Coffee with Danielle

Danielle is a beautiful, caring friend of mine that loves God very much. I got to share coffee with her as she told me the recent events that have brought her to one of the most pivotal moments in her life.

She works for a man named Greg hurst, who runs an organization that helps a lot of needy people. She is struggling through a very unfulfilling business degree while she does business paperwork behind a desk for Greg. Her passion is to work face to face with street kids and prostitutes. She has always told Greg that as soon as she finishes her school she is going to look for a different job where she can interact with the needy people face to face. Lately she has begun to feel that there should also be a way she can help them in a more permanent way.

She had just gotten back from a conference for an organization that ministers to street kids and prostitutes. She reluctantly had found herself in business seminars at the conference and then talking to people who were very excited to be doing business stuff for this organization. It got her thinking. She went for a long walk. She thought. She prayed. Ideas began flowing. Ideas to use business to give them a brighter future, more permanently. But one idea grew bigger and bigger about the present. A voice said, "Greg is looking for one person and you are it." She argued, "but I have always told myself, I don't want to, I can't, and I won't work like that for Greg." She walked more. She prayed and cried more. Finally she said, "Lord, for what you desire, I am willing."

When she returned and talked to Greg he told her, "Danielle, I have to tell you. I know you've always told me you don't want to, you can't, and you won't work like that for me, but I am looking for one person to run all the ministries. I prayed about it and I think you are it. I think you will want to do it, you are able to do it and you will do it, if you choose to."

He continued with passion, "I have a vision of how things could change. I think that any street kid, or prostitute no matter how dirty or sinful, is just as important as the person in charge of the whole program." Danielle, with tears in her eyes told him, "I had a vision too, that even the dirtiest and littlest should be able to sit down and pour out his heart to the one in charge."

I was so happy for her. Tears seem like such a strange form of joy, but that's the way it works in me. I was so happy to see our great God showing His love to her. She wiped her tears away and said, "sorry I've been talking about me this whole time." And she made me take my turn. I told her about the exciting revelations I had recieved in the spiritual battle for Juan's heart.

It might sound weird that we cry over sharing such simple stories with each other. I think the closest I can come to putting my finger on the reason for this good joy that brings us to tears has something to do with this: sincere friends realizing they share in the same big love of the same big creator.

Mom tells me about Heaven

My mom died almost two years ago. A couple weeks ago I had a dream about her that was more vivid than any I’ve had since she died. I have some ideas about it but if you have any ideas what it means, please share them with me!

We were in a room on the day before my little brother was to get married (he doesn’t even have a girlfriend yet). I cried and hugged her over and over, but she seemed rather detached. She told me about the after life. She said, “I’m not sure I like it that much yet. It’s like a carpenter shop. Just remember carpenter, Ross. But we get breaks. It’s also like a heart with circulation.”

She was so unemotional about seeing her family again, about meeting Nicky’s future wife, about being in the world again. But she did get a carefree smile and looked very content when she told me she saw her life as “making a lot of lunches, helping dad out, and doing laundry for her family.”

I thought to myself, finally I’ve talked to someone on the other side and know that there is something on the other side of life. I can stop searching and wondering. Then I woke up and realized, it's not supposed to be that easy for me. I'm ok with that. I'll keep searching out my creator.

I met a Canadian in the airport a couple days ago. I asked him what he does. He said he is a carpenter. When I asked about his job I found out we would call his job construction. He was going to build houses almost completely from the cement to the drywall.

"Just remember carpenter, Ross."

Joh 14:2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you."

Hans is a shaman

Hans was the guy who had approached our group one night, completely drunk and/or high telling his story how his own people had robbed him that day- "My own people!" He lied that he was homeless and then failed to meet up with me a few months ago and I hadn't seen him since.

I was walking on the Prado the other day and someone patted me on shoulder. I turned around and there he was. He had something white painted on his cheeks and big dark glasses. The writing on his shirt looked like swollen veins were growing out of his shirt and was the name of a death metal band.

We went and drank a pop together. He has a ritual when he drinks a pop. He pulled out a tiny treasure chest, turned away from me to open it. He pulled a pill out, put it into his mouth, stared at the sky for about ten seconds, and drank the whole pop in one lift. I asked him why, and he said it was his ritual to protect him and give him power.

He asked me if I still had the pendant he had given me on the first night. I said, 'yes, it is in my drawer at home.' He mentioned it several times and insisted that I do not lose it. Why would that pendant be so important? What if that pendant brings some sort of curse or something. I don't know the realities or power of that stuff but, I need to be prepared in case there is some witchcraft. If I am going to deal with it, I am looking forward to learning the strategies of the enemy and learning how to fight it.

Maybe the devil tempts in many ways, and on many fronts because someday he will break us. But what if we use those times to turn them for good. For example, I can use this pendant for something good. The first time Juan gave it to me, I told him, this symbolizes our friendship. I need to do more to use it for good. I like the idea that if I keep taking the attacks of the devil and turning them into good, he will stop attacking me, because he is just giving me opportunities to do good.

A few days after I ran into Juan, I invited him to the pizza party we had for our English class. He showed up with two friends. I thought I smelled alcohol on them but all the same I invited them to share with us. We had the final exam in the English class and then we all had pizza. Soon after they said they were leaving and they took their pizza and pop and left. But Juan was very slow in leaving, saying goodbye to everybody and then stopping to talk to me some more. He eventually left.

He reappeared a couple minutes later. I greeted him happily and we talked a little more. He said goodbye and slowly left again.

He reappeared a couple minutes later. This happened about 4 times. He would leave, come back and talk and then slowly leave again. I don't know what it was that kept drawing him back. Was it something desperate inside of him being drawn to some sort of hope he sees in us? Or maybe something evil trying to break us down.

Somehow it came out that we both like to write. He said, I’ll tell you a story. My girlfriend was murdered. She was running and the person she was running with left her. He looked at me, held up a fist with a tremendously tortured look on his face, fear and anger overflowing. “They found her dead,” he motioned that they had slit her throat and wrists. A tear dropped to his pant leg.

Another time when he came back he said that we should go to Sorata. He added, you will feel the energy there. My friend, he pointed to the friend that came with him, is from Sorata. Then Juan told me he is a "Chaman". Finally I figured out this meant he was a Shaman, or like a witchdoctor.

During this time when Juan was talking to me, Fernando was talking to his friends. In reality, we were in Fernando’s church and I was a bit afraid to have brought drunks and shamans into his church. I think those are the people who we should welcome there the most, but Fernando was kindly letting us host our English classes there and I didn’t want to insult him. Later I found out that Fernando was trying to talk to Juan's friends about ways he could help them. He was just as concerned about them as I was, and like me, wanted to help them.

Last week at church I caught something that I’ve heard many times but this time it stuck. The Word of God is our sword in spiritual battle. I started to memorize scripture this week to be ready to pull out during this battle. I don’t know yet how to swing the Bible as a sword but I am going to be swinging in the dark until I hit something. And hopefully slowly I will learn and get good at hitting my target.

Eventually Juan and his friends really left, just before the rest of us left. That night our little family prayed for him and his friends. I see that this battle is too big for me to win. All I can do is take instructions and fight my heart out and be ready for God to take the victory.

The life of William Wallace

I got to talk to a good friend of ours on Friday, a shoe shiner named William. He calls himself William Wallace. He shared his story with me.

He told me how his family had prayed so hard that his father wouldn’t lose his job as a taxi driver after he got in an accident. Well, he did lose his job but two days later he got one that paid twice as much. William said, “We always pray when we have problems but we forget God when the good things happen.”

His brother had a lot of problems with drinking and in their eyes he was ruining his life. His family was praying for him. Then he met a girl and she invited him to church. His life changed completely and now he is successful and has a family.

He told me how his father had gone to live with another woman. He left his wife and kids with only a note saying that it wasn't working out with his mom. Eventually he came back and said it didn’t work out with the other woman and he just told his wife to accept him back. So they went back to the way it was before, hitting his wife and treating her badly. William loves his mom so much for all the troubles she’s gone through and he talked to his dad very sternly and told him not to treat her that way. It got better, at least when William is around he doesn’t hit her. William tries so hard to accept his dad but his brother has given up and lives separately with anger against his dad.

William’s mom got sick and had to go to the hospital. He thinks it is because all the emotional beating she has taken in her life. She was very depressed. He loves her so much. He says that sometimes it is so hard to not lose hope but he tells his mom, it’s all we have. Someday it will get better.

William tries so hard at college so that his life will be better but it came to a point in his life where he had to take a break from college and try to work instead. He wanted to make enough money to rent a place in the city so he could be close to school and also he wanted to buy his mother a small street corner kiosk where she could sell things and have something good in her life.

That was six months ago that he had quit school to work. He says he had given up going out with his friends and buying the things that he wanted because he had to work so hard. And after six months he looks at what he has saved and sees that he’s not getting anywhere.

There a lot of people in need here. Some of them do it to themselves. Some of them are trying very hard to help themselves. William is one of those. He gives me hope in humanity again. Even though his dad has been so bad to them William has committed to accepting him. And he loves his mom so much that he would work so hard and give up a lot of pleasures to help her out.
I am planning on asking if I can spend an evening with them to get to know William’s family a little better. And then I want to offer to go with them to buy his mother the things needed for her little street corner kiosk. William said that if he had saved just 90 dollars it would be enough to buy it for her. I have 90 dollars. I could be the something better he had been trying so hard not to lose hope in.