The Nameless Woman…
I left to meet a crippled man named Andres and instead my heart broke for a woman who can’t even remember her name.
Yesterday I walked around town with Jenny, Jeff and Ryan looking for Andres. Forty-five minutes passed and I was ready to just head home, we’d had three long days of teaching and I was tired. We headed towards home and as we walked we ran in to a couple of our instructors who exhorted us to keep pressing into the kingdom. After that we decided that we couldn’t go back – we’d passed a homeless woman on the streets earlier and so we all decided to go back and talk and pray with her.
As we approached her I could feel my flesh beginning to resist. Her hair was dirty and crusty, I didn’t know when her last bath was, she smelled of urine and filth, her clothes were falling off and it looked like she’d stuck pieces of green foamy gum all in her bangs.
But then we sat down and my heart just broke in two. We asked her her name, and she couldn’t remember. She doesn’t have any family, she sits on the streets and begs, doesn’t have any food. And she doesn’t have any friends – she can’t carry on a conversation long enough to build a relationship – and it hurts my soul.
What could I do for this woman? Her mind had gone, hygiene sorely lacking, no food, no water, in desperate need of a pedicure and all I had to offer was Jesus – and she couldn’t even comprehend that!!! I can’t imagine how Jesus must have felt so often when he was on earth. So I wept for her, I wept for her situation, her loneliness, her past, her pain, her future, her soul.
We were in this area for training, so we weren’t connected with any nearby churches.
Everything else is going fairly well. Here are some brief highlights, pictures and a top ten list (check out my pics for other pictures not posted here).a
1. 36 hour bus ride to Palenque (not the craziest thing I’ve ever done, but precariously close)
2. 2nd place in the race to Palenque!
3. seeing my dad and other family types (they arrived last Sunday for a week of training)
4. visiting an Agua Azul. Quite possibly the prettiest set of waterfalls in the world.
5. Playing with children during a church service.
6. Meeting Andres – a man unable to walk (possibly birth defects) on both feet
7. Getting to hear Andrew Shearman and Gary Black speak into our lives and call out life within us.
8. Meeting the nameless woman and praying for her
9. Bombón – one of the tastiest espresso drinks ever, watch out Starbucks!
10. Learning Spanish again.
11. Seeing the Ancient Mayan Ruins
Top ten ways you know you’re not in Georgia anymore
10. Mangy dogs must frequently be shooed from group photos
9. Plaids and florals match.
8. Public restrooms are a thing of the past –plumbing can also be a moneymaker.
7. Bathrooms are not equipped with toilet paper.
6. There are infinite adjectives for sweat.
5. Jesus shows up in the strangest ways.
4. There’s no such thing as bland.
3. Mangos on a popsicle stick.
2. You have 55 roommates.
1. No car and no cell.
Love and miss you all!
This is after we reached the top of the ruins for second place!
Playing with the children at a church service in Palenque.
Bri and I at Agua Azul!
Love the blog…top ten lists are great! yes we´re still in town at the internet cafe. come on over sister!
Great blog Tal! (See, I’m reading them just like I promised…) It’s awesome to hear how God is showing up again and again and breaking your heart. I love the pictures too. That’s a great one of you and your dad. You can tell he’s SO proud of you! I am too! Love ya and miss ya!
you’re an inspiration – see: http://www.sethbarnes.com/index.asp?filename=a-strategy-for-imparting-faith-to-your-child
I love your look of victory, Tal! 🙂 Congratulations on second place. And I’m glad that God is touching your heart in such a clear and powerful way.
I love it when I find pics of my little girl on other blogs. 🙂
Hi Talia…What a great posting! It pretty much updated us on all activities of the team. You all look pretty heavy laden on the pic where you reached the top of the ruins, but I’m sure after a short time, God gave you another burst of “Heavenly Energy”…He does that for youth, you know! Keep on the upward trail.
Hey Tal!
I love your blog! The top ten lists and pictures are really fun to see. I hope you are really enjoying your time there and I pray that God is taking you on an amazing journey of faith. I can see from your blog that He is with you! I am praying for you! I love you lots!
.hugs.
Genny
It’s good to hear how well you’re doing. I’m keeping you in my prayers. Talia, let me know if you don’t have access to your adventures in missions email account. I’m sending you sensational information!
Talia, I’m so proud of you! Your pictures are beautiful and so are you!
Love you sister and miss you so much,
Estie
I love your blog Tal! You’re amazing and I’m so glad you got this opportunity! Congratulations on 2nd place! Thanks for keepin us up by way of blogs and the detail and pics! We miss you and are praying for you!
Niki
Hey Tal- I just wanted to let you know that I think you are beautiful. May you love like you never have before. I’m praying for you all the time!
aw tal… i miss you so much… the blog was touching and i am glad there is a way for your friends here in georgia to read the experences you are going through… i am so happy that you have gotten this oppurtunity to do what you love to do, and that is help people. i love you tal. stay safe. keep you heart warm. and remember you have many people here thinking about you.
i love you
doug
Starbucks has lost a very unique and awesome person, and the unspoken (and often hidden) world has gained. I see these pictures and read your description of these people and these places and i find so much irony. The beauty of this country is only hindered by the people who struggle, so it is (without a doubt) another hinderance caused by us. We cannot blame this poverty on natural disasters we can only blame it on the turned heads of millions of people.
I give you one million kazillion KUDOS for doing what your doing and would love to be doing that to.
Be careful and pray. Look out for yourself and touch as many people as you can.
I love you,
Alex
Talia,
Hey girl! I love seeing the pictures and reading the stories! I wish I could be there with you! I have so many stories to tell you and there have been many times when I needed You! I am praying for you and your team! You are so awesome!!
Love ya,
“Ernie”