Christ for the City International Inc

From Kimi Booher

CFCI Missionary, Costa Rica

 It´s been a hard few days.  I´m not sure if I´ve made clear the severity and poverty of the people that I work with in La Cuenca.  I´m not sure I even knew myself.

A family came to visit this past week who are coming to be missionaries soon.  They just came to see some of our ministries and on Friday, I was asked to take them to work with me in La Cuenca.  Ronald wanted to take them deeper into La Cuenca than where we were.  And although our center is in the middle of the most impoverished community I have ever seen, it gets even worse as you get deeper. Anyway, the central part of La Cuenca has about 500 families living in it.  Of these 500 families, only about 10% have health insurance.

 

That's where I met Josécito.  He is my favorite boy.  I love him more than I can begin to express.  He is four-years-old and lives next door to our center with his two (also precious!) brothers, Emmerson and Eliecer, and his parents.  His mom´s name is Glenda.  Although all of us who work in La Cuenca love all of the kids, there is a special place in each of our hearts for this little boy.

 

Maybe it´s his dimples.  Maybe it´s the way he runs slower than most boys and when playing soccer, he just runs about 20 feet behind, chasing them, and laughing.  Maybe it´s the way that every morning when I walk down the steps into La Cuenca, he is there, peeking his head out of the space between the roof and the wall of his house, waving to me and yelling, "Hola, Kimi!.”  I think it´s probably a combination of these things and more, but I LOVE this boy.

 

His mom, Glenda, is a student of ours.  She is learning basic math right now and is doing very well.  During the tour, Ronald wanted to ask her if we could see inside her house. In front of the door are a few steps and there is a couch at the top of the steps.  As we opened the door, there she was.  She was seated on the couch, crying.  She said that she had an awful pain in her lower stomach, that she didn´t sleep last night, and that she couldn´t move at all.  After praying for her, the mom of the family that came to visit, who is a nurse, checked out the situation a little.  She thinks that it´s possible that the pain is from her appendix, and that if the appendix ruptures, there is nothing that can be done for her.  Before we left, we looked in the refrigerator.  The only thing in there was water. 

 

So here is this family. Not insured. No money.  No way to take care of their children.  No way to even get out of La Cuenca.  Leaving La Cuenca that day, I just couldn´t come to terms with what I saw.  I was filled with sadness.  For years I´ve prayed that my heart would break with the things that break God´s heart.  And my heart was broken.

But there are so many things in which to rejoice.  For one, we are scheduled to begin building the community kitchen this week. That is a HUGE need.  So many kids go without just like this family.  We eventually hope to feed 1,000 children three days a week.

We are still praying earnestly for funds for the clinic that we want to start. Obviously, that is a huge need as well.  Glenda´s is not the only story of serious medical need.  And I rejoice in the fact that I serve a God who I can trust and who tells me not to worry about anything.  I can pray about everything and I can present to Him my petitions and He will fill me with peace.  And I rejoice that I serve a God who is relevant to this population.  A God who can bring hope to the saddest of circumstances.

I serve a God who is here with us... He is not distant. And he cares.  He cares about each of us and each of our situations.  And so, after many tears... many, many, MANY tears, I have given this to God.  And I know that I can trust Him with it.  Please join me in praying urgently for this neighborhood – the community kitchen, the clinic, and for Glenda and her family. 

 Editor’s note:  Glenda miraculously recovered from her illness and is back in math class!