Day 2 - This Is Not The End

As my first missions trip outside of the US, this trip has already presented itself as a slew of experiences, emotions, and thoughts, all within the first 48 hours. Part of the experience today was visiting AFE for the first time.  Arriving at the school was what one would expect: children learning, children playing, and children being crazy little energy filled bundles like children are.

At the school's soccer field

However, every so often, certain events arise in our lives in such a way that it resonates with one's very being; out of these, there  come certain cornerstone events so powerfully resonant and turbulent, with which an individual is forced to challenge and test the very core of his or her belief. The experience of this area made its mark as one of these events.

The intense putrid smell of festering refuse reaches one's nose before he or she can even visually observe the dump site. Stepping off the bus, one's senses are immediately assaulted from all sides. Joining the incredible stench of rotten food, diapers, and manure is the tragic spectacle of watching over 800 men, women, and children searching ceaselessly through the unending sea of the city's garbage simply to live from day to day. Children from young ages join with their parents in this search for recyclables and other items that can be sold for meager earnings that are in turn used to provide whatever food it can for the day. Family's continue this cyclic macabre ritual daily as it is the only lifestyle they know and the only aspiration that most have: working in the dumps.

The city dump on top of the mountain

To be honest, I cannot articulate my experience as well as I would like. Coming off the bus, I felt overwhelmed, angry, sad, distraught, confused, and everything in between. The sheer magnitude of the situation presents itself in no other way but the word "hopeless". Generations are born in this place. Generations die in this place. And it seems as much as we'd like to change it, to remedy the situation, it seems so far out of reach that attempting such actions would only be folly. Looking over the land, and seeing the contrast between the beautiful, luscious, Honduran, tree-filled mountain tops behind the decrepit wasteland, I could not help but think that something is not right. Something is not right because nothing here in the dump seems right. The questions kept rushing to my head. How can so many living, breathing human beings, like myself, live off of the waste of others while here I am chugging along merrily with my own life? How can this be allowed to happen? If I do something does it even matter? The next generation will carry on the burden of its parents. As all these thoughts rushed to the forefront, I could not help but to be reminded of Genesis. In the beginning, God created the earth, and it was good. Everything was in perfect relation with everything else, and it was good, but it didn't last. We live in a world eclipsed by the shadow of imperfection and sin. I cannot describe how vividly this contrast could be seen. What was to be a perfect world has bred this: a community, forgotten by the city, left to survive on the scraps. Overwhelming only begins to describe the experience.

Yet through the waterfall of emotions and thoughts, and through the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, one thought did keep returning to me: this is not the end. God is working in amazing ways and through amazing mediums here in Honduras and with AFE. Children from the dump are able to receive and education and be more whole in all aspects here at the school. Coming down from the dump and returning to the school, the  team was able to play with some of the little children. It was almost like glimpsing a small part of the kingdom of heaven. These children, coming from such a background, were so happy and full of joy in this school. The joy of the children in this place playing with us is indescribable. God's hand is working here in this city and through this school. Pray for this city and pray for the people of this city. Great things are being done here.

With sincerity in every way,

Charles Xu

Typical...

P.S. Kanye was wrong. There is Church in the wild.