Hi friends and family, no we are not in Venezuela, but while living in Ecuador there have been people from Venezuela that have deeply impacted my heart. There has been a crisis happening in Venezuela over the past 10 years that has caused extreme political, economic, and social crisis in this country and has caused millions of people to flee as refugees and look for help in countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
About two weekends ago, my team decided to take a weekend trip on our days off to a town called Banos, which is about three hours from downtown Quito. While here, my squad leader Kayla, met a couple of Venezuelan kids that were looking for food and just wanted to talk to her. Near the end of the day, we were deciding what we wanted to do for dinner, and we ended up running into the kids again. We decided to spend the rest of our night with this family. There were nine Venezuelan people in total, who had already been walking for a month and a half through Colombia, Ecuador, with the goal of arriving in Peru, where they have a place that they can live. Instead of spending a lot of money on a dinner that we wouldn’t have remembered two weeks from then, we decided to buy chicken, salad, and fries, sit on the side of the road, and share a meal with this family. And I can assure you, this is a meal that I will never forget sharing.
These were really, really good people, who were facing an incredibly hard time in their life as refugees. The kids were some of the sweetest people that I had met and just wanted to play games with us, braid our hair and be carried around. The adults were so thankful that we offered them something to eat for the night and that we just genuinely wanted to get to know them. All that God requires of us, is our availability and our ‘yes’. This experience was a really good reminder of that for my team. We felt that God was asking us to help these people in the small way that we could, and I ended up making nine Venezuelan friends and tearing up when I had to leave the spot on the side of the road that I ate dinner with them.
Last weekend, Red Rocks Church preached a really good sermon about untapped potential and the way that God can use us if we just do the things that he prompts us to do. Maybe you don’t have the money to donate to charitable organizations right now, but do you have a Sunday afternoon to volunteer with people who have less than you? It is not about how much we give, just the willingness to be a blessing to our community and the people around us.
Please pray with me for Venezuela, for the Venezuelan family that I met, and for the other refugees that are doing the best they can to save their kids and their families amidst this tragedy.
With love,
Claire
What a blessing for both you and the family you met. We’re called to give our time, talent and treasure, and that’s what you and your team did. Thank you for sharing this!
This was definitely one of my favorite days of this race and one I won’t forget any time soon I love that you were impacted by it too. I love your heart for people and that call to action at the end!
This is amazing Claire. I love that God used you all in such a spontaneous way to love this family! Praying for what else he has in store.
Praying over Venezuela and over you! Love these updates!
Praying for the Holy Spirit to pour down on the ENTIRE World – that truly is the only answer to the corruption, problems, and evils of this world. God, Please rescue us all! In Jesus name, amen.