A picture and a bracelet… they can make such a difference. I’ve had the opportunity to be part of children’s ministry on Saturdays here in Costa Rica. I tend to read the Bible while other people act it out, and other people lead music and teaching the memory verse. I previously wrote a blog about a little girl (Evelyn) I played with my first week there. After another week or so, God laid another girl on my heart (Alexandra). I heard her story about her mother passing away and more that went with that. That story caught my attention, and I tried to figure out which girl they were talking about. I had a guess, but I wasn’t positive. I asked people, and it turned out to be the girl I thought.
She’s about 14 years old. That’s not the age group I usually work with, so God laid her on my heart. But I wasn’t sure what to do with that. I thought about spending more time with her at children’s ministry, but should I give her something? What should I talk about with her when I’m not fluent in Spanish? I started praying about it. I made the background of my phone a picture of her as well as Evelyn to remind me to pray for them. I asked my team to pray about it as well.
The week after I started praying for them and what to do, neither of them came to kids’ ministry. I thankfully saw both of them, so I knew they were physically okay. I didn’t understand why God laid Alexandra on my heart then she wasn’t there, but I knew God had a plan. Later in the week, I found out children’s ministry was cancelled for the next week. I was pretty upset. It’s my favorite day of ministry each week. However, our host wanted us to do some manual labor on the farm that day. So two weeks in a row after I felt that God had laid Alexandra on my heart, I didn’t get to interact with her. I later found out that the next Saturday would be our last day doing children’s ministry at that site. I might get to see her one more time with the possibility of never seeing her again.
The week before that Saturday, my squad went through team changes and our alumni squad leaders left. It was emotional and draining. We got back to the farm on Friday and went to a prayer meeting that same night. I didn’t get to bed until late, so I didn’t even feel like preparing for and going to children’s ministry that Saturday. I just wanted to rest. I had made a bracelet for both of the girls, but I didn’t grab the one at first when I didn’t find it right away. Thankfully, my teammate Ellie asked me about it, and that got me to go search for the bracelet again. I found it and stuck it in my bag before we left.
We got to children’s ministry, and I didn’t see Evelyn at first. I quickly wrote a note on the back of the picture I had for her. I took the picture and bracelet and knocked on her aunt and uncle’s door to see if she was there. I was able to talk to her briefly and give her the gifts before heading back to the area where we held children’s ministry. I didn’t think she was going to come out the rest of the time I was there, but she surprised me and eventually did. Alexandra was there for children’s ministry. I thought I could talk and interact with her after the lesson. We played a group game that I encouraged her to play, but I still wasn’t really able to have a conversation with her. After the game, she started playing with some of the other kids and eventually disappeared.
I waited for awhile but finally decided to look for her before we left. As I started to look, I saw her coming from the opposite direction. I finally had a chance to talk with her!! I told her I had something for her, and I handed her a picture with a note on the back as well as a bracelet. She gave me such a big, sincere, tight hug. She was almost in tears. She gave me 3 more hugs like that before I left. I didn’t have a long conversation with her. I only talked with her briefly and gave her some small things, but it was so special to her. Something like that could help her feel seen, loved, and cared about. I had been praying and thinking for weeks about what to do, and that’s all it took. I wanted God to show me something more and maybe something bigger. But sometimes God has a seemingly small plan that can still have a big impact. Trust God to take care of things even if it doesn’t look like what you want or expect.
(Names are changed for privacy and security)
