Through these years of ministry in Tijuana I've had occasions where I've visited ... I'll call them, "houses of mercy" where throw-away people are taken for medical attention. We went there to see a boy who had been hit and injured by a car. I went to the boy's bedside where his father was crying and pleading with his boy to respond. His brain-dead son just stared at his crying father. I'll never forget that!
I slowly walked around the two rooms full of hopeless medical cases. Slowly observing "ministry" in action. It was hot, two fans and no Air. I watched as four poorly paid men did the ugly jobs: turn the patients over, insert feeding tubes, take out catheters, empty bags of urine, change soiled pampers and clean dirty beds. One of the men was working the makeshift kitchen. These kind of workers became heroes in my mind.
One of the hardest things I ever did was on a bus trip to Disneyland. A bus full of excited orphanage kids. SantaAna, Interstate five ... Shell service station. Our bus driver signaled me to pull over. The driver opened the bus door and I could smell the problem. All the kids were crowded near front and all alone way in the back seat sat a ten year old in tears. The kid was attacked by the diarrhea bug ... and he lost!
The boy and I walked slowly to the little bathroom. I gave instructions to another driver to go and buy some new pants, underwear and tee-shirt ... and I went to work on the dirtiest, smelliest job I ever had. It was all I could do just to keep from vomiting. A humiliated stinking boy, small wash basin, scores of paper towels ... In a small way I can relate to these 24/7 heroes.
There are now over 150 in Chuy's Old folks home. I watched these same kind of hero's at work in this community of the handicapped and aged. From cooking three meals a day, changing catheters and urine bags, changing pampers and cleaning dirty smelly beds
Two days ago I asked Pastor Chuy how many helpers he has and just what he pays them. He told me he has sixteen workers and pays them each about $15 a week; he pays the two cooks $30 a week. He told me rather sheepishly that there are nights when he has had to sneak out, he couldn't pay them; the money just didn't come in. For hot, hard and dirty work $15 a WEEK!
I thought why not a bonus? They've never gotten a bonus. I hope you don't mind, but I took some of your money and broke it down to cash. I asked Pastor Chuy to give me a list of his workers. We placed $30. in sixteen little envelopes. Hortensia wrote their name on each envelope.
Yesterday there was joy in the camp. A happy surprise! A special encouragement to sixteen underpaid heroes! They each got their bonus. Oh yes and Pastor Chuy got his bonus too!
Thanks for helping us do this kind of thing ... we couldn't do it without you!!!
