Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Open Hearts, Open Doors

One of the deciding factors for enrolling Owen in pre-school despite some concern over the cost, was that most of the children who attend live with their families in our immediate neighborhood. We had been hoping and praying for opportunities to get to know our neighbors and to be able to share the love of Christ with them, and this seemed like a good way to start.

On the very first day of school, I ran into another mom who once passed by our house with her son while on their way to buy bread from our neighbor. We had chatted briefly on that occasion because her son had a new puppy in his arms, which of course fascinated our kids. I had not seen her again since that interaction, but it turns out that her son attends Owen's pre-school. It was a good beginning!

On the second day of school, I dropped Owen off and was headed home when I heard someone calling, "Vecina!" ("Neighbor!") from behind me. A different mom approached me and introduced herself. She lives only two doors down and has three children close in age to ours - in fact, she invited me to bring them over to play that same afternoon!

While the children played for a couple of hours, we had plenty of time to talk. In the course of the conversation my neighbor asked me about our "religion" and shared that she feels a void in her life and is searching for the "right" religion for her. What an amazing thing to hear in a first conversation! She even told me, "You should invite us to your church sometime" to which I assured her that she was already invited.

It was just so exciting to see God using this decision (of pre-kinder for Owen) to do over and above what we had hoped. Please pray that we would be able to extend not only friendship but also the truth of God's Word as we build relationships with those around us. Pray that we would continue to encounter open hearts and open doors!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

PTL, Stephanie! May He continue to move and work in the lives of those in your community and open more doors for interaction and relationships!

I'm so excited for you!!!

-Heather Marie

Anonymous said...

Oye vecina....
Thanks for the testimony. It is always cool to hear about God working through our lives in unsuspected and "better than expected" ways. But then again what should we expect from the Creator of the universe and the Lover of our souls?
Firme y adelante, huestes de la fe!