Learning about Jesus

One more Thursday spent with the teenage girls and precious children of Umuarama. If you know me, you know that I am not a gushy person who loves to be around kids. I am very awkward and clueless as to what to talk about or what to do with those who are under 14 years of age. But... I try... and tonight I learned a valuable lesson. Some kids just want/need attention. Even if you are not the most entertaining person in the world, the fact that you look them in the eye, hold their hand, touch their hair... wow...that can make their day.

As I entered the community center tonight I awkwardly sat between three little children. I asked the little girl beside me what her name was and she happily started to chat away with me. I quickly learned that she was taking medicine because she was sick and that she had ten brothers and sisters (might be an exaggeration, but you never know...). As we talked I felt a tiny little hand poking me and turned around to see a 2 year old girl pointing at her hair. She had come with it all split up into little sections and wanted to make sure that I noticed. I told her her hair was beautiful and asked her who had done it. A little boy beside her piped up that it had been her mother, and soon I learned that he was her 6 year old brother. Meanwhile, I feel a little hand on my other side tugging at my hair. I turn around to see the first little girl playing with my hair. I asked her what she was up to and she said she wanted to make my hair curly. I told her she could go ahead and make my hair beautiful (I wasn't quite ready for the fact she was going to be sticking her finger in her nose every two minutes and then readily sticking it back into my hair again!).

I guess I might be rambling but I just wanted to point out how needy for attention these little ones are. Clara shared with me afterwards that one of the little ones she was holding smelled like urine and she felt like she just wanted to take him home and give him a big shower.

After singing with the little children we split up into bible study groups and I took the girls with me to the living room. Only four came tonight, but I was once again thankful for the small number. We sang, reviewed what had been learned in previous weeks (every single time they forget the first topic we mentioned-- "why do we exist?" They never know the answer to that question! Either they are really shy or I am not getting through to them the meaning and purpose of their existence... they did remember other things, though, so that's exciting).

One of the girls really catches my attention. She is unkempt and a little wild. Last week, she had her thumb in her mouth the whole time I was talking (14 years old!). This week, she ate her bread rocking herself back and forth. But you know what is surprising? Out of all the girls she was the only one that memorized the first five books of the bible (this was homework for them last week-- when they have them all memorize they get a "Teen Bible" that I bought for each one of them a few weeks ago). I wonder how beautiful she will become when Jesus gets a full hold of her life.

Tonight I asked Juliana to share a ten minute study on the person of Jesus. She did a great job. She told me later that she had been VERY nervous, but I honestly couldn't tell at all. She gave a clear message of salvation and discussed that Jesus was the only way to God. The girls listened quietly, and I pray that the seed was planted in each of their hearts. God once again showed his power to me tonight, for as I talked to Juliana I found out that she had grown up going to the Umuarama ministry! She lives close by and is fruit of the years of labor of Tia Sandra. She became a Christian through the meetings and Tia Sandra, and has been going to my church for the past three years. She is from an unsaved family and works as a maid to support herself. It is so encouraging to see her serving the Lord with the passion and depth of character that she has.

I learned a lot of things tonight, but one thing that kept echoing through my mind was the fact that so many times we don't serve the Lord because we are afraid. We are afraid of looking stupid, we are afraid of being inadequate, we are afraid of failure... Juliana was so afraid, yet she allowed God to use her. She took that fear and faced it head on, treasuring the thought that maybe God would do her the honor of speaking through her and using her words to bring hope into the life of teenage girls who desperately need to find Jesus. May we follow her example and obey the Lord regardless of the fears that threaten to weaken our testimony in this world.

Interest Awakened

For many months, I observed my amazing sister-in-law (Aline) come and go to the Umuarama slums every Thursday night. Although she had a great amount of other things on her plate, she still made time to serve the Lord by teaching 2-5 year old children in a very poor section of our 20-million-people city.

The story of how this ministry started is quite fascinating, and I would like to write more about it in another post, once I have more precise information. The general story is that about nine years ago a single woman from my church began serving soup in a community center located across the street from her house. She would feed the needy children, and, along with that, she would teach them about the Bible. The ministry has grown and developed, they no longer serve soup, now they hand out sandwiches with a candy or little dessert at the end of the meeting. They have as many as 50 to 80 kids on a given Thursday.

Last year, Aline shared a devotional with her fellow teachers about the ministry in the slums that she helped out with. She showed us pictures and discussed the various needs of the children and of those who worked with them. Clara, my roommate who has a heart of gold (she is always off into the slums whenever she has a chance-- evangelizing, loving, and caring for the poor), was very touched by the ministry and told me that she would be interested in helping out. Unbeknownst to her the Lord had also been putting some thoughts in my heart in regards to serving him in this project. My problem: I didn't have a ride (Yes, its pathetic, I know, but I still don't drive). Clara's problem: She didn't want to drive in a dangerous section of town, at night, all alone.

So a few Thursdays later a petite, Chinese woman and her big white roommate set off in their borrowed station wagon to check out the Umuarama ministry. What a site it was!!! Tiny little children everywhere, brown little faces adorned with cutely braided hair, smells, noises, and all kinds of chaos. When Tia Sandra (the woman who started the ministry) entered the room something fascinating happened. The children quieted down and looked up expectantly. She warned them that if they were noisy they would be sent outside and go home. Her strictness might come across as meanness to an outsider, but its exactly the structure and discipline that those little one need and even maybe crave for.

Aline went up and sang three songs with them. After this the 2-5 year old kids were escorted out with Aline and some of her helpers. That day she had a crowded lesson- 30 children for a tiny tiny tiny room where they all practically sat on top of each other. Clara and I observed, wondering how God could use us in that place. As I observed and the night drew to a close, I felt no peace or overwhelming feeling like I could do much more for those kids. I wasn't quite sure if that would be the place that God would want me to serve Him in... I kept praying for an open mind and wondering what I could do. Aline finished her lesson and Clara and I went over to the community center where the bigger kids were learning about God from another teacher. As I walked in, I noticed several teenage girls who sat quietly in the back, watching the little ones listen to the story.

After it was all over, I asked Tia Sandra why those girls were there. She mentioned that many of the mothers did not let their children come unless their older siblings brought them. I asked her if the Umuarama ministry had any special lessons for those girls. She said that sometimes, twice a month, a man from the church leads a bible study on Saturdays with them. At that moment I knew where I could serve. "What if I had a small bible study with the girls while the little ones heard their stories?" I asked. She said that would be great and quickly volunteered her own living room as the location for these meetings.

I left the place having no idea what I had gotten myself into, but knowing that if God could use a donkey to speak wisdom into Balaam life, maybe he could use me too, regardless of my inabilities and deficiencies.