Encouraging Policewomen
For a long time, I’ve been broken-hearted that many of the stories of illegal immigrants are referring to Guatemalans.
I live here and I love this country. I know there are places in Guatemala where people are desperately poor and they hear the stories of how others have made it to the U.S. and even with the most menial jobs are able to make what seems like great sums of money to these Guatemalans, but I can’t help but wonder if the missionaries here can do something to turn this around.
In April of this year, I began to ask God what did He want me to do to impact this crisis, and in May I received the answer. God wanted me to reach out to the policewomen. Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission makes the point that the biggest problem of the poor is that “they live outside the protection of the law”. This new project is to impact policewomen in a way that benefits the poor in the communities they serve. The goal is to help these policewomen to be seen as people who are there to help their community rather than people who take from the communities they serve.
The project will take the shape of a monthly breakfast where all of the policewomen of a department (state) will be invited. Local missionaries and women of the church will be invited to become a part of the team to serve the policewomen. With these breakfasts we have the following goals:
To offer a breakfast that will be a little more than they would usually enjoy, as appreciation for their service.
We’ll offer a time of worship and teaching, with the purpose of encouragement and bringing unbelievers to salvation.
We’ll offer a time of prayer for the specific needs of each policewoman.
We hope to connect the policewomen with the churches in the areas where they serve, for the purpose of resourcing them to help families in need.
By bringing the Word of God to the group we hope to reach those who otherwise may be inclined toward corruption. By praying we hope to show them that we care for them and we realize that theirs is not an easy life. By connecting them with churches we hope to give them resources that will show the community that law enforcement cares about them and will come to their aid.
