Brokenness of the Broken. Redemption of the Redeemer.

Yesterday started with the intentions of going bowling and eating pizza to celebrate Kacie’s birthday. Which we did, but so much more happened.

After we went bowling, we went and ate at Pizza Hut. While at Pizza Hut, a little boy named Louis came up to us asking if we had any food to spare him. We said yes. So he pulled up a chair and we talked to him for awhile. He told us all about how when he grows up, he wants to be a professional soccer player. It’s his dream to play with Ecuador in the World Cup. Louis loves Jesus, He told us some of the things that He knows about Jesus. Our food then came. So we gave Louis some pizza, prayed for him, and off he went.

We had some left over pizza, so we decided so go out and give it to a woman and her daughter. On our way over, we stopped by this man named Marcelo. Marcelo was walking on crutches and asking for money from people. We stopped to say hello. He told us that the reason he was on crutches is because he messed up his spine in soccer, so he can’t really move his legs. Marcelo lives in the park that’s just up the road, he doesn’t have a home. The reason he doesn’t have a home is because he doesn’t have a job, and the reason he doesn’t have a job is because of his injury. We prayed over Marcelo, while we were praying the Lord told me Marcelo will be healed. He will be fully healed, able to get a job, and then he’ll be able to buy himself a place to live. While we were talking to Marcelo, he told us about His relationship with Jesus. He says he feels Jesus often. He reads his bible every night, and when he’s falling asleep in the park he can see Jesus protecting Him. He said he has no fear because of Jesus. We then said goodbye to Marcelo.

We then walked down the street to this woman and her daughter. This woman’s name is Maria. Maria sells caramels on the street to make a living. She asked us to buy some, and so we did. She told us her hands hurt her. So we prayed for healing over her hands. We then asked if they still hurt. She said yes. So we prayed again. We asked if they still hurt. She said yes. So we prayed again. And again, we asked if they still hurt. She said she had no pain. God healed her.

Kacie has a thing for roofs, so since it was her birthday, we decided we’d try and get her on one. There’s some pretty tall buildings in this area of Quito, so we knew those ones would have the raddest views especially since it was at night. We started just roaming around the city, asking the guys that work security, if they would let us go up to the roof. They all said no. Except one guy said, if we knew someone that worked in the building, we could get to the top. There were these guys that work at a restaurant right next to the building we wanted to get on top of, so we went to ask them if they knew anyone that worked there. I started talking to one of the guys that works at this restaurant. I don’t remember his name, it was a hard one, so we’re going to call him Leo. Leo is from Egypt. He’s lived in Quito for 10 years. I asked him if he knew Jesus. Leo told me he’s Muslim, and how he believes Jesus is a prophet. While he was telling me this, it saddened my heart so much. Reason being, Leo felt the need to tell me that he wasn’t what the world thinks Muslims are. The fact that this man thinks he needs to prove himself because of the stereotype this world has put on his religion breaks my heart. It’s not fair. This man, is a man who brings peace and love. Today we’re going back to talk to him more about who our Jesus is.

 We were now planning to go home. But God had different plans. We ended up walking through the park. We messed around for a little bit there. Climbed on a plane, we found what we called an “abandoned carnival.” It was just a good time spent together in community. From a distance, we saw these two huge light figures, so we went to see what they were. We found them, but we also found something else. Along this street, a busy one, was about 10 huge cube looking things. They each had one picture on each side of the cube, so four. Each of them was a picture of something devastating from all different parts of the world. These pictures bring awareness to the reality of what happens around us. We often try to ignore the harsh reality of this world, we can’t go about doing that anymore. One of these pictures was taken in the United States.

This was the picture. The picture read “November 4, 2010. A young man stands on the corner of Young and Pelican streets late at night in the Baptist Town neighborhood of Greenwood, Mississippi. The corner is frequented by drug dealers. It is the night before the funeral for a young man from the neighborhood who was murdered.”

This picture was one of the many. While looking at these pictures two little girls came up to us. Eryn, Kacie, and Hannah went down the street to take these girls to go eat by the food trucks. The rest of us caught up to them a few minutes later. Right when we got to where the food trucks were, which is where these two little girls and the rest of our team were, I immediately felt a heaviness in my heart. I asked what the situation was. They told me that right when they got to the food trucks, there was a man that these girls were talking to. They seemed to know each other. Two of the people on our team went and boldly shared God’s love with this man, as well as them sharing their testimony. I loved on these girls. They’re from Esmeralda, which is a city on the coast a few hours from here. We’re not completely sure how they got here. They told us that their mom and cousins are at home. Their brothers are apparently suppose to be there this morning. And when we would ask about their father, their faces would sadden and they wouldn’t say anything. These girls love school. They love English class, so they got to practice there very little English with us. They know words like mom, dad, brother, sister, green, blue. I got down on my knees to talk to one of the girls, I held her hands because it was so cold. Even though I know very little Spanish, she continued to talk to me in very fast Spanish. One of the girls got up to go to the bathroom, she sprinted there and sprinted back. We asked why they ran so fast. They said they were scared. Scared of someone taking them, or of someone beating them, raping them, or killing them. My heart broke. Girls at their age shouldn’t have to be worried about those things happening to them, but they were. We continued to love these girls. It was late, so we were cold. So we all decided to get up and dance to warm up. One of the girls jumped into my arms, her laugh was so genuine. Her and I spun in circles just laughing together. The other girl and my two other teammates I was with came over and we all just ran in circles while holding hands. We then played some sort of tag game. For a couple hours these girls were able to be children, to experience a bit of what childhood looks like. We got to show them Jesus through the way we loved them. It was now midnight, we were still loving on the girls and the others were still praying and sharing Jesus with this man that the girls were friends with. We went to go get some hot chocolate from the McDonalds down the street. The men had left and the girls came with us. We drank some of our hot chocolate with them, but then we had to go home. While heartbroken about leaving these two, I had a peace. Jesus has them.

These are the girls while they were drinking the hot chocolate we bought them.

We got home at about 1am. We all debriefed the day we had just had. It was so cool how the Lord had blinded some of us so we could love on different people. Some loved on the victims and some loved on the oppressor and some were in constant communication with the Lord during that time.

Today I experienced the real brokenness of this world, but today I experienced the redemption of our redeemer.

peace out homies.

-Lyss