austin stone group dos (2)

Below is an update from one of the Austin Stone group members. You can check out their pictures at http://austinstone.myphotoalbum.com.

The last few days have been challenging. There is so much to take in and process that my mind almost seems incapable of doing it. We are told so much and sing so much about God's goodness, but I am finding that that is easy to say when I live such a comfortable, content life. I wonder how easy it would be to say that if I lived the way these people do. Being in the village of Pancho Mateo the first day (yesterday) was an awakening for me. I know that God is sovereign and He is always in control. I know that God is good, that He is incapable of evil, and we live in a fallen world. I am searching for God's goodness here. At first it is really hard to ignore the darkness. I see it in the village: it's a child squatting to defecate in the midst of a crowd and the mother cleaning it up like I would clean a litter box. It's in the lives of some of the teenage girls that surely get raped on a regular basis. It is enough to make some not want to go back. But we do. God is there and there is hope. It is visible in the eyes of these children. They are so full of love and are starving for affection. In the states we teach our kids to not talk to strangers, and these kids come running and leaping into our arms without hesitation. They want to be carried and to hold someone's hand. It was so great to go back a 2nd day and recognize kids and to have them recognize me. I am making a deliberate effort to not focus on the darkness, but to see the light of God in this place; to trust in His sovereignty and goodness; and to see where He is working and glorifying Himself.