I remember once when I was younger, I was sitting on a swing in the park, and a little girl ran up to me and asked me to play with her. Someone else may have thought that strange, but I just laughed. Ever since I was a little girl, kids who didn’t know me would ask me to play with them all the time. Before they even spoke a word to me, they deemed me safe and trustworthy. And in our culture back in the States of fear of strangers, I counted that as a win. Because even shy kids would eventually no longer be able to resist the temptation of becoming my friend.
Honestly, I think it has something to do with my face…
You laugh at that (so did I when I was typing it, hahaha), but I believe it with my whole heart. I really think the Lord designed my face a certain way so as to tell kids that I’m safe, that I’m fun to be around, and that I long to be their friend and teach them about the Lord. It’s the coolest gift the Lord could have ever given me.
Since I’ve been on the race, I’ve used it a lot. I’ve befriended orphans in India and Ethiopia, our hosts’ children in Nepal and Thailand, kiddos in the daycare in Vietnam, Sunday School kids in Bolivia, and school children in Cambodia, Rwanda, and here in Peru. I have no shame using my natural charm to teach kids about the love of Jesus. And as I reflect on the past nine months I’ve realized even more things about this skill. Essentially, from every country, I have one child that sticks out in my mind. And all (except one) of those kiddos is a little boy, between the age of 4-7.
This month was no exception. I met the little nugget on our weekend trip to Cajamarca. His name is Junior.
I knew instantly when I saw him that I wanted to be his friend. He came to our kids church service with his little brother. He stood as straight as a wooden board as the rest of us sang and danced, so I sang and danced to him, tickling him and making myself look like a fool. At first he was shy, and only let a smile squeak out of the corners of his lips. But eventually he became confident and started to do the moves, giggling at my celebration of his participation.
As we moved to playing games, he wandered away from me, but every few minutes he would look back at me to make sure I was still there and to seek confirmation that he was doing the right thing. I constantly nodded and smiled in affirmation.
I gave the “message”, then. I have message in quotes because it required participants. I had all the kids act like sheep, and hid one of them behind my back, then went to look for him like Jesus talked about in the parable of the lost sheep. In the midst of the fun and the giggles, I know the message went deeper than it looked on the surface.
Because shortly after the talk, my squad leader, Cristin, came up to me and told me she felt like the Lord was prompting her to talk to Junior. So she asked if he would chat with her outside, and took my teammate, Kayla, outside to interpret for her.
I watched as they patiently began to explain the gospel message to Junior. Cristin told him that Jesus was her best friend and had been for years. During the conversation, another little boy joined and was empowered to share the message with Junior alongside them. After summarizing what Jesus did on the cross, and how much he loved Junior, Cristin asked if he wanted to accept Jesus into his heart.
And he said yes! 🙂 *Que applause, screams, shouts, and glory to God all across the States*
When they finished praying, Junior said goodbye to them and began his walk back home. I called after him, and went out to meet him, bending down to match his height. He threw his arms around me in a big hug.
“Bienvenidos.” I said, wishing I knew how to say ‘to the Kingdom of God’, but my Spanish is very limited, so I just figured the Spirit would fill in my blanks haha.
In broken Spanish, I think I told him Jesus loves him. He repeated my words quietly to himself, then flashed his gentle smile.
“Ciao,” he said sweetly, as he gave me another hug and kissed my cheek (a traditional cultural greeting and farewell).
My heart was bursting as I watched him walk away, tears threatening to fall.
I’m going to see him again one day- Junior. I’m going to meet him in heaven, and hear all of the stories of how he taught his friends and family about Jesus, how his gentle, quiet, kind strength pulled people to him and allowed him to share the greatest message of all time.
Until I see him again, I won’t forget him. I won’t stop praying for him. And I won’t stop looking forward to the day I get to hug him in heaven and tell him how much I miss him, how proud of him I am, and how excited I am to spend eternity worshiping Jesus with him beside me.
