Still absorbing Paraguay!

     The last couple of weeks since we've been home has been "weird." Transitioning back into our schedule and getting back into the daily routine seems out of the ordinary. Emily and I have had many discussions about how we can help Itapaso, a children's ministry, and how can we do something more for this ministry, with us being located in Southwest Virginia. We had several people ask about sending clothes to the kids and we checked with FedEx about sending a package to Asuncion Paraguay, and having the pastor there pick it up. It would cost over 800.00 to send a 50 lbs. package! Itapaso is a relatively new church outside of Encarnacion Py. and the church feeds between 150-200 children every Monday through Friday and we thought that with all of the young children in our church, that we could surely come up with a bunch of nice, used clothes and get them to these young children. However the shipping price was mind numbing. Yet, the faces of those little chidren will forever be in our memory and in our hearts! There was one little boy that Emily and I called the hugger. He went from person to person, with this huge smile plastered across his face, with his arms outstretched asking for hugs.

    The pastor told us that these little children had been waiting for us to show up! We had no idea what we were going into or what we would see once we were there, and I'm not sure if we were truly ready either. As we were helping hand out food to the children, they were playing music and the song "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" started playing in Spanish. So there we were, some of us singing along, in english of course and others stood there with tears streaming down our faces, with the words of that song impacting us in a way they had not before. These words of Jesus rang out so true to me in this moment; Matthew 25: 34-36: "Then the King shall say to those on His right hand, Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me." Something as simple as a bowl of rice and beans, to me, meant that I was a part of this teaching for this moment in time! God is so good!

     Please join me in prayer for this young ministry that is feeding not just bodies but souls, and is living out this teaching of our Lord, everyday!