Sin, Savior, and Soap: Lessons from Las Malvinas

               

Lovely ladies of Las Malvinas :) Yarisa is in pink in very front. (the one day she wasn't wearing her crocheted hat!)

We held hands as we walked down the dirt road, her wide grin lighting up her face. Though very little Spanish words were exchanged between us, she never let go.  Each day, she’d seek me out, and once we laid eyes on each other, she’d make her way over to my side, where she’d once more slip her hand into mine.

Little, fleeting moments can be so pregnant with God’s upending grace.  They can come and go with a flash, but forever leave you changed with the lessons they teach you.  My trip to Las Malvinas, a poor community on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, last May was filled with these little moments.  My heart grew in ways I didn’t think it could, stretching in unexpected directions. 

A group of 20 or so from my church entered into this community for a little over a week, after a scouting trip a few months prior to talk to the community members as to what their needs were, how we could help, what they wanted to do.  We had four teams: community clean up, children’s activities, children’s ESL, and teaching women how to make jewelry they could sell.  We started off with clean up, teaming up with the children who flocked to us each day.  A morning of picking up trash was followed by an afternoon of planting trees.  Yarisa, my constant companion, took us to her house to plant hers.  After surveying her home and meeting her abuela, I tried to keep the tears from spilling.  I smiled back at her toothy grin as she found a spot in the midst of her garbage filled back yard.  It was in that moment where things changed.

I had gone on this trip not knowing what to expect, other than that God would be there (He always is), I would learn something new (there’s always something), and I’d meet people who would do something to my heart (they always do).  And at the beginning, I was so eager to find the beauty in unexpected places, which I did (so much of it).  But in the practice of seeking out beautiful things, I was also purposely blinding myself to the ugly truth of real suffering.  And in Yarisa’s home, it hit me.  This isn’t a ten-day trip for Yarisa.  This is her life.  Every day.  And when I awoke to the reality of the suffering of the people in this community that I was growing to love, I couldn’t shake this feeling of something had to be done.  The thought of going home and forgetting?  It scared me.  I didn’t want that. 

At the same time, we would start the mornings off with devotionals on poverty and how God sees it.  Kevin, the one who connected MERCYhouse with Las Malvinas, was in my small group.  His heart for these people, for doing something about poverty, and for Christians to heed the commandments of our Lord sucker punched me something hard in the stomach.  But it wasn’t guilt.  It was conviction, it was an invitation, and it was an awakening. 

Extreme poverty is a condition where a person does not have the emotional or physical resources to lift him or herself out of constant deprivation. He or she is in a state of emergency to meet ever-pressing needs of food, shelter, clothing and health. All energy is spent to meet the urgent with very little or nothing left to invest.  When looking at this definition, you may not think it applies to you.  But let’s take a moment to flesh out something God taught me while I was there. 

We are all born into a spiritual extreme poverty.  We are born sinful – immediately finding ourselves in a horrid condition.  When God first created man and woman, He created us to be in perfect relationship with Himself, with each other, with the earth, and ourselves.  But then deceit was spoken, bringing forth doubt, dissatisfaction, and a desire to disobey.  And with a deliberate act of disobedience, sin entered the world – severing these perfect relationships.  And because God is holy and perfect, and cannot be in the presence of sin – there’s nothing born sinners can do to lift themselves out of this condition of constant deprivation.  All of our energy can be spent on covering the sin up – do your best, try to follow rules, or ignore it.  But it’s like spritzing perfume on a dead body – it may smell better for a brief time, but it’s still lifeless and will start to smell again sooner or later.  Our only hope is a sinless Someone to lift us out of this state of being.  That Someone is Jesus.  He was born to die – which He did – taking in the sin, the guilt, the shame, and the hurts of the world. And He then was raised to life on the third day, claiming victory over death and the devil.  He takes our sins away – God forgives us.  We then can be reconciled – our relationships with God, each other, the earth, and ourselves can be restored. 

But simply saying we all have experienced poverty in this way doesn’t excuse us from not doing anything about the extreme poverty that men, women, and children are experiencing right now.  This knowledge should actually propel us even more to take action.  Out of gratefulness for what Jesus has done for us, we should follow Him in extending grace and being ambassadors for the message of reconciliation. 

            Upward Ventures is the non-profit organization that Kevin is starting in response to what God’s been putting on His heart, and his obedience to what Scripture says.  He’s invited many of us to join alongside of him, and it was a no-brainer for me to say yes.  It is an organization that works to eradicate extreme poverty by working with communities to kickstart businesses that provide jobs, empowerment, and dignity to people that need them the most. 

            The first business that we’re kicking off is a soap factory in Las Malvinas that will employ the women in the community that have said they want to work, so they can support their families.  Soap will also help to benefit the community, as combined with an educational program on hygiene, it can help prevent diarrhea and other infectious diseases that kill over 2 million children worldwide each year.  But we need help in building this dream – and we invite you to join alongside of us.   We need your talents, time, ideas, prayers, and yes, money.  It’s a worthy investment – joining up with the community members to do something about poverty – to break a vicious cycle with hope and freedom. 

            Check out Upward Venture’s website here:  http://www.upward-ventures.org/