Elvia's Hope - Wed Nov 9

It’s 8 PM on Wednesday night. Rosalva and I walk with Yudilen to an apartment complex where Elvia lives 7 blocks from the church in Remedios . Elvia is a retired elementary school teacher. If I remember correctly she taught the lower elementary school grades. She loves children. She talks to them; she cares about what happens in their lives.

So she started a “grupo de vida” (group of life) in her apartment complex. The group started with 2 or 3 children. Now there are 14 boys and girls who come twice a week. They arrive one by one. They greet each other with a kiss. The group has grown by the children inviting their friends to the group.




All of them eagerly raise their hands when asked specific questions about last week’s Bible lesson about Daniel. Where was he living? How did he behave? Whom did he serve? How did he end up being thrown to the lions? Why didn’t the ferocious hungry lion attack Daniel? Their answers go beyond the obvious. They get it.

These children don’t attend the programs offered at the church 7 blocks away. Their parents don’t attend either. But they come to the small group that meets in the apartment complex. Some may say that they come for the small cakes that Elvia lovingly makes for them. But I could tell they come for much more than that by their level of participation. Here they find hope. Here they find that we all serve someone or something. And Yudilen and Elvia are teaching them that no matter where they are or what is happening around them, their eternal hope is God.



Rachel