This particular day at our Puyupungo Church I was checking everyone’s vitals after service. They are always so grateful for this as so many of them do not have access to medical care. We also gave away reading glasses to those who needed them. And as we do at every service, we brought food for everyone. All of that is what you can see in the photos. What you cannot see is a grandmother who only speaks her native language of Kichwa, with some broken Spanish. Since our services are in Spanish she cannot understand most of what is said but she can still feel the Presence of God, she can still feel the love we show her. So she loves coming to church and never misses a service. She never had the privilege of going to school so she cannot read. After seeing several people receive their reading glasses this day, in her broken Spanish she remarked that is must be a Miracle to be able to read the Word of God. Thank you for reminding us of that, grandmother! It truly is!
Another thing you cannot see is hunger. The young man in this picture is blessed to be able to attend school. However, schools here do not serve breakfast or lunch and there are certainly no snacks to be had. So in this photo, at 4PM in the afternoon, he, and most of these people, have not eaten all day. Three meals a day is a luxury we Americans enjoy. It would be considered a miracle in most third world countries. Someone commented to me once that the people probably get used to being hungry. Let me assure you they do not!
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But sometimes you have to speak those words aloud to really ‘see’ the story behind the picture.
