Sept 23rd

“And so it is. Just like you said it would be. Life goes easy on me, most of the time.
And so it is. The shorter story. No love no glory. No hero in her scars.
I cant take my eyes off of you. “
The past few days I have been listening, on repeat, to this song called “the blowers daughter” by Damien rice. These words remind me of the gospel in this place. Life is just like the bible said it would be… so much brokenness but so much hope for the gospel. As I look around at poverty and brokenness I realize how easy my life is most of the time. My favorite words to this song are where it talks about the shorter story. It reminds me of the shorter story in the gospel that talks only about creation and the fall. Every time you hear someone say “it shouldn’t be this way” your hearing parts of the gospel. It shouldbe this way because we were created for something else( creation). We were not created a fallen world but now as we have chosen to turn our hearts from God and sin we now live in a fallen creation (the fall). But this is only part of the gospel. In this shorter story there is no real love, no glory and no “hero in her scars”. So many of these people suffer and do not know the God who promises to restore and redeem their suffering one day. Its not how is should be… but the rest of the story is that Christ came to fix the problem and make a way for us to be with Christ (the cross) and now we have hope that one day all will be made new, be redeemed, be restored.” Our suffering is no longer in vain. But many of these people have “no hero in their scars.”
I sat today with rosie, my “mom” here in pimampiro. I am living with her beautiful family and she is taking such wonderful care of me. I was honored that she would sit with me today and with tears streaming down her face share her story with me. Her husband, carlos, grew up with a single mother. She had 8 children and would beat them and send them out of her house to sleep on the streets or in the park under a park bench growing up. She could barely feed her children and many days he would go hungry. He never celebrated a birthday or Christmas. He grew more and more angry and resentful at his mother with each child she had out of wedlock as they moved deeper and deeper into poverty with every mouth to feed. Rosie and Carlos met and got married and Carlos developed a drinking problem. He was a very angry drunk and smoked constantly as well. When he wasn’t drinking or smoking he was irritated and horrible to be around. Rosie was very afraid of him as he was also, often times, abusive. He would get angry because his little girls would run away from him because they were scared of him. He would yell at his wife and blame her saying that it was her fault his children did not love her. One day, rosie had had enough and packed a suitcase. She remembers Carla wrapping her arms around her legg, sobbing and crying “mommy don’t go, don’t go”. With tears streaming from her eyes she tells me that to this day Carla, who is turning 15 this Saturday, remembers that packed suitcase. Katty the youngest can not remember anything from that time but the older two still remember their father like that and the fighting.
Rosie had been praying that something would happen to carlos to stop him from drinking and around this same time Carlos became ill with stomach cancer. The Doctor told him that he had to make a choice to change his life style or that he would die. This news coupled with Rosies packed bags broke Carlos down to the point where he began to weep and beg rosie to stay. He promised he would not drink anymore. Rosie told him if he drank again she would leave but she would give him this chance. Carlos stopped drinking and changed his friends. His friends would come to the door asking for him to go drinking with them and rosie would get so angry and tell them to leave.
Rosie and carlos now have a great relationship and a great family. Carlo is so affectionate with his children and a very loving father. He works so hard to provide for them so that his children never have to suffer the way he did. Rosie came from a wonderful family with loving parents but they were very very poor. She told me what a blessing it was to have me in her house and how she is so thankful that she has a good family to invite me into. I told her how sorry I was that she had suffered like that but that she has such a beautiful story that is so full of hope. I told her I felt honored that she would share her story with me.
Their family is so warm and loving, its hard to imagine it the way she describes it. I feel so blessed to be here.