Sometimes it’s just one person…
This past Saturday, we had our first day of children’s ministry in Costa Rica. We had a lesson on Luke 17 (not the easiest chapter to teach to kids), a song, and activity. But a lot of our time was just spent playing and interacting with the kids. Some people played soccer and other games. Some people talked with the older kids/teens. And others colored with children. We all have our different ways of interacting with children. I for one am not very sporty or athletic, but a lot of people enjoyed playing soccer with the kids. I’m not great at striking up a conversation with someone I don’t know while other people are more outgoing. So where is my place in interacting with the kids?
There was a little girl there (maybe 3 years old). She was obviously shy and didn’t really want to talk to or play with any of us. I went over to her after the lesson and crouched down closer to her level. I tried to talk to her, but she didn’t say anything. One of the older girls told me that she was shy. I already knew that she was shy around strangers, but I wanted to try anyway. I talked to her a little bit more. I asked her if she liked flowers and if she wanted to go look for some. And there the wall started to break.
Photo credit: Hanna Smith
I held her hand as we went in search of flowers. We found a few, but there didn’t seem to be a lot of them around there. That wasn’t really important though. From there we played for over an hour. We ran, colored, and laughed.
Photo Credit: Hanna Smith
It was so sweet and special. She even took me to her house (which was right beside the ministry site). I wondered what her parents thought when she brought a seemingly random gringa to their house. Haha! Aside from teaching, I poured into that one little girl that day, and that was enough.
