God gave me one of the sweetest Christmas gift he could have given me. He doesn’t “need” me to do his works…he has “chosen” me to be a part of them. Yesterday we all piled into the back of Davids ( our ministry host) truck. We drove up the mountains…and when I say mountains I mean MOUNTAINS. It’s probably the highest up I’ve ever been. The view during the drive is so indescribable. The truck pulled up to this tiny building with a playground outside of it. Our group of around 30 again piled into the tiny room. When I finally squeezed myself into the room I looked around at some of the cutest faces I’ve ever seen. There were probably around 30 kids sitting in school desks. They sat there, perfectly quite. Odd for kids right? Then all the sudden Scarlet ( our Ministry host) entered the school room and said something in Spanish. The room turned into a beautiful chaos as the kids jumped out of there seats and ran to her and gave her the biggest hugs. It was easy to see that these kids had genuine love for her.
The reason we had driven up the mountain to the school was to have a Christmas party for the kids in our hosts feeding program. We were able to pass out sweaters and pants to each kid and a toy.
After that came the really fun part. PIÑATAS!!! During our time here, we have been helping make piñatas for the kids. So we brought four of the ones that we made so the kids could use them. It was so amazing to see the joy and happiness these kids got out of beating a piñata to pieces.
After that we gave them each a slice of pizza and juice. I looked around and I saw genuine appreciate for this meal. A few kids came up to Scarlet and asked if they could take the pizza back to their home and share with their families. I was slightly confused…it was one slice of pizza. How and why would you want to share it. But then I was told this was probably the first time any of those kids have ever had pizza. Something so normal to me was the best gift to them.
There was something different about these kids. I felt it as soon as I stepped into the school. I soon realized what it was when I heard them talk about Jesus. Wow. They just got it. They knew fully well who He was and how much He loved them. These kids had faith like I have never seen. I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit all over the room. Before we left they wanted to pray for us. Kids who I had just met, kids who had little to nothing…wanted to pray for me. They asked all of us to get in the middle. Then all the kids surrounded us and put their precious hands on us. Their hands might have been tiny but their prayers were mighty. These kids were PRAYER WARRIORS. They spoke with authority and confidence that God would answer them. I still get chills when I think of their hands on my back and listening to their prayers. They specifically prayed for God to give us money so we could travel the world and help kids like them. And guess what…as soon as we got home, a girl on my squad found out she was fully funded!! She was almost $2,000 away from being fully funded. The prayers of children are powerful. They have a kind of faith I can’t explain, but a kind of faith I want to have.
This Christmas is obviously going to be a lot different. I miss home and my family. I miss all of our traditions and comforts of home. But I woke up on this Christmas Eve feeling a joy I can’t explain. Yesterday God “choose” me to be a part of those kids lives. They ended up blessing me more than I could ever bless them. Yes I miss home, but I am so happy to be where I am this year. I may not wake up to tons of gifts under the tree. But God already gave me such a sweet gift. He has chosen me to be a part of this crazy Journey and I wouldn’t trade anything for it.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
