Give A Little Bit

Because of a mudslide, our team was unable to travel to Sololá, a neighboring city of Panajachel, to visit the orphanage where we’ve been serving.  God simply had a different plan for us.  Instead, I and five other teammates headed towards the community where we had our outreach camping trip at the beginning of our trip.

Our mission for the day was to go door to door and evangelize to the people of the community; we were also given money to bless people that we came across.  For whatever reason, this day of evangelizing was a little bit more difficult and disheartening than some of our other outreach occasions.  Many people denied the prayers that we offered and were uninterested in having an in-depth discussion about Jesus.

While going door to door I kept thinking to myself, “I haven’t met anyone that I feel called to bless; Lord, what am I supposed to do with this money?”  Then, like an immediate answer to prayers, I saw her.  When we first visited this small community, my dear friend Rachel Short and I had met and visited with a woman named Estella (see my “Everything” blog post for the story of our first encounter).  When I saw her again, I was filled with joy as she immediately came towards me to greet me with a hug and kiss; my heart strings were pulled at like never before.  I knew that she was the one we needed to bless. 

Estella invited us into her home and we picked up our discussion right where we had left off one month ago.  During our conversation, I was surprised to learn that she is illiterate, and thus has to have her young children read the Bible to her at night.  I asked her if she had a Spanish Bible handy and began to read to her; it was a blessing for me to watch her soak up the words that she heard.

As I read to her, I was assured again and again that we needed to bless her family in whatever way we could.  We convened as a group and prayerfully decided that we would go to the small bread store down the hill and buy bread for Estella and her family.  When we returned with our gift, her face lit up and her gratitude was unmistakable.  How beautiful it was to see a woman, weathered by the sun, joyous over simply receiving bread.

It amazes me how powerful giving just a little bit can be.  Tomorrow, give a little bit more than normal: a simple smile to a stranger, a glass of lemonade for a city worker, an extra dollar or two for the struggling waitress.  Bless those around you; I guarantee that you’ll be the one who feels truly blessed.