answered prayer

today was a day of tiny miracles and answered prayers. when things are hard, it's funny how God shows up in the smallest places. i came back to la paz this year with a strong burden for the children at the river, convicted i wasn't doing enough and there was more to be done. last week while at church i was struck with the thought of how amazing it would be for those kids to get outside of their little community and experience the body of Christ. so we invited a couple of the older girls to come to church with us. they seemed hesitant and we knew it would take God working in their hearts for them to come. so we began to pray furtively every day for God to work and we recruited others to pray as well. i was fully prepared to have to persistantly go every week for the next month or two, before any of them would come.

this morning we drove up the lane, not sure what to expect. a couple of the other kids were standing outside so we told them why we were there. they seemed hesitant but also interested so one of the girls, Wara, went off to ask permission. we waited for some time, and then the one girl we had invited last week, who seemed so hesitant, came out and said she couldn't go this week. however, we held out, waiting for Wara to return. twenty minutes later she returned, saying that she and her sister could go, but only if they brought their younger siblings as well. we agreed and they ran off to wash up and change clothes. as they went, they told a couple other families and fifteen minutes later 13 kids, ranging from 18 months to 16 years, piled into the beast, a 1978 land cruise owned by my roommate. we were in awe.

on the way to church we had to drive past a police checkpoint, and for the first time we were stopped. at first, the policeman seemed to have a problem with my roommates licsense and asked her to pull over to the side. she showed her international liscense and he said everything was fine, but then he looked in the car...piled with 16 people, and said that we had too many people (doh!) we just smiled and said yes, but what could we do and by the grace of God, he smiled and said, "esta bien" and waved us on. honestly, a miracle.

what a sight we had to be coming into church. three gringas and 13 ragged bolivian kids. however, our church family was very welcoming, and while i think we might have added a little stress to the sunday school teachers' lives, everything went smoothly. there was a lunch afterwards, and as there was some concern about having enough food, we planned on leaving before it started. however, we ended up working it out to buy 5 lunches to share among all the kids, which was plenty, and then the food multiplied and there were so many leftovers, they were able to give all the kids seconds, which meant they had enough to take home to their families. another miracle.

today was exhausting, yet perhaps one of my favorites since being back. just driving the kids to church was completely worth it, watching them get so excited as we drove past parks, hearing them shout, "mira! mira! (look! look!)" they were so well behaved at church, joining right into the songs. hearing little 8 year old jonanthan singing at the top of his lungs, completely off-key but from his heart, was perhaps the most beautiful sound i have ever heard. we were amazed at how God answered our prayers and in bigger ways than we could have imagined....from not being sure if even one would come to having 13 come, from not having enough food to having excess. our God is truly good. and if he takes care of little things like having children come to church, why is it so hard to trust him with everything in my life?