Connecting, connecting, connecting!

These photographs are all about connecting!
One of our connections has been Benito and his family.
As we go into the communities here, our constant prayer is that we will connect with people on a more consistent and long term basis. God blessed us with one such connection in Benito.
As we handed out shoes with the "New Jersey Girls" , one man approached us and asked in very limited English if I (Natalie) was a Christian. After a brief and hilariously stunted conversation, we said goodbye to our New Jersey friends, and Benito led us through a maze of houses. (Well, houses is a relative term here. They were more like little tiny rooms sprinkled all over with maybe a wall or two and a hammock!)
Anyway, we visited Benito's "dwelling" and as the smoke from their cooking pit kept the pests away, he proudly showed us his sons certificate of baptism and explained he and his wife are recent Christians. He also showed us a family photo album, minus a cover, and his prize possession, a Bible. Benito's shoes were barely staying on his feet, and although we usually just supply shoes for children, we promised to return with shoes for their whole family.
One sweet connection!
Another picture shows Miquel. We had no shoes for Miquel, but he gave us gifts of little shells he collected and glued together in the shape of small animals. We returned to bring Miquel shoes, and he gave Gregorio a prized stuffed animal. How can we out give a heart like that? He is another sweet connection.
Finally, there are two photos of Ajani, one with his sister Maria. We have supplied shoes to them several times over the last year and a half and never met their parents... until last week! We finally met their mother who was so very thankful that Jesus came to send the gift of shoes to her children through a couple wacky gringo's. Another sweet connection.
One foot, one shoe, one word, one heart at a time... we keep connecting! Thank you so much for your prayers and giving.

"And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;" Matthew 18:5