Brazil- Washed in White

Psalm 51:7
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
   wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.


Tuesday in Brazil was much like Monday. I spent most of the day white washing the wall and being completely covered in white wash paint by the end of the day. It meant a lot when the wall finally had it's first coat of white wash because it looked like we had gotten something accomplished! It's amazing how different something can look after being coated in white. I thought about how Jesus does the same things with us. We are dirty and broken down and in need of some help and he scrapes us down and prepares us for some white washing. Once done.. we look different inside and out! And after the wall had a layer of white wash on it.. it looked a lot better than it did before. After the Visas miracle and the feeling of being disconnected, I just was looking for the reason God had brought us on the trip. I was thinking "Obviously.. He wouldn't pulled off that miracle for us if there wasn't a specific reason." And seeing our work at the wall well done I thought, "Hmm.. perhaps THIS is it. Perhaps this is the reason we were sent. To help fix a wall.."

L to R: Mandy (worked at the Lar), myself, and teammate Victoria
We worked on this wall til it got dark out.
We were much excited when we finished!

After an entire day of working and painting, I looked down at my feet
and thought about the verse that says "How beautiful are the feet
that bring good news." My feet did not look beautiful to me..

After Completing the wall and being exhausted and excited to go to sleep, we were informed that there was a Bible study in the older girls house (12-14yrs old) and we were to participate. At first I didn't want to go because I was tired, filthy, and the Bible study was supposed to be starting right about the time we finished the wall.  After a super speedy shower and wash off time, Victoria and I hurried over to the girl's house to join them for Bible study. One of the American girls who lives at the Lar gave the Bible study while Rachel, the daughter of  Paige and Mark, translated. 

The Bible study was about guilt and experiencing God's forgiveness. After reading some Bible verses and such, the girl leading the Bible study opened it up for sharing things such as your testimony. Mandy was the first to speak and she said that she had quit her job, sold her house and her car and basically everything she had to move to Brazil and with that she had left her past behind and she looked forward to the future. One of the girls from my team shared about how she had come to know Jesus and why He had meant so much to her. Then.. it got a little crazy. 

One of the girls from the Lar said she wanted to share her story. She was 13 years old and she talked about how she had become addicted to crack at age 3 and by the time she was 10 she was both a crack addict and a prostitute trying to get money for drugs. She talked about how she had been rescued and brought to the Lar where she realized that there were people that actually cared about her and she gave her life to Jesus. 

I told her how I amazed I was and I asked her how she was so brave in telling others about it boldly and not worrying of what others might think. Her response was,  "I like my story. I did not like what I went through, but I like how Jesus changed me and how I can use that now. When I grow up, I hope to use my story to reach out to other girls on the streets who are going through the same thing." 

..Wow. I get chills even thinking back on it now. She had such a beautiful smile when telling her story and she was absolutely serious about liking her story. The story sharing didn't stop with her though. Several other girls whose ages ranged from 12-14 began opening up and sharing about how they had been raped and abused and mistreated over and over again by many different people and all this horrific stuff but they trusted Jesus. They knew Jesus could make them whole and bring healing. How mind blowing that was to me. First of all, these girls were at the stage in life where self-esteem means everything and they been robbed of self-worth by people in the family and people they knew. Second of all.. these girls had already been through hell and were able to praise Jesus for it.  

While we were finishing up the discussion that night, Rachel asked the girls, "You know we love you, right?" One of the girls who had shared with us responded, "Yes, of course we know you love us. We see your love because you go to a school away from your families and when you get a break and a chance to see your families, you came to us instead. You gave up seeing your families to come to a different country and spend time with us and you didn't even know us. That is how we know you love us." And I think that is when God thumped me on the head and said "This is why you came. This is why you got your visas." 

Afterwards, we were told that nothing like that had ever happened. The girls had not opened up like that to anybody else. Again I was humbled, we had only been there 2 full days and we did not speak their language.. but God was working using us. Even though it seemed like my story was NOTHING compared to their story.. God showed me how He works in everyone's stories. There is no scale by which one can judge how great someone's God-story is. A God-story is an epic story period. How beautiful is the work God does when He changes someone's heart. How beautiful is the story of someone who has come to trust Jesus. 

Us with the girls after the Bible study