These are the core ministry principals and community values of Servants of Asia's Urban Poor- one of the groups we spent the majority of time with in Thailand. Although at times it felt like those of us from Tierra Nueva had stepped into a family reunion, we were definitely welcomed and enjoyed many inspiring conversations. Shared identity as children of God, vision and mission go along way, uniting brothers and sisters from around the world. I felt inspired and challenged by getting to know these new friends who live in the slums and redlight districts of Asia, downtown eastside vancouver, and New Zealand. What does it look like to follow Jesus into the slums, not just ministering to people, but become friends and family with neighbors? The stories abounded: creating the Saribari (www.saribari.com) business in the red light district of Kolkata India employing women exiting sex industry, supplying low-cost energy-efficient stoves to people in slums funded by airplane users offsetting their carbon footprint (http://www.ashadesh.com.au) , empowering a Thai woman named Poo to expand her cooking and start cooking classes (www.cookingwithpoo.com), and developing mentoring relationships between young adults and children in the slums (http://alongsiders.org).
In the second week, we had more opportunities to pray with people, having sensed that there were many who were feeling burdened and worn out. It was a gift to be able to come alongside people, and pray through some of the trauma and hurt they were carrying. We witnessed God moving and lifting weight as well as physical pain from people. One person 'Lucy', who lives in a slum in India, came to me for prayer after Bob had had a word about someone with intense neck and shoulder pain earlier in the day. Her friend had told her about this, and suggested she receive prayer. Right away, the word 'curse' popped into my mind, and as I asked her about it, her eyes widened. She told me how her former landlord practices witchcraft, and had been angry and rude to Lucy since the woman's son became a Christian, blaming Lucy for this and other problems. Lucy hadn't thought about being cursed by this lady, and it immediately made sense. I invited her to forgive and bless this woman, which although hard, she was able to do with sincerity. I really felt God delighting in Lucy, and kept on saying 'here is my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased'. As we finished praying, I asked how the pain was....it was completely gone! Praise the Lord.
Please pray for these teams who are working in very intense situations around the world. I'm grateful for being able to spend time with these folks, learning from, sharing with them, and hopefully being a blessing as well.
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