About noon today, while walking through the dirt paths of an area called Puchana, I felt true, deep joy for the first time on this trip... the sun was still blistering hot and the humidity almost unbearable, but the agony slipped away from me as children started walking down the path in groups of three to six... holding hands, smiling, and waving shyly to us, the "gringos." School had just apparantly gotten out (maybe just kindergarten, I am not sure), but everything about that place got so much more beautiful the moment the children entered the picturesque scene.
Their smiles were enough to bring me joy, but when a scroungy six year old boy with a grin pasted on his face from cheek to cheek started showing me his small plastic parachute man... throwing it up in the air and laughing at it... I started to feel at home in this place. He immediately became my friend the moment I said ¨Hola! Como se llama?¨ He proceeded to follow me down the dirt path, smiling, laughing, and throwing his probably one and only toy. Parents do not seem to care where their kids are or who they are with. It´s a very interesting contrast between Peruvian culture and home. I am starting to fall for it here... despite the heat!
Today we also visited another community... one that I will remember forever. The kids, again, were by far ¨mi favorito¨... their curiosity, joy, and depth. They are so innocent, most likely not knowing how poor they really are. So precious were their smiles as they intently followed us around as we asked the adults health questions about their families and the community. The ¨ninos¨ were, I am sure, watching our every move, intrigued by how different we may seem. Oh how I wish I could communicate more with them! Why didn´t I learn more Spanish before coming here?
What I kept close to my heart the entire day, however, were the words from the devotional that Paul (the leader of People of Peru) spoke to us this morning. They are from I John 3: 18 :"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." Okay, I may not have been able to use all the words I wanted to with the children I met today, but I loved them as best I could with my actions and in the truth. That truth being that God loves each and everyone of them... and my actions being perhaps as simple as a smile to demonstrate that love from the Father.
I can not wait to love through my actions tomorrow as we serve through our first medical clinical!
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Thank you for sharing from deep in your heart. May God continue to fill you with His love, that you may pour it out on each person you meet. Those children are so precious, like the little ones Jesus teaches us about, to be like them. My prayers are with you and your team. Blessings!
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