Montenegro has been a month of divine appointments and Wednesday, March 18th was one day in which I was completely humbled by two young gypsy boys yet my heart broke for them.
The humbling moment:
Let me start from the beginning. Katie and I decided we wanted to go to a coffee shop and take some time to journal and just spend some time with Jesus. It’s becoming one of my new favorite things to do by the way.
Anyways, we ordered our coffee and started journaling and all of a sudden two little boys came up to us and asked for money. We couldn’t give them any but soon we realized that maybe they just needed some love. So we began talking with them, and by talking I mean trying to communicate through actions and drawing pictures. They only spoke Serbian but we were able to figure out their names were Selma and Sina,(not sure of exact spelling) and they were 10.5 and 9 years old.
We “chatted” a little bit and Katie taught them tic tac toe and we took some pictures on our iPhones with them. (they loved pressing the button).
All of a sudden Sina told us to stay where we were and he took off running into the mall. He was gone about 10 minutes and then he came running back with a 2 liter of Pepsi and 6 mini chocolate Easter eggs. He gave Katie and I two eggs and then shared his Pepsi with us. This child had maybe 1.50€ with him and he chose to buy us soda and chocolate. We were blown away. They started with asking us for money and ended up spending their money on us. How humbling is that? We have so many things yet we can be so selfish with our money and belongings that we miss the opportunities to bless others. These boys reminded me that I am extremely blessed and I want to take those blessings and share them with this world.
The heart breaking moment:
At one point during our conversation they both ran off and came back with lit cigarettes. My first question was how do these boys know how to smoke? My second question was who in their right mind would give a child a lit cigarette.
I was angry.
It was heart breaking because you could tell that Selma needed it. He was so hungry for what that cigarette could give him. His eyes glazed over and he finished that cigarette in 5 minutes. They knew it was bad yet they were already addicted. At age 9 & 10 these boys were addicted to cigarettes.
They eventually finished their cigarettes and we attempted to communicate that we would come back at 3:00 the next day to see them. They never showed up but I know that these boys have a big future ahead of them. I can only pray that they choose to read the little New Testaments we gave them. It was encouraging and humbling when we gave them the Bibles because they knew that these were special books. They motioned that throwing them away was bad and that they should be put in a special place. It gave me hope for them and God-willing when I see them again they will be living lives that have Jesus at the center and they will be proclaiming His name to each person they meet.
“Father, give these boys big dreams and a heart to serve you. Give them strength to achieve anything they set their mind to. Make them into kingdom building, life-changing leaders. Thank you for the promise that with you anything is possible.”
Katie and Sina. (not sure why it’s upside down…)
Selma and Me. (can’t figure out how to get this one turned either.)
