Here in Guatemala, this was the day Talitha has been waiting for–the day for meeting Juan, the 5-year-old she sponsors through Compassion International.
I was blessed to be an observer while Juan’s hugs sucked a willing Talitha into a whirl of words, love, tears, prayers, games, laughs, songs, and precious gifts.
It’s a day that falls most easily into the category of a picture is worth a thousand words. So these photos should substitute well for several tens of thousands of words.
I’m not sure how many words a video is worth. See what you think. Listen for my favorite comment from Juan. Yes, I’m sure you’ll recognize it when you hear it.
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In a town about 45 minutes outside Guatemala City at 2 pm, the stream of children began, flocking after school to the Compassion Project Center in their town. They come 2-3 afternoons a week for games, a meal, Christian teaching, songs, activities, and help with their school work. Today the lesson was about misericordia. Mercy.
I wrote earlier at NoelPiper.com about the intertwining of Compassion with adoption ministries that are close to my heart. Today I’ll add another–Joni and Friends, which is one of the reasons my attention is drawn to people with special needs. I saw among the children at least 2 boys who appeared to need extra help. A project center volunteer assisted one of the boys the whole afternoon. Mercy.
Later, I asked one of the Compassion staff people from the main office whether children with disabilities are included among those chosen to participate in the program. The answer is yes, and some people ask specifically to be connected with such a child. Mercy.
I realized that it wouldn’t be possible for anyone to sponsor a handicapped child unless a local project director invited the child into the program. That shouldn’t be taken for granted because, face it, other children would be easier for a busy staff to care for and teach. I went away with much gratitude and admiration for Lydia, this project director, who chose those 2 boys for the program. Mercy.
Here is a remarkable young man named Carter, who has an idea–a dream. As I listened to him, some specific ones of you came to my mind. I could easily imagine you rising to Carter’s challenge. Listen to him, please, with merciful hearts. Mercy.
Here are 3 children waiting as of today, according to the “Sponsor a Child” page. Might you be the one for one of them? Use the “Search for a Child” sidebar, choose “Show more search options,” at “Mentally/Physically Challenged choose “yes.”
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My travel photos may be viewed at my Shutterfly Share Site.
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If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had.
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I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com
Back when it was the hippie generation, it was also the Jesus People days. About that time Larry and Alice Agnew recognized the call of Jesus to be his.
Then, in the amazing mysterious way God works, he made sure that they in small-town Minnesota heard about faraway, mysterious Romania in a way that grabbed them and has held them for life.
They moved to Los Angeles to live in a Romanian neighborhood so they could learn the language and culture.
Silvia Tarniceriu, a recent refugee from Romania, became a friend and frequent companion.
Silvia helped them fill a tiny notebook with hymns, and she recorded herself singing the songs. Larry and Alice listened and sang along for hours, days, months. This music became a key part of their learning Romanian.
Silvia Tarniceriu
Larry’s first trip to Romania was a couple of years before Communism fell. Since then, he’s been back many times, and Alice has traveled with him or supported him from home. All these years they have been missionaries to Romania who happened to live in America. They are known and loved by many Christians in Romania.
That same little notebook still travels to Romania in Larry’s pocket. So when he was invited to sing in the Sunday morning service at Holy Trinity Baptist, he had the words at hand.
Here are Larry Agnew and Silvia Tarniceriu singing “Ibiti! Ibiti!” (Love! Love!).
My travel photos from Romania and elsewhere may be viewed at my Shutterfly Share Site.
__________ Subscribe to Tell Me When To Pack. Use the links to the right or click here. __________ If you make a purchase after you click on some of the product links in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I had. __________ I hope you’ll also visit my other blog–NoelPiper.com
The building of the registered church in Ya’an sits where the Baptist church building used to be, before the mid-1950s when churches were shut down for the next 20 years or so. The old building is replaced now, but the church–the people–are there again.
Esther Nelson lived nearby and worshiped in the old church building here. To get from her house to her work at the Briton Corlies Hospital (a Baptist Hospital named for the doctor who began the work), she used to walk past the back of the old church building, through the area where the church ran a kindergarten.
Joann and I worshiped with believers at the church on Sunday, March 18. The video here contains excerpts of a couple of hymns and of the Apostles Creed.
Near the end of the sermon, the teenager next to me succumbed to the prods of her mother and turned to me to practice her English with the convenient foreigner.
Since we were sitting near the back, it was easy to slip out. I didn’t want to disturb others around us.
While she was talking about her school and classes, she said she likes to read.
“Have you ever read from the Bible?” I asked.
“What?” Apparently, Bible in hadn’t been in the vocab list in her English class at school.
I gestured toward the sanctuary, “The book your mother has in her lap.”
“Oh, that book. No, I haven’t read that book.”
“It’s a very important book,” I said.
“My mother also thinks it is important.”
“But you don’t think it’s important? Why not?”
People were beginning to come out of the church, and her English wasn’t able to reach far enough into motive-and-reason language.
She introduced me to her mother and asked someone to take our picture. As we said goodby, I shook her hand and held it while I leaned toward her, “I want you to read in the Bible. It is the most important book. Read about Jesus.
“I don’t know how you say the names in Chinese, but look for the parts called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.”
She smiled and nodded. I gave her my blog address so she could read about our China explorations. So if she sees this story, perhaps it will give her some English language practice — and a reminder.
As photos from the Esther Expedition photos are uploaded, you can see them anytime at my Esther Nelson Shutterfly share site. There’s a map there too, of our expedition locations.
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If you make a purchase after you click on a product link in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I probably have used personally or wish I did.
At our Esther Expedition presentation, after I talked about Esther (videos: Part 1 and Part 2), Joann sketched out our March itinerary when we sort of follow in Esther’s footsteps.
Below the video, you can find the maps that don’t show up all that well (or at all) on camera.
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If you make a purchase after you click on a product link in a post or after you use an on-line shopping link in the sidebar, I receive a small commission, which costs you nothing extra. I recommend only items that I think will be of interest to my readers and that I use personally or wish I did.
If I take the wings of the morning… even there your hand shall lead me.
About
Noel PIper is a wife, mother of 5, grandmother, world Christian, reader, author and speaker who finds great pleasure in seeing God's hand at work close to home and far away. Noel also blogs at NoelPiper.com.
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Here in Guatemala, this was the day Talitha has been waiting for–the day for meeting Juan, the 5-year-old she sponsors through Compassion International.
