Oct 20th—I woke up exhausted. I wasn’t “feeling it,” but something inside me told me to choose to press into joy! And boy, what a BLESSING today has been!! We arrived at Esperanza’s house. The kids were quietly coloring in composition notebooks provided by Esperanza. I sat down with Angee and her siblings and started to color.
Before I knew it, Angee had started a new page and she was copying my picture. I continued coloring different things to teach her new tricks. I showed her and her siblings how to use a leaf as a stencil under the paper. Before I knew it, she was leading me around the room to show everyone else.
Throughout this time, Joshua and Fatima stared at me with smiles on their faces. Remember, these are the kids who never had any look other than a blank stare. I asked Joshua a question, and he answered!!! I didn’t know he could talk! He continued interacting with me at the table, and the smile never left his or Fatima’s face.
Was that all it took? Color crayons and something as small as a leaf? I couldn’t hold in the excitement! This was an answer to prayer—to break the barrier of fear in them and to show them love!
The kids ate their meal; before we headed to the church, Angee asked me to accompany her to her house to drop off food for the others. I asked Chelsea to come along, and we headed down the dirt road. We arrived at their gate to find all the kids standing outside—the two older ones who don’t come for food, and ones that we’ve seen occasionally, like Owen and Manuelito. Little Manny looked sick; he was pulling on his ears and had a lethargic cry. He didn’t want to interact us. I invited the older girls to the church to play with us, and they shook their heads in shyness.
We returned back to the church to join the others in a bible story and games. As we rounded the corner, Joshua was running right towards me. I assumed he was going to stop and change direction. Nope—his path was straight and his determination was set. I reached down and grabbed under his armpits and thrust him to the sky! His smile and laugh resonated on the street corner. I tried putting him down, but he was quick to resist.
“What a change in him”, I thought! I was beaming with excitement! As we entered the church, Fatima ran up to me, her sparkling little eyes staring into mine. I put Joshua down and lifted her up, swinging her around. Joshua wanted a turn. Then their cousin, Nicole—who has not interacted past a blank stare—wanted a turn. I tried to keep my head from spinning as I honored each child’s wish to be swung around more “rapido! Mas rapido!”. Angee also wanted to play.
After many more minutes, my stomach threatened me with an episode of vomiting if I didn’t stop. I put the kids down, and ran around the church. They followed. I tried pulling them into the game of “duck duck goose” that was already in session, but they didn’t want to. I looked up and saw something exciting–the two older girls were sitting on the bricks inside the church. I invited them to play, but they shook their heads. As our interactions went on, the girls moved closer and closer inside the church–the first time that we’ve seen since arriving here!
Before I knew it, it was time to leave. My new little friends already ran home, and we were being summoned by Pastor Gregorio to start our trek back. I walked with Angee, and as we approached their house, Joshua came running out. I looked at him, sparking a laugh in him, and he ran inside the gate smiling. As we walked by, I shook his little hand and said, “hasta luego.” He returned a precious grin with excitement. Each child gave me their hands to shake, and each one received a smile and a small dose of love from this gringo missionary.
Angee, Joshua and I–they wouldn’t let me put them down
My heart was full! I never expected to see such a drastic change in these little kids. When I chose to choose joy this morning, God knew what an impact that would have. But that is the very definition of ministry, right? It’s our relationship to and with the Father that overflows and blesses other people. And when you choose to press into the joy, which is a fruit of our ministry, an impact is made and lives are changed. Persistence truly does pay off!
