Savartinas


Today i went to the Savartinas, or the much less fancy sounding English word: the dump. In Klaipeda's dump live around 100 people in houses they have built themselves, and making a living however they can from selling things or finding temporary work. I really didn't want to go earlier today, but pretty much you have to admit- if Js lived in Klaipeda probably the first people he would have gone to spend time with are those people living on the trash mountains.

It was pretty standard short-term missions fare; deliver food to the people, sing Xn songs (mostly in Russian, as I heard that people were mostly russian there, only to discover that there were way more Lithuanian speakers... i need to learn more lithuanian worship songs by heart), and meet and great people and hear their stories. THe Salv'n Army (Isganymo Armija) has a regular ministry to these people with weekly services and all. We went under their aegis. What surprised me the most was the people- these are people who are so easy to dismiss, to forget about and ignore. In fact the EU has passed legislation requiring that these people move out of the dump, out of the only home they have ever known. But these people were very thankful and appreciative, eager to tell their story, eager to share about their lives, ask questions of us, even eager to try to sing along and listen to the songs that i was trying to play in a language i kind of know, on a guitar that was kind of in tune, and a voiced straining to be loud enough that all people on that grassy hilltop might hear it.

These are real people with real stories and beautiful to Gd, as cheesy as it sounds to say that, and i am thankful that i had that opportunity. I wasn't shocked or disturbed by the poverty ( i dont really know yet what that says about me) or the dirtiness of people's hands or clothes. I guess the next time i hear on the news that it is -20 degrees in Klaipeda, i will have some new faces to pray for and think about and hope that Gd is taking care of.