This is Javier.
Javier is ten years old. He lives in the neighborhood that borders the Rio, an impoverished community that Back2Back serves. 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, I and a group of Back2Back staff members were walking through the Rio community inviting families 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 asked if we could walk a little further and invite a friend of hers to come to the soup kitchen.
“By all means!,” we responded.
Tere’s directions to her friend’s house were pretty vague.
She instructed us to, “Go up the hill into the community and find the house that is also a store and tell the people that Tere sent you.”
We followed her directions and by the grace of God found ourselves at the house she had described. We knocked on what appeared to be a store window. A woman quickly answered. We invited 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 her son from the back room. Javier emerged from the back room and we explained to him that every week at the soup kitchen, we host a children’s Sunday school class, 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!