~lidia & evelin

I walked into the AOJ Chapel with bags full of sponsor child gifts. I was remotely aware of the children and their families who were sitting in the corner, waiting for their turn to receive a gift. As I turned around, two of the sweetest, most beautiful girls I know ran towards me side by side, arms open wide. They wrapped their arms around me and I melted. Lidia, who I have sponsored since 2009, and Evelin, who I have sponsored since 2011. They recognized me as their sponsor, and could not wait to come and be with me. Their gift bags were temporarily missing. They didn’t care. They were more than happy to sit in my embrace. And so they did.


When their gift bags were finally recovered, they sat wide eyed, unpacking every item. Every new item pulled out of the bag, was followed by a “gracias”.

All the other families and children had left. Lidia and her aunt, and Evelin and her mother remained. Just wanting to be hugged and held. Well, they found their girl! I could not be more willing to oblige. I would be content to sit and hold them all day if I could.

Evelin’s mother thanked me repeatedly for all I had done for her family. All I had done? Prayer and a dollar a day? It hardly even seems like a sacrifice! I could do so much more. We hugged and cried. Again, there are no words. She told me that she remembered meeting me, for the first time, last summer. She remembered telling me that they would wait there for me to come back to Guatemala. She remembered me telling her that I would. And now that time had come.

I don’t know what the future has in store for me. I don’t know if I will end up back in Guatemala a year from now… or ever. I don’t know if God is calling me to more. But I cannot imagine not seeing those girls again.
~cr