Paraguachon- Matthew 25:31-46

The day that most impacted me during our week working with Ridgepoint Church was when we went to Paraguachon, the city dump. It is several miles deep and wide-of pure garbage. The trucks come and dump the trash there and hundreds of adults and children then come to look through the trash for something they can eat or sell. I have heard about Paraguachon and gone to the community there with teams several times, but this year was the first time that I actually climbed up on the mountain of trash. One members of the team described it well- as a ¨shock to all your senses¨- the smell…the taste in the air…the sights…unlike anything I have ever seen. It was hard to see and it is still hard to understand. The hardest for me was seeing a little girl skipping through the trash, carrying a bag into which she was putting things that she found. Hard to imagine her life.

In those days I had been praying a lot for God to help me to see Him and know Him more and while I was there, on top of the trash, I couldn´t stop asking Him where He was in that place.
And I remembered the verse, Mark 25:40, “The King will reply, ´I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.´” God is there, in the worst and ugliest and most tragic of places, and He calls us to go there and serve.

We also had the opportunity to climb up with Bethsaida, who is a 26 year old new missionary to the Maracaibo area, with her specific mission in Paraguachon. She has been in Maracaibo for several months, but this was her first time climbing up on the trash. I cannot even imagine what she felt as she climbed the trash for the first time, realizing that this is her new place to work and minister. Praise the Lord for her bravery and willingness to serve God there. Please pray for strength and protection for her while working in this area! Also pray for the process of getting used to the culture of Maracaibo and Paraguishon because she is from the other side of Venezuela, so the culture change has been a shock for her.

After climbing back down, we walked around the community in Paraguachon and gave out bags of food (rice, milk, arepa mix, pasta, etc) to families in the community. We split up into two groups and went with the Pastor José Gregorio (a different Pastor from the Pastor José who officiated our wedding) from New Jerusalem Church and his family. He was able to talk to the families and we also prayed with each family. The picture below was taken from the bus, as we were dividing up in groups to go hand out the bags of food. You can see all the small children from the community who joined us.



Pastor José told me there are a few believers in that community. Almost everyone in this community are of the Wayuu ethnicity (like the Yukpa people, but a different ethnic group-completely different culture and language). Thankfully, the Bible has already been translated into their language, but many still haven´t been reached. Please pray for Bethsaida and New Jerusalem Church and their ministry in this community. Pastor José and his wife are both Wayuu so they can speak the language and understand the culture which is extremely important for ministry in this area.