Joseph and the Tsinelas

A while back I blogged about the day three boys came to our house asking for work. You may remember we set them to work, fed them and read them Bible stories. Well, one boy, Joseph, came to our church and remembered me. He came and sat by me and spoke to me in Cebuano.

I wish I had a picture of Nate riding Joseph to our house for lunch that day on the front of his bike. So precious! Off they went, and I met them at home. While I cooked some lunch, Nate gave Joseph his first trumpet lesson. He is really bright and loved his lesson! (Nate is such a great teacher!)

He also asked if he could borrow (hulam) my bike. It is a little big, but he thought it was pretty cool! He kept going back and forth on our street.
I really had one thing available for lunch--pasta. This seems like a plain and simple meal, but to Joseph, apparently, it was as though I had set out a plate of tofu or sushi or something totally foreign. He was very polite, but it was obvious he thought our food was strange.

I was trying to figure out what he likes! After all, he must be really hungry! I was sorry to say we had no rice (unheard of here) and I finally realized that all my fancy food was just too foreign to him. If all you ever eat is plain white rice and plain bread, everything else that seems simple to me like pasta, will seem too much for him.

In this photo you can see we found something he liked--plain rolls (with no jam or butter). He also drank some milk.

This week I was sure to buy a whole bag of white rice in case Joseph came back. Sure enough, he came to me asking for work. I had a job ready for him to do and he invited his friend Justin. They worked away, and then I gave them food, money and I sent Joseph home to his family with the bag of rice. I am really learning about the kids from those two boys and also from the Filipinos at our church. (We still have lots to learn!)

Joseph has 7 siblings and they are really poor. He has come to our house more than once asking for food or work. Some people in the area will send their kids out for those things, but it is so sad to me and I am still trying to understand it. Justin's parents both died when he was young, so his older brother is trying to support him and the others. I asked if they had money for their school and they said yes, but I think sometimes they miss school.

Maybe someday I will get to meet Joseph's mom and even maybe his dad (but that is another story). I just know that when Joseph works, he is a hard worker and he is so sweet and polite. I had some kids' music (scripture verses on tape) playing while he worked, so hopefully he learned some more truth about Jesus.

Our church is having an outreach to Joseph and the kids in his neighborhood (very close to our house). For Christmas our church is having "Operation Tsinelas" or "Operation Slippers". They call these flip-flops "slippers". Some kids go to school with no shoes or slippers even. Some kids have holes in theirs so their feet touch the ground. Some kids saw this pile of slippers and took another person's home, so they are without some. We are hoping to be a part of this outreach in December.
In the meantime can you pray that God will give us wisdom with how to respond to the kids that come begging at our gate. Pray for Joseph to know the Lord and love Him. Pray for Joseph's family to not depend on him but to depend on God and to provide for them. Pray that the kids will come to know Jesus this Christmas and for our local church as we reach out to them.