Extending Our Reach
Can you give me a hand this Christmas? Children are depending on it. Just like the children in Venezuela and Honduras needed it, so the children of Peru are waiting. For the past 20 years, it has been you—our friends and supporters—who have “given us a hand” through your financial support. You see, when my hands rescued dying children in Venezuela and provided them with life-saving medical attention, it was your giving that made it possible. When my hands offered food to hungry children in Venezuela or held out a new pair of shoes to a Peruvian boy in need, it was because of your donations. Your support has “given me a hand” time and time again: a hand to care for handicapped and forgotten kids, a hand to wipe the tears from broken-hearted orphans, a hand to nurture malnourished infants and toddlers back to health, and a hand to supply a Christmas gift in December for each delighted child and a meal they will never forget.
It is December again. We have a lot of needs to meet. The pantry will be empty again soon and the monthly orphanage bills due, and boy after boy will be dreaming in his heart of receiving a gift with his name on it as he gathers around a table for “Christmas dinner”. This December will you give me a hand? It takes money that we currently do not have. We need your help in order to fill up the pantry, pay the orphanage bills, purchase a Christmas gift for each child, and provide an unforgettable meal of celebration for the children. To accomplish only what I have just mentioned will take several thousands of dollars, but what I have not told you yet is that we have even more to accomplish than this. In my heart is a great sense of anticipation over what I am about to share.
During our recent trip to Peru, Rosa and I were able to visit an additional boys’ home and a girls’ home in the city of Cusco. During that visit, a worker in the hotel where we stayed engaged me in conversation to find out why we were visiting and what we do. As we conversed, he told me about a high mountain, atop of which there live many children in dire need. “Every once in a while, we try to gather some food and take it up to them. Maybe you can return and I will show you where they are and you can do something to rescue those children” Rosa and I want to return in January for this express purpose.
Could it be that God led us to that hotel in that city so that we would be made aware of more children He longs to for us to reach? We want to know. Will you give me a hand to make this trip possible? We need finances for airfare, accommodations, the mountainous journey by taxi, and whatever food or supplies we can initially give to these children when we find them. And what if it has been God leading us to this new place to show us these children in need? What does that look like in the upcoming months? One thing I do know is this. Just like the desperate faces that haunted my memory after my initial trip to the streets of Venezuela over twenty years ago, with their pleading eyes begging me to care, or the needy children I encountered when I first visited Honduras, we are offered an opportunity. The truth is, we don’t have to do anything. But we might get to do something, something great and eternal. If the Lord opens up the door, He will be presenting all of us with an invitation. What is your reply?
In God’s grace,
Tony and Rosa Rivera
Home of Refuge International, Inc.
