I realize that all my blogs are words written about what the Lord is doing in my life. But I want to show you all through this next blog what a typical day looks like in ministry…. Mainly because none of you are seeing what I see and I don’t forget these things.
So what day does my start? 5am to be exact. In a previous blog I have shared why this is so important to me and why I get up this early every day. It is a time of reflection on the previous day. It’s also a time for me to sit with my cup of coffee and the Lord before the living room is awakened by buzzing people making breakfast and conversation.
It’s by far my favorite part of my day.
So I wake up at 5am and sit until 8am, reading my Bible, praying, writing in my journal, drawing, and/or reading a book.
Around 8:20am, my squad heads out to hear announcements for the day from our Team Leaders and hear a devotional from someone.
After this, we make the half mile walk towards ministry. This walk is probably anything but normal when I think about it. The walk includes walking on multiple roads that are just made of stone and dirt (I am highly surprised I haven’t sprained my ankle yet *knock on wood.*) The entire walk is uphill which is difficult after eating carbs, in case you wanna know. As we walk, we pass by multiple cow pastures, constantly hearing moo’s (which honestly, if you haven’t ever seen a cow “moo” from up close, it’s probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever experienced…) and a few donkey’s screech for no apparent reason except to make me laugh. We walk by dozens on houses that have guard dogs from chihuahua’s to poodles to german shepherds. Not to mention the few stray dogs that have started to walk with us to ministry every day. It’s quite an experience when I hear dogs barking at my frantically, cow’s mooing at me, and donkey’s screeching. I guess they have never seen a line of 33 white females walking in a single file line on the back roads of Valle De Angeles…
Eventually, we make it the gate of the disabled adults home. We are greeted by our door keeper, a disabled adult named Hosea, who always has a big ole’ smile on his face as he shouts “HOLA!” to every single one of us. After the walk, we wall get in our teams and pray for our day of ministry. We pray that the Lord uses us, whether that’s coloring a picture, sitting and holding hands, or playing guitar to see them smile. We walk forward to our home with confidence that Jesus is going to speak through our actions and we can show love in everything we do.
When I enter my teams home, I am always met by Julia (pronounced with an H, not a J), a woman in her 30s with a TBI. If you don’t greet her, Julia gets upset and won’t leave your side… so we always have to make sure to give her a hug and kiss both her cheeks. This happens every time we enter the home and every time we leave. The minute the stereo is turned on, Julia is up and dancing back and forth with a smile on her face.
Next to Julia, is Roman. Roman is around 32 and has Down Syndrome… but let me tell you about this young man. He literally smiles SO big and he always wants to hold my hand. When I call him handsome in Spanish, his smile gets even bigger and screams at the top of his lungs. I have found that because Roman cannot communicate using words, he just screams and points. Roman has a really good arm and throws tennis and soccer balls a lot farther than I thought possible. Roman loves to dance. I have seen him hold a picture he drew a few centimeters from his face and just spin around in circles, smiling while staring at his masterpiece. Yet, I have also seen Roman twerk. Jesus loves this man and my heart fills with so joy when I see him.
After meeting Julia and Roman, I walk into the living room where I meet David. David is 38 years old and suffers from epileptic seizures and has severe Autism. David is tied to a chair because if he isn’t, he will walk forever and never stop. But oh my, David is the sweetest person I have ever met. He constantly smiles and hums to himself. David always wants to play catch but he continually forgets that he has to throw the ball back in order to play catch. So I have learned to throw the ball to David and then take it out of his hands (it’s a good time.) Whatever is on TV, he will watch it. Whether it’s the Disney Channel showing Barbie, Friends in English, or the News Channel. When I smile at David and say his name and hold his hand, David blushes and covers his face. He sits for hours in his chair and is completely content there and watch everyone else walk around. David is truly a gift to the world.
The fourth person I say “hola” to is Norma. Norma is in a wheelchair and has Cerebral Palsy. She cannot speak at all and cannot eat solid food. BUT Norma brings SO much joy to the room. The beautiful part? She brings out the BIGGEST smile when any of us say her name and call her beautiful. One of her love languages is physical touch, so something as simple as touching her leg or arm brings a smile to her face. Norma, you are SO SO SO loved by our King!!
The fifth and final person I want to tell you all about is Dania. I know a few of you have heard me talk about Dania a little through instagram. But OHMYWORD… this woman of 32 years old is the most precious gift God has given to me so far. Dania has Down Syndrome and loves people like Jesus. I have walked into the home multiple times when Dania is feeding Norma, folding clothes, or teaching others in the house how to dance. Whenever Dania sees me walk up, she screams my name and falls over from laughter. She runs, with her arms wide open, and gives me the biggest hug. I can always feel the love and joy radiate from this woman. She loves selflessly and brings joy to every encounter I have had with her. Her favorite thing to do is color and dance. And when Dania dances, she moves her hips better than anyone I have ever seen. Dania… Your love fills every room and when the Father looks down on you… He just stares at you in awe.
There are so many more adults in the home but these are just a few. Throughout the day, we play catch, have Taylor Swift dance parties, watch TV, and just sit in silence. Sometimes we get everyone together from every home and play on the basketball courts. Usually, this involves shooting hoops, kicking a soccer ball back and forth, dancing to anything and everything, and playing a great game of tag.
Around 11:45am, the whole squad heads back home, another half mile downhill, for lunch. This is a time we all sit around the house, eating food, discussing funny things that happened during the day or ways that these adults imprinted love on our hearts.
We head back about an hour later and get to experience our “hola’s” all over again. The second half of the day usually involves us sitting in front of the TV and sayin “bonita” “moy bien” and “guapo.” After some laughter, a lot of pointing for communicating, and TV, we head back home and tell everyone “adios.”
As I walk home, I can’t help but thank the Lord for such an amazing opportunity to love on these people. Because honestly, it’s really hard… but I am learning through Bob Goff that love doesn’t say things. God’s kind of love DOES things. I can’t think of a greater example than through this ministry. Sometimes sitting with these disabled adults can honestly be boring. It’s not fun seeing them having breakdowns because they don’t understand what’s going on with their bodies. It’s really difficult to see the suffering they deal with every day.
So… If dancing with Julia for hours at a time puts a smile on her face, you bet I’m gonna do it. If throwing a ball back and forth over and over again makes Roman the happiest guy in the world, you bet I’m gonna do it. If saying David’s name over and over makes him blush cause he doesn’t hear it often, I’ll scream it from the rooftops. If just my presence means the world to Norma… you bet I am gonna sit with her and give her all my time. If Dania wants to hold my hand and lead me down the path to who knows where… but it means everything that she has somebody to be with, you can bet everything I own that I’ll tightly squeeze her hand as we walk places.
And at times, actually a lot of the time, I get really discouraged that these people won’t know what it feels like to walk or to speak or to live a normal life. Well this is what I imagine:
One day, I’m going to see Julia, Roman, David, Norma, and Dania in heaven. Their bodies will be completely restored and healed. They will know and see Jesus and they will see all of us and say, “Thank you for sitting with me when I didn’t know how to communicate. Thank you for being a disciple of Christ and showing us His love.” I can’t wait for the day that I can dance and smile with Julia again. I can’t wait for the day that Roman and I can throw a football back and forth… and that ball goes as far as we can see. I can’t wait for the day that David can speak and shout my name from the rooftops. I can’t wait for Norma to WALK towards me. Oh be still my heart, I can’t wait for the day that Dania yells my name and runs up to me and gives me the biggest hug… and together we will walk hand in hand towards Jesus.
I honestly would tell you what the rest of my day looks like… but it’s kind of boring compared to that.
