Oppression

I thought I would give this blogging thing a try so here I go...

Today was a wonderful day on the worksites, we had lots kids to do childrens ministry with and lots of El Salvadorian workers to help out with the building. Not only did we complete four houses today...but we also gave lots of pedicures and manicures to the woman and children, completed lots of colouring pages, did a lot of facepainting...soccor playing...tattoo doing (no worries not the real ones)...and the list goes on ! :)

Today God brought to my attention the amount of oppression many of the women in El Salvador face. At the first work site, after doing a couple manicures and pedicures I asked two women  (the man´s mother of the house we were building and her daughter in law) if they would like a pedicure or manicure. At first they both said no, saying that they were embarassed and that their feet were too dirty. I said not to worry I had washed and given pedicures to lots of dirty womens feet but they still said no. Through talking a little more it came out that they were not embarassed about their feet but they were infact not allowed to have their nails painted. At the church they attend women are not allowed to cut their hair short, wear makeup, or wear nailpolish. So I asked if I could wash their feet instead. They said no, they are not allowed to have their feet washed. I asked what the men´s rules are at the church. And they said none. It completely broke my heart that I couldn´t even wash these hard working womens feet all because of the rules they must follow at their church. The message of the Gospel is completely lost in these man made rules that they have to follow, and the women are treated unfairly and often times objectified. Jesus came to die for our sins, not to make rules, or make women feel opressed or belittled. I would like to add that not all men make the women feel opressed or belittled, and significant progress has actually been made in the last three years. Valerie and I encouraged them to read the word and see what the Gospel is really about. I felt strongly urged to give both the women Spanish Bibles, so it is my prayer that they will read it and come to see the truth about Jesus and what he came for.

I can´t imagine some of the twisted views these women can possibly have about our Lord because of the way the church has raised man made rules above the Holy Bible.  It was a great reminder to me that we are greatly blessed in Canada as women to be free from much oppression, but also a sad reminder that we also have churches and people that view man made rules above the Bible probably in every area around the world, and don´t always have the understanding or knowledge to know that this is not the way that things were meant to be.

I invite you to join me in prayer for the women in El Salvador and for freedom from oppression for all women around the world, and that they may come to know the true love of Our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I pray that as churches around the world we will recognize the difference between man made rules, and the truth of the Bible.

I had intended on keeping this short, so I will sign off now...I´ve been invited to a girls night with all the young ladies on this trip :)

-Chelsey Arseneau