wife overrun with despair and fear, and 4 children. The oldest of these children, Laddy, has been mentally and physically handicapped all 16 years of her life. She literally lives in a corner of the small shack, on a mattress stained with food and rieking of urine. When we arrived she unsteadily held a mug of pepsi and there was a pile of bread in front of her on the mattress. He mother was trying to help her eat.
This woman's 2 daughters were at school. They just recently began attending, mainly because they got a gov't visit and if the kids aren't in school there are repercussions for the family. Their mother shared her fear for her children, letting them go out in the dangerous neighborhood and be in school for such a long period of time, and the difficulty there was in walking them to school if her husband was not home because her handicapped daughter cannot come with. Yet she also stated that she knew it was best for her girls, even if she was scared for them. After further conversation, we learned that her youngest son, just 2 years old, had cried the whole previous day because he lost his plastic ball out the window and down the side of the cliff where their house is perched. It was his favorite toy.
We proceeded to pray with this mother, seeking to encourage her and intercede for her family. I remained for a time with my eyes open as we prayed, trying to take in the entire situation. The son begin to complain to his mother, until she finally begin to nurse him. I noticed a scrawny kitten wander in from the back room. She hopped onto the chair, dresser, and then onto a rafter of the home. She curled up on the rafter but remained with her cautious eyes wide open. As we prayed, Laddy also began to make noise. At first she just mumbled, but then she started to weep. It was a haunting sound, resembling a laugh could not be sustained and thus turned to moaning. This moan represented to me the circumstances of Laddy, her mother, and her entire family. They sought to be happy, to keep on living, sought to escape, but under the weight of their circumstances their laughter only turned to weeping. No doubt they feel as if God does not see them. After the prayer the woman began to pour out her heart. She was tired, overwhelmed by responsibility, and frustrated that she could not protect her family. Laddy sapped her energies, needing constant attention and clean up, and her husband was not working or trying very hard to help anyone but himself. She wept and wept while we wept with her.
During this whole time, the husband remained in a curtained-off side of the shack. Some of the men in our group had gone in to pray with him. Over the murmur of their voices praying in the other room, the words to a song playing on the CD player jumped out at me. It's called 'Ayer Te Vi' (Yesterday I Saw You) by Jesus Romero:
TE VI EN UN NIÑO DE LA CALLE (I saw you in a child ont he street)SIN UN LUGAR PARA DORMIR (without a place to sleep)
TE VI EN SUS MANOS EXTENDIDAS (I saw you in his outstretched hands)PIDIENDO PAN PARA VIVIR (asking for break to live)TE VI EN SUS OJOS SUPLICANTES (I saw you in his begging eyes)Y EN SU SONRISA TITUBIANTE (in his hesitant smile)AYER TE VI (yesterday I saw you) This song goes on to beg the Lord see those who are in the midst of affliction, and turn his face toward them.The image is not word for word what I was seeing in this home. However it is a picture of someone clinging to life in the midst of affliction; l someone tired and despairing. grasping for hope.
The image of the kitten in the rafters remained in my mind even after I closed my eyes to finish praying. Even she has a sweet escape from the sufferings, the beatings, the fears, the rages that no doubt occurred inside these 4 walls. But what about Laddy? What about her mother? There were no rafters.
I was left challenged to discern what might be seen as good news to Laddy and her family. Sometimes 'evangelism' can be more difficult than it seems. And I didn't come up with a great answer. But I do believe the Lord has good news for this family. I'm simply still in the process of working out how to articulate it. What would you say?
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