New Shoes!

We just experienced the neatest thing.  Two nights ago we were invited to dinner by a short-term mission team that's here in Shell for about 10 days.  They borrowed the Nate Saint House for the evening and cooked chicken, beef, rice and mixed veggies.  Then they set the tables, adorned the table cloths with place cards, and put a new pair of socks and shoes under each of their guests' chairs.  When we, the missionaries, arrived at 6:00 we discovered a sight to greatly encourage us.  The team all had bright smiles and so did we.  We found our places at the table and our neat, clean shoes carefully placed underneath. I started to cry.

Under Selah's chair were the cutest little pink and teal shoes that she so desperately needed.  Her tennis shoes, which we'd already taken to the shoe repair man once, had blown out toes which were not going to be fixable.  Under my chair there was a new pair of running shoes which will replace the pair  I have used to run multiple-mile outings.  Jacobey, who had bought a new pair of high-tops in November which were now 'beyond fixing' according to the shoe repair man, got the coolest pair of black Filas.  Seth found a perfectly suited for him pair of Pumas under his chair; a big smile crept across his face since he'd broken his other shoes just that afternoon in PE.  Doug, who goes through shoes almost as quickly as the boys, got a new pair of blue and white Filas which will replace the hand-me-down, too-big-for-him shoes that he'd been wearing.  And Darius, our boy whose foot is now bigger than mine, got a really great pair of blue and green shoes that actually match some of his clothes and look nearly as big as Doug's clod hoppers.  Darius wears shoes out faster than anyone else I know due to his pigeon-toed walking.  He's worn through four pairs of shoes since we got here!

After looking around the room and admiring all the shoes that we were being given, we then sat down to a meal that the team placed before us and ate to our heart's content; they stood to eat and refilled our plates and glasses as needed.  Next they cleared the plates, brought out bins of soapy water and towels, and began to wash our feet.  I couldn't take it.  I boo-hood at the sheer kindness of it all.

The woman who washed my feet, Katty, told me that unlike the others, she lives here in Ecuador.  Her 'parents' are linked with the team that comes from the US, but she herself just comes over to Shell from Riobamba three hours away.  She then relayed her story:  She was a girl that grew up on the streets because her parents had died when she was 12.  Because she had multiple relatives that could take her in, she was not eligible for orphanage-living.  Yet, because she was such a rebel and caught up in a number of wrong choices, none of her relatives wanted to bear the burden of raising her.  So Katty grew up going from place to place and city to city until at 15 she found herself in Quito at a church in need of help.  When she sat down at the service one morning she found herself sitting next to a missionary couple that immediately responded to her need and took her in as their own.  Because Katty was so old at that point she was not adoptable according to the Ecuadorian system but they cared for her anyway.  She went to school, was well fed and clothed, and ended up graduating and becoming a changed young women when she finally reached adulthood.  Thus, Katty said, she is indebted to missionaries and their service to her and her country.  More tears.

It that weren't enough, the ladies were then given each a prayer shawl which some kind woman in Pennsylvania had crocheted just for her.  I got a beautiful magenta colored one which Selah wishes I'd just hand right over to her.

WOW.  Well, the story doesn't end there.  Yesterday, after being up at school and seeing all the kids in their new shoes playing different sports at lunch time and smiling inwardly at the blessing we'd all received, Selah and I rode our bikes home.  When we arrived, there was a woman and child that came following us at some distance behind.  She waved me over to her and timidly asked me if I knew of anyone in our compound that was giving away clothes.  It had come to her understanding via a 'gringa' that someone here was getting rid of clothing.  Well, after chatting with her for a couple of minutes I realized that the clothes I had collected from Selah's closet and had set aside to give away would be perfect for this woman's little girl.  I therefore invited her to come sit down on our patio while I grabbed the clothes and put them in a bag.  Selah, meanwhile, had rushed into her room to see what toys she could give the child.  She grabbed a doll, some doll clothes, a pair of sunglasses, a toy car, and a few other odds and ends and likewise put them into a bag.  Before the woman, Liliana, left, Selah and I loaded her down with four bags of girl clothes, boy clothes, my clothes, toys, and shoes that we had just the night before replaced.  The timing of this woman's arrival was unmistakable.  As we had been blessed, we therefore must bless.

I prayed with Liliana.  And, Selah seeing that the woman could barely carry all the things and keep track of her little girl while on the road home, placed a dollar coin in her hand so that she could get a taxi to take her home.  I was never so proud of my baby girl as I was at that moment.  Ecuador had taught Selah generosity and how to hold onto things loosely.  It has taught me the same.

I pray that you'll find fun ways to bless others at the store, in your neighborhoods, at work, at school.  It is far better than holding onto things we won't even miss!
Thanks for reading,
Blessings, kim