Update II: Migrants

Good evening!

I wanted to give a brief middle-child-with-a-captive-audience sized report of how things went tonight as Randy, Manny, and I went downtown to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of the migrants.  First, I want to point out we definitely did not do this alone.  In fact, we had help from three other churches, but the beautiful thing was that there was no coordination beforehand.  God’s children saw people in need and set themselves to ministering to them both physically and spiritually, as they were able, and in some cases didn’t even need to communicate to simply fulfill the role needed.  They did not need anything to mobilize them other than the compassion we’ve learned from Jesus Christ.  The Catholic church on the street would take in the women and children for the night while Vista Hills and a couple from another church (Mike and Veronica) teamed up to make sure the men stayed warm outside.  And everyone was going to get a meal.    

I was able to go two nights so far, last night and tonight, and both nights EVERYONE was fed.  Tonight there were even leftovers thanks to the abundance of food donated!  Last night, admittedly, left me depressed at how daunting the task was and how limited it seemed we were to even make a dent in the need.  Mike and Veronica’s church seemed to have so many helpers already that I felt like a fifth wheel myself, though I was blessed to hand out what blankets and jackets we could.  Tonight, though, I saw everyone looking blessed and even cozy despite the cold and how limited our provisions seemed last night.  I also discovered that those volunteers from Mike and Veronica’s church were actually not church members but part of the immigrant group.  I have not experienced such a wholesome group of people in need.  They would even help to organize people, load/unload things, help cook, and clean up afterwards to keep trash off the street.  It truly was beautiful to see.  

The highlight was when God showed up in power to minister to their spiritual needs.  God had given Randy a worship song list, a guitar, and a message to deliver while Manny went through the crowds praying with people and handing out Bibles.  I was actually wondering how this would work because this would be out in the open street and nobody was going to be able to hear Randy.  Enter church #4, a Hispanic pastor showed up with a few congregation members and his daughters with… wireless mics and a large speaker!  Randy and the other pastor teamed up to lead worship in Spanish together and then Randy gave the message.  Young men would come forth to help read the Scripture for everyone and this large crowd listened with such intent as God spoke to them about the eternal life He wanted to give them.  The Spanish-speaking pastor’s daughter would help translate as needed and then the pastor closed with a call to salvation and prayer.  Hands raised up in praise and tears were flowing freely as they prayed.  

Que hermoso, mi familia!  I pray the photos and videos I managed to take give a glimpse of the experience and that we find a way to post all of them so you can share in our joy.  Until then, I want to share via the attachments my personal favorites from tonight.

Jonathan Rutkowski