Javier: Hungering for God's Word

This is Javier. Javier is 10 years old and lives in the neighborhood that borders the Rio. One day not to long ago, Javier was out playing in the street next to his house when someone came by and mentioned something to him about God's Word. He went running inside and told his mom that he wanted to learn about God's Word. From that day on, Javier has had an unquenchable hunger to know what God's Word is.

Not long after, myself and a group of staff were walking through the Rio community inviting the people to come to the weekly soup kitchen meeting. I was talking to a woman named Tere who lives in nearly the last house in the community. Tere, in her odd way, ask if we could walk a little further and invite a friend of hers to come to the soup kitchen. "By all means," we thought! Tere's directions to her friend's house were pretty much just "go up the hill into the community and find the house that is also a store and tell the people that Tere sent you." You have to love the Rio! We followed her directions and by the grace of God found ourselves on the doorstep of Javier's home. We knocked on what appeared to be a store window and told the women who answered that we wanted to invite her and her family to join us at the soup kitchen for food and teaching. The woman looked a little surprised and with a smile asked if we would talk to her son. She called Javier from the back room and we explained to him that we have a children's Sunday school class each week at the comedor where we teach about God's word. With a grin a mile wide, Javier excitedly agreed to come that very day. About a half hour later Javier showed up at the soup kitchen with his mom. He had combed his hair, put on clean pants, tucked in his shirt, and was ready for his first day of Sunday School. This family has been coming to the soup kitchen nearly every week since and Javier's hunger for God's Word continues to grow!