TEARS

Yesterday, Sunday, November 18, I spoke about JAF, WFTW and the Trujillo, Peru,
outreach at a very small Christian Church in Lakin, the small town in Kansas where I
grew up. It's a little more than 20 miles from Garden City where we live. I speak at this church fairly often and had agreed to speak on this date back in late September or early October, planning to talk about the Peru trip.
I felt my usual resistance to preparing to speak before people and did most of it at the last minute. When I got up to speak I first read the scripture passage that Melinda used in devotions on Saturday morning from Luke 5: 17-26. I began to tell about Joni, JAF, WFTW, etc and then told our family history of experience with them. I got to the part where I was saying that my first knowledge of WFTW came from a newsletter that described a boy or young man with cerebral palsy in some country who had no way to get around. He had to get somewhere for some reason and had to crawl through the dust and was made fun of by some children. I said I didn't want my son Nick to experience that!
When I said that, I burst into tears, which was very unexpected by me and the people hearing me. It is very unusual for me to cry, and I have never cried about anything when I have spoken in front of people. It took me awhile to get under control so I could finish what I had to say. I do know that there were some people in that group who were affected by what I said in a way they have never before been affected by anything from me before. Earle