Gifts from the Lord

This morning, at about 5am, we said goodbye to the Foothills Alliance team from Calgary, Alberta, as well as our friends, John & Bev Crozier, Howard Giesbrecht and Gord Wiens, from Kamloops.

We have the privilege of sharing time with some pretty awesome people here in Guatemala! I get to go with teams to do children's ministry and just hang out with kids and play! This last group work with a church in Chakalte, a village about 30 minutes from Tactic in the moutains.

Rocky does what Rocky does best - work! He organizes the work projects and makes sure the teams work hard and feel like they are accomplishing something.

Together, we get to share times with teams where we talk about the things of the Lord and help groups process some of what the Lord is teaching them through their experiences here in Guatemala. This work is very rewarding...very tiring at times, but always rewarding.

I think, although, the most rewarding thing we have the honour of participating in is connecting sponsors with their sponsor children. There is something divine that transpires when a sponsor meets the child they are sponsoring and it is an honour to witness this union.

Our family started sponsoring Anayeli 4 1/2 years ago and I never tire of seeing her and spending time with her. Being able to watch her grow, pray for her and simply be a part of her life is so amazing.

Anayeli lives with her mom and brother - her dad has never been in the picture. She is blessed to live beside her grandmother and 2 aunties, so although her mom is often away from home, she is rarely all alone. She has, from a very early age, taken the responsibiliy for her little brother, Adalberto - Alberto for short. Anayeli will be 10 this year and her brother 8.

When Arryn was here in March/April, we went to visit their home. We spent some time just playing catch with them outside of their house. Anayeli hasn't had much time for play in her life. It was such a simple thing, tossing a ball around, yet it brought such joy, not only to Anayeli, her brother, and a few of their cousins, but also to us. Knowing that for that window of time they knew that we cared enough about them to spend some time with them and just play with them.

I remember when we were deciding if we could commit to sponsoring a child and some of the arguments we had against doing it. Now looking back, it is hard to believe we hesitated. If you are reading this and you don't have a child that you are sponsoring in a developing country, do it! For the cost of a Starbuck's a week, you can make a difference in a child's life. The cost is nothing in comparison to the reward, both for you and the child! When we give to others, our hearts are softened and we are blessed. Sponsoring Anayeli has never been a duty or a hardship; it has been a gift from the Lord for our entire family.