While visiting in Pavia with our friends, Chris was informed that he had been invited to speak at the elementary school there in Pavia. He of course asked, "why?" The pastor of the children's church there said that the school was celebrating pre-schoolers that week. Each year they have a small assembly & normally the speaker is a Catholic Priest. They like to bring in a speaker that is related to one of the children. This year, the students were asked if they had someone in their family that could come & speak & pray a blessing over the kids. Ahisahar, the youngest daughter of Gerson & Franciose (the children's pastors), raised her hand & said that her "Tio" or Uncle could come & speak! She & her sisters affectionally refer to Chris & I as their Uncle & Aunt or in this case, Tio & Tia. The school staff agreed & contacted her parents. Of course her parents laughed hysterically to think that the school agreed for Chris to come because they new he was a North American. Franciose explained the situation & the school was still very excited for Chris to come. He was humbled by the opportunity & excited to be a part of such a neat experience. When he arrived, the whole school came out to hear him for this simple assembly. Normally it is just the pre-schoolers that come, but when they realized an American was coming... the whole school received an invitation. What an amazing opportunity to be able to speak & pray over so many precious children, many of whom have nothing. Some of these children have no family, others have no food, & still some are abused... yet God provided them with a Christian example to share his love with them if just for a moment. This will definitely be one of those experiences that is never forgotten.
Pictured is Chris with the group of pre-schoolers. The little treasure he is holding is Ahisahar. She is definitely a blessing to her family & to us. And she could probably convince her "Tio" to do just about anything... but all she ever requests is a hug!
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