The annual Servants Day at CAG (Christian Academy of Guatemala) became the main topic of discussion with my sixth grade students. “Ms. Bishop we’ve already done a lot for the foster family. Could we look into some other areas of need?” I agreed. New missions project renew the hearts of young missionaries and give them some additional experiences.
Another student, whose family worked with Mission Venture, said, “We are involved in a feeding center that needs lots of help. It’s in a huge settlement on the side of a hill.”
The students voted yes to this place, which was a school that accommodated a feeding center for 250 children. We planned to clean the area, paint the kitchen, another room, and the tables used by the children. We were warned that it would require lots of work. My students anxiously wanted to take on the challenge.
On Servants Day, we headed over to the school loaded with paint, cleaning supplies, brushes, cleaner, and tracts. It didn’t take long for me to see that the area lived up to its reputation for being the most deprived place in Guatemala City. This huge settlement clung to the hill and had row upon row of little metal and wood shacks. The only windows were the cracks in the walls. The stench of garbage and sewer reached our nostrils before we entered the walled-in area. Nothing could have prepared us for all of the filth. It would take a major use of muscle to clean out the trash.
Those amazing sixth-graders pitched in wherever needed without one word of complaint. We put seven gallons of paint on the walls and tables. They swept and cleaned with vigor, and the place took on a different and clean look.
When the younger children who attended this school were dismissed from class, some of our students lined them up for a special surprise. One of our budding evangelists shared with them how much the Lord Jesus Christ loved them. Her sincere message claimed the attention of everyone. Afterwards, my students gave each of the little kids a tract, wrapped around a Tootsie Roll, which explained more of this important message.
At various times, some of my students could be seen talking or praying with youngsters. I love it when God uses the least likely to show that He is God, and that He can work through anybody. Danny* attended CAG, but he didn’t have missionary ties like the majority of the students. His Korean father owned a factory and a business in Guatemala City. Danny sat down with two young brothers, whose names we later learned were Oscar and Pluto. With full compassion, Danny listened as Oscar tearfully said some older boys had been hitting him. Danny told his story, that in his younger days the same things happened to him. Then he explained how much Jesus loved them. A classmate of Danny’s joined him and helped give more details about the story of Christ’s coming to earth. He explained that all people could have eternal life, if they chose to follow that path. Danny read Scripture explaining that God had a plan for their lives. Through his sensitive nature and pain from the past, these little guys were ministered to by a young fellow who three days earlier had said he didn’t know what a mission venture meant. The Lord used Danny’s willing heart to bring hope and love into these two young lives.
Later, the director of the food program took us on a hike of the immediate area of the settlement. She shared about her biggest concern—the lack of funds to keep the food center operating. She feared she would have to tell the 250 children that she no longer had resources to feed them. She showed us a ten-by-eight metal building, which had been put up by missionaries, to replace a shack destroyed by Hurricane Mitch. Six people lived in it with one bed and a tiny stove. One step from the front door flowed black and rank sewer water, which coursed its way in front of all the wall-to-wall homes built upon this steep hill. Poverty made its appearance everywhere.
When we returned to CAG to reflect on all that had happened that day, I again expressed to the students of how proud I felt for all that they had done at the settlement. I saw the love of the Lord in action.The day was called “servants day” and they were servants in every sense of the word. Many of the comments from the children matched the ones after the La Rosa project. The kids wanted to do more in ministry, to help people in their suffering and need. More ideas poured forth for the La Rosa family. We then developed a plan to give them a simple wood burning stove and provide the wood they would need to operate it.
Many people want to make a difference in lives, just as these sixth graders did. I believe that no matter where a person lives, there is opportunity all around. Do you have a story share? Perhaps your story could be the fuel for a new missions project.
*Name has been changed.