Delivery!
We did something genius this summer. We invited groups of friends to help us pack our SmartBoxes and write encouraging notes to each child. Sure, we did this last year with our visiting team, but with 250 boxes (woohoo!) to prepare before September 1st, we knew we had to expand the packing sessions to more people. We invited young adults and had packing nights, a visiting team that had several hours to spare asked to help out, and finally, we asked the staff from one of our sites to come over and help us. The latter proved to be extra heartfelt. We were able to get the boxes done pretty well with other groups, and truthfully, we couldn’t get it done without everyone that helped out, but we did notice that the staff from Carmen Bajo expressed pride and honor to be able to help out because they had a relationship with each child. When it came time to write notes, they spent so much time carefully writing to each child and decorating each card. One of the moms came to help out, and when she wrote her card to her son, she did it with so much love and enthusiasm. We realized that the staff needed this, a set aside time to gift-give and encourage the kids they serve day to day.
We feel very safe when visiting our sites, but we must always remember that the shelter of the ministries and churches where we serve is a haven from some really harsh realities. There is a pattern of domestic violence in the homes, often coming from the mothers; the streets offer really bad options, and neglect is common.
Recently, at one of our “packing parties,” I had the opportunity to sit with a young girl from one of the centers. She wasn’t supposed to be there, but she had run away from home and found herself at a SMartBox boxing session. We have known her since she was twelve, and she is now sixteen. Always with a boy at her side, a different one each year, it seemed. We have always tried to connect with her. Nothing seemed to work. She barely said hello and rarely responded to our efforts.
Something changed that day as we sat on the steps to our house. I sat and listened to her reasons for running away. I asked questions about her plans. And I told her that I was glad she was there and that she trusted me enough to share her story. I prayed for her, and then the group left. A couple of weeks went by, and then it was time to deliver the boxes to Carmen Bajo, where she had gone for years.
Something was different. She practically ran over to me and gave me a true hug, not one I initiated. And her smile told me something. “I am happy you are here, thank you for loving me.”
She hugged me several times that day, sharing more about her grief. About her cousin, who is possibly going to jail for stabbing someone, resulting in a fatality; the boy is seventeen!
When I shared the Word of God yesterday, she made sure everyone around her was listening, which is something new and encouraging.
And finally, though she is home now, her mother refused to help her with some school expenses. Another blow. So, as I wrap up this story, I am getting ready to go buy articles for her uniform. It seems like something I can do for her, give her a proverbial cup of water and prove to her once again that God loves her and we do too.
If you gave towards SmartBox this year, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. You are making a difference. You are helping us create a space so that the Word of God can go just a little further into the soils of hearts softened by a simple gift.
With gratitude,
