It never fails that on each of these trips you meet a kid that you will never forget. For me that was Angel. They call him the fighter. He is a semi-street kid who is bounced from house to house and has had to fight for his very existence. He is having to learn that at the Kairos school he doesn’t have to fight, all he has to do is ask and his needs will be met.
I will always remember his high-pitched little voice saying “adios mi amigo” as he walked away from the school the way he showed up…Alone. I have to admit this part of the day and this photo broke my heart.
After Angel left we were outside of the school and we noticed that a kid had spilled the beans, literally.
He had a shirt filled with beans and he dropped them in the cobblestone streets. With as much high school Spanish as I could muster, I found out that his name was Jose and the beans were for his family to eat. As we tried to separate beans from rocks, which by the way look strangely similar when lying in the street, an old woman and some kids came out to help us pick up the beans.
It was a team effort and we were only almost hit by 2 buses, but in the end we did it. It was cool to give the woman a New Living translation of the WAY Bible. I also receive one of the most heartfelt thank you’s I have ever gotten, this from the beans kid, Jose, who had the responsibility of feeding his family.
In addition to handing out Bibles we also got to deliver food to people who are struggling just to eat. We met Maria and gave her family some much needed food and a WAY Bible as well.
Knowing that Maria's precious little girl will go to bed with a full stomach tonight is a pretty amazing feeling.
As we were getting ready to leave. Maria opened up the Bible we had given her to her favorite verse which is Matthew 7:8-11, “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened…how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
I can’t think of anything more appropriate than that from a woman who relies on God for her very existence. It was a great reminder of God’s love, his promise and his provision, and it was a great way to end the day.
