turperntine. streetkids. compassionate-broken hearts. jesus.

I am kinda at a loss for words in where to begin this blog. After a very emotional day, I guess I will just start by saying that God opened my eyes once again today.

Turpentine is defined on Wikipedia as as a solvent, turpentine is used for thinning oil-based paints, for producing varnishes, and as a raw material for the chemical industry. Its industrial use as a solvent in industrialized nations has largely been replaced by the much cheaper turpentine substitutes distilled from crude oil.

ALSO: Turpentine is an organic solvent. Its vapor can irritate the skin and eyes, damage the lungs and respiratory system, as well as the central nervous system when inhaled, and cause renal failure when ingested, among other things. It also poses a fire hazard since it is flammable.

As I walked around the corner I was quietly praying to myself that I would be safe. I was really unaware at what to expect. I proceeded through metal chain link fence and the first thing that caught my attention was the stench. The dirty smell was soon put to the back of my mind by the 20 or so teenagers that were coming up to me. My heart was breaking. I looked around trying to take in the 5 or 6 beds covered in ragged blankets, the dirty clothes, the broken glass, and scraps of garbage and flith literally EVERYWHERE you looked. This was their home. These beautiful children of God. His creation was living here. His creation was sleeping here, eating here, going to the bathroom here, physically hurting themselves here, doing drugs here and having sex here. And i was smack in the middle of it.

I was quickly brought back into reality by boys and girls coming up to me "Hola!" "Como te llamas?" "Cuantos anos tiene?" It was really the only thing i could understand. My heart was breaking. How could this be happening. How could they live here? How could i be so blessed to have a roof over my head, clean clothes on my back, a full stomach and not have to resort to using drugs (aka turpentine to get high..more on that in a little bit) and they had this. Did they choose this life? Did their parents beat them? Did they run away from their family? This was their family now. They were one big family.

The "street kids" were so open to having us, to listening to us, to talking with us, asking about tattoos (that happened a lot), if we had boyfriends or girlfriends, asking us if we wanted to play soccer, where we were from and everything else we couldnt understand ..as I begin to get God's eyes for the situation I could see clearly that they were all hurting...in the midst of their hurt they were turning to the only thing to numb the pain. A drug called turpentine..well i dont think you can even consider it a "drug" but through the abuse of paint thinner will definitely turn it in to that. As I watch each and ever kid we chatted with today pour the stuff onto a paper towel and hold it close to their mouth to inhale not just one or two of them but ALL of them. over and over and over... again...

MY HEART WAS BREAKING!!! Jesus save them. Help them please. Why is this happening? Why cant you bring people to save them? What can I do?? I was at a lose for words...as we continued on with conversations it seemed like most of them were getting higher as the afternoon went on...luckily for us God was moving. We has the chance to share a testimony of how God worked through a teammate of mines life. (He used to be in the exact same situation..and God saved him.) So with mostly "high" eyes on us we managed to really break through to a couple of the boys. They kept asking more questions about sin and how to break free from the life they were living. It was pretty obvious that things were connecting in their brain even through the midst of the high. They wanted to know more. They would continully invite us back to hang out with us again. (which we plan on doing.)

I dont know if i can fully put into words what I saw today...I know that there are far worse situations out there..but i know that God was trying to get my attention today. And he did. My heart is broken for these street kids of Mexico City. But i do know that I can walk away with something postive to say in this situation. A boy named Noah who was one of the street kids left with us and the three other people (Campus Crusade for Christ Staff) that were with us today, He was going to stay the night at one of the staff members houses and we were informed that He has been placed with a Christian family that will be taking Him in and loving on Him. Allowing him to continue playing on a soccer team he had joined. You could see the gentleness in his eyes and he was extremely happy to have us pray for him.

At the end of the day, when i thought God was no where to be found, He showed up. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future." I know that God has big plans in store for all those kids under the bridge..even when you feel like He could care less, He makes himself known in the situation to bring light and glory to Himself. I know God has big plans in store for Noah. I am glad that I got to see both the darkness and the light today.

I feel like I walk away from today with a greater understanding on a couple different things. Even in the darkest of hours, God is faithful to show up and shed light on a situation. I got to see proof of that today. I believe in my heart of hearts that God has a home, a brighter life and a future for every single kid there today. It may not something that I will see while I am here but It is something that I will continue to pray for because I believe that its possible. I would ask if you would join me in praying too.

I really dont know what else to write right now, but I do know that my heart is still breaking. I know that today was living proof that this world and this generation needs JESUS. They need him as King of their lives. Now Him being King of their lives doesnt necessarly mean that all the darkness goes away. Just the same as the fact that in my life I have seen people who have been extremely addicted to drugs but still claim to be christians and claim to be walking in the light fall back into this cycle of knowing truth and still committing the sin....sometimes is a hard process. I dont expect it to be easy for anyone. Its does take us saying YES to the KING OF KINGS. That is my second prayer for these kids, they would know and love the Lord.

I also pray that people would come into their lives and love on them. Not just shove food down their throats or put clothes on their backs, while all those things are good and essential..our God said that we arent supposed to worry about what we are to eat or what we are to wear but to seek first the Kingdom and all will be given to us.. I pray for more workers to show the love of Christ to these teens. For more people to speak truth into their lives. For more people to realize that their is more to their own lives then their nice cars, houses, boats, clothes, jewelry, etc. We are called as human beings to love the homeless, the prosistutes, the addicts, the poor, the broken and the needy. Can't you see that we (as in you and me) all fit into these categories we just have a different title. We really need to open our eyes. I can only speak for myself when i say this but i know today that my eyes were opened!

Matthew 25:40-45"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

god is love.