You Just Keep Showing Up

The slums of Islaverde are a difficult place to visit, but mostly so the first time. Initially you will be shocked by what you see or smell, but those things you can actually adapt to pretty easy.

Today was our third trip to this Islamic community of over 20,000 people. There were three mosques within the home visitation area that Kona and I walked through today, but the Vineyard is the only Christian church.

“Home visitation” sounds scary. I don’t like those words back in the States either. But it is easy to hide behind the pulpit, the medical clinic and even acts of service like the feeding program. You know what to expect there and can prepare yourself. You don’t know exactly what you will find when you enter someone’s personal life in their personal space. It is very much out of your personal control. It may be that it is in these situations that the stretching makes the most lasting marks on our lives.

Twenty one years ago I walked through Smokey Mountain dump in Manila for the first time. Six months later I was back, working with a young Filipino doctor, entering homes and really caring about people. What affected me the most wasn’t the squalor, it was the joy. Amazed that people could find true joy in the midst of such deplorable circumstances I sought within my own life for that kind of contentment. It wasn’t there. I left some preconceptions, some judgments and some bad theology there in Smokey Mountain in the dump where they belonged.

Islaverde is this group of students’ Smokey Mountain.

It was a little easier walking back in, knowing what to expect. We knew that we had to step carefully as the walking path was bamboo poles and scrap wood about three feet off the ground. We knew that underneath the homes and path was refuge, sewage, standing water and filth. We knew that we would encounter smells that would quickly sour our stomach. But we also knew we were welcome here. We knew faces and some names, and they knew ours. We knew that the people wanted us there and were happy to see us.

We started with our presentation at the building that the Vineyard rents in the area. They use it as a church on Sunday, a school during the week, and a feeding program as well. We saw the children learning their vowel sounds in English from young teachers who donate time. Teens who have graduated from the program also stick around to help out the younger ones, and to get some lunch.

There is a lot of laughter. We are big, white, and apparently very funny. Matt had another dance-off ; this time with the Pastor Alan’s three year old son, AJ. The children howled in delight.

We then broke up into teams with the Filipino workers and went to visit the families of the kids that were in the school. They love to have us visit and to pray over them. They are a thankful people, rich with culture and blessed with close families; they just don’t happen to own a whole lot of physical possessions. They always want to hold our hands and have us pray for them, the very thing we are happy to do.

The team sat around at lunch today discussing their visits to this place. I hope they are still discussing how it changed their lives a couple of decades from now.