Rubbing Shoulders

Last night we had a great opportunity. We me up with some Ywam'ers and hit the downtown streets of Santa Cruz. Walking down those dirty streets rubbing shoulders with the poorest of the poor is one of those things in life that you will always look back on in life when you are complaining about your food not being hot enough or too much sugar in your coffee. Its the flashbacks to those images that I know will pop up next time I open my mouth to complain. The poorest people in Boliva live here. Bolivia is the poorest country in the America's next to Haiti. So you can imagine despair. Most of the people we interacted with in our short time were having their wounds properly cleaned by the Ywam'ers or leaning up against cars sniffing some illegal shoe glue in order to get a high and escape their world while the missionaries spoke words of love to them. These words of love go a far way. People need to know they are loved by something greater than their world. It would be great to rip them off the streets and put them up in a beautiful home but reality be known, many would wander their way back in a matter of days. It breaks my heart to see the pull of drugs on the dear lives of God's children, and not just drugs but toxic glue! It opens one's eyes to see this hurt in the eyes of Gods dear children. It makes the ministry of Nacer and so many other children's homes in Bolivia come alive when you see where these kids are coming from. Just 2 nights ago I was sitting playing worship songs in Spanish with the very guys who have successfully walked away from this world. Jordan and I also had an epic water fight with two of the guys late at night, (how many times can you say that about January huh?) Well Bolivia has been great, hard to believe in less than a week we will be on the West coast, and from there the tiny Island of Tahiti. The adventures ahead are intimidating but exciting we look forward to what God has ahead in the next few weeks. Daniel