Christmas Reflections

Jesus I saw you in Oakland this Christmas Season. I saw you in Jamie, one of our neighbors and friends who has been living in Oakland for over a decade! Jamie was part of a team called Mission Year, young twenties and thirties who relocate to tough cities and commit to loving their neighbors for a year! Jamie decided to remain in Oakland even after her team returned to their former lives. It is pretty beautiful to see the fruit of God’s love in her life. Years ago she started a small Christmas party for neighborhood kids with games and gifts and the gospel. It grew and this year there were over 75 kids present, plus parents and volunteers! Jamie and her Urban Mentors Network found gifts and donations to bless the community with! Matt and I volunteered for the day and had a blast playing games with all the kids! Some of the kids had never played with play dough before! There was cupcake frosting, 2 on 2 basketball, ring toss, face painting, a photo booth and many other activities. As I looked around the party, there was so much love and joy! I saw Jesus in each of the children, parents and volunteers as they laughed and played. Innocence was restored to Oakland for a day, it was a place where children were allowed to be children. I am so grateful that you are alive in Oakland Jesus!

 

When I began as a missionary I had the notion that I had to transport Jesus to the places where he called me, but I was so wrong! He is already there, ready to meet me! I see him most vividly in each one of his children! I am realizing that I have so many ideas and prejudices that I need to let go of in order to just to be able to embrace Jesus in a new place. The planner and party animal in me wants to plan activities to invite others to! It is sometimes really tough to wait for an invitation into the community. As we were thinking about Christmas my teammate Celida and I were dreaming of throwing a party for the neighbors, we both love hospitality! But our director Jose gave us some wisdom, he challenged us to go and find out how people in Oakland spend their Christmas, he challenged us to wait for invitations into the community. To be honest I had my doubts, we just moved to our new apartment in October and we have barely scratched the surface in gaining trust with our neighbors. My teammates and I came up with a plan in order to see the broad picture of what was going on in households and streets of Oakland during Christmas. We decided to put together Spanglish songs and go caroling visiting the places where we knew there were youth! We also decided to make cookies to give away. As the 24th (Latino Christmas) approached I was surprised by the answers I got as I asked youth what they were doing for Christmas. Everyone of them told me that they were going to go and get drunk at a party. When I asked them why, they responded, “What is Christmas without alcohol?” I was so saddened by their response. We prepared cookies and songs and prayed that God would open doors and homes in Oakland for us on Christmas Eve. On the 24th Mateo and I woke up and decided to run to Walgreens to finish a last minute gift. I always joke that God is never late, but rarely on my timetable! As we finished our gifts and were about to checkout Mateo noticed a young Guatemalan youth that he knew from playing soccer. We went up to wish him a Feliz Navidad and much to our surprise he remembered Mateo by name. He was so warm and kind and he invited us to his home for tamales and cerzesas later in the evening! We discovered that he lived less than 2 blocks from our apartment! We invited some of the youth who had known us in San Francisco to go caroling with us. One of them, Jorge decided to join us.

I admire Jorge so much, in the past couple of years he kicked a cocaine addiction, learned English and has 2 jobs! He helped us move into our new apartment in Oakland by providing a truck! A normal expression of his love is to bless us with groceries. He is like a brother to us. He lived with us in San Francisco for a couple of years and then rented out his own apartment. He recently admitted to us that he is really struggling with lonliness and he told us that his coping mechanism has been alcohol. He was really torn on Christmas, he wanted to stay away from alcohol but his friends were throwing a party with alcohol. We asked him to come with us and we could see his internal struggle. Our teammate Celida fixed his guitar as a Christmas present and he consented to join us for caroling! As we hit the streets after dark it was interesting. On our block we found a group of drunk men playing a gambling game on the sidewalk! They were so excited to get a Christmas cookie and to sing Christmas songs with us! We told them that Jesus loves them! As we walked down the street we stopped by the Catholic Worker House. We have only met them a couple of times but I love what they offer. They house immigrants who are day laborers and also provide a free hot lunch everyday to anyone in the community who is hungry. They were so happy to see us with 3 guitars! They were getting ready to go down the main street doing the Posadas and they needed people who could play instruments. We were so excited, our second invite of the day! The Posada is very Christ centered, the group walks the streets, there is one person dressed as Mary and another as Joseph. They sing at different houses and ask if there is room at the inn for them? The people inside the house carol back their response. Moving from house to house you finally find a place with an open door! The open house this year was Corazon del Pueblo or (Heart of the People or Community). A nun gave a wonderful message about true followers of Jesus. There was a huge group of maybe 40 people with food and a piñata! We had to cut out early but it was fun to learn a new latino tradition. By this time Jorge was really struggling as withdrawl set in, he left his guitar and was walking down to street to his friend’s house. We pleaded with him, “come with us please, you don’t have to drink.” He finally turned around and decided to visit more houses with us.  

 

Our next stops were three households of Honduran drug dealers, most of them under the age of 25. We were so surprised to find that all of them were still at home just getting ready to go out for the evening. God provides divine appointments! They joined us in singing Christmas songs and they were so happy that someone remembered them. It must be so hard to be away from your family and homeland for Christmas. My family blessed us with little gifts to give them. They turned into little kids as they opened their gifts and ate cookies. We were able to hug them and tell them that we loved them and that Jesus loved them even more. God has been blessing us with open doors into their homes and community. They call us now when they want help finding an honest job or when they are in crisis. They like hanging out, playing soccer and learning how to cook. We are excited to deepen our friendships with them and invite them to know Jesus in the New Year!

 

Jorge’s younger brother Herman lives in one of the houses that we visited. It breaks our heart because he used to lived with us in San Francisco but moved to Oakland to pursue a life of fast money and the street. He recently got a girl pregnant and they were both heartbroken when she miscarried. He has been burning bridges and losing friends as he goes deeper into the darkness. Earlier this year when he was kicked out of his apartment for dealing he tried to talk his brother Jorge into taking him in. Jorge really thought about it but told his brother that he had to give up the lifestyle and change if they were going to live together. Herman pretty much disowned his brother and stopped answering his calls. Jorge was so saddened and told me that he no longer has a brother. Both brothers ask us about each other. We hope that God can use us a bridge of reconciliation. As we stopped by Herman’s house we asked Jorge if he wanted to wish his hermano a Feliz Navidad. He decided to stay in the car. As we were leaving Herman’s house I told him that his brother was in the car if he wanted to relay a message or see him. To my amazement Herman said, “ I want to wish him a Merry Christmas.” It was a step in the right direction, the two brothers saw each other for the first time in months. I pray that they can be close someday. I really believe that God has a calling on both of their lives. I pray that they both surrender and follow Jesus and serve him together. I think they could be like Christ’s disciples James and John, the sons of Thunder. They are both leaders with unique gifts, I pray that they will use them for God’s glory!

 

We closed out the night by going to the Guatemalan tamale party! To be honest I was expecting a group of drunken men, a dirty apartment and taco truck tamales. I was blown away! We entered a decorated apartment bursting at the seams with a whole family. They seated us at the table and gave us the best tamales that I have ever tasted. They engaged us in conversation and we found out that all of them are Mayans, their first language is Mam and their second is Spanish. Many of them fled Guatemala due to poor wages and a violent government. The youth who invited us spoke perfect English and told us that he was a chef in Berkeley. I repented of all my prejudices. There was drinking but it was in a side room and under control, most of the family was having more fun just talking, laughing and playing with the kids. It was a great way to end the night!

 

Mateo and I drove to his parents house to spend the night praising God all the way and marveling at the events of the day! We feel so blessed to be here in Oakland! We came to love but we have been overwhelmed by the love and hospitality of our new community! I am so stoked to see what God has for us in the New Year here in Oakland! 

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