God's Finances

A really neat thing happened this past week. As always, a little background info first... We live in a neighborhood with a lot of children. We've tried to make the most of this and take in stride the difficulties that come from that, while attempting to minister to these precious little folks. Usually it works out fine, but at times, we "rock the boat," usually by accident.

The only family that has actually made a fuss (they weren't sure what "Hora Feliz" was all about, and thought we were brainwashing their child, I think... ??), is actually an extended family that lives around the corner. There are a slew of really small kids/babies, and a few moms (maybe they're sisters to each other?), and the grandmother. I think there's a man in the mix somewhere, but I'm not sure if he's a father or a brother. Anyway, the children are absolutely precious and we fell in love with them right away. We always try to speak to the adults and greet/befriend them, but usually we are met with coldness.

Just this past week, the grandmother of that same family stopped by the house, as the cold weather blew in. There were about 10 kids playing on the porch and I thought she'd come to gather her brood. She came right up to me, though, and said in Spanish (she normally only talks to me in Guarani, so I was THRILLED to know she could speak Spanish), "My grandson doesn't have a backpack for school or tennis shoes, and we don't have much money. I told him we can't buy those things. He said I should come talk to y'all because y'all help him." Oh, how she broke my heart. She knows that I know they stirred up trouble and tried to turn the neighborhood against us. She knows I tried to "win her over" and they gave me the cold shoulder each time. So I imagine that the need must really be great for her to swallow those things and come to ask for help anyway. No way we can ignore that.

Background info #2. Monthly support has been at an all-time low the past couple months. I usually don't share financial things on the blog, or in the newsletters, because it makes me uncomfortable. But I read something this week about Paul, the first missionary, and how he was specific with his situations in his correspondence. So here goes... I figured it'd take about $20 to get the things Juancho needed (hefty boy-proof tennis shoes, several pairs of socks, and a good solid backpack), but this month, it's just not there. I couldn't justify taking food off my children's plates to do a good deed, no matter how good it seems. So I prayed. God loves Juancho even more than we do, and God wants him to have warm shoes, too. The words to "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" kept coming to mind.

Not too much later, my telephone rang, and a friend said her friend needed some internet help. The net is still new to lots of folks here, so we end up doing this from time to time, but usually not with perfect strangers. Ken went on this "house call," and the end result was that he helped this man (with a very costly hobby) order something he'd been planning to buy from somewhere else, and Ken saved the man a WHOLE LOT of money. He INSISTED on giving Ken about the equivalent of $20 for his help, so
guess who got some new shoes and a cute backpack? Thank you, Lord. You're always right on time.

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