The Power of Stickers

Sometimes the small things make the biggest difference.
There is a girl here that I've known since the last time I visited Thailand. Her name is Shampoo, and she is about three years old. She lives in the village nearby with her mother and father, she comes to church at the Timothy House, we visit their house for worship every week, and until last week she was quite scared of me. I don't really consider myself an intimidating person, but Shampoo would always hide her face when I would smile at her or wave hello. (In my defense, she does that to most people, especially foreigners.)
Last week, I returned from a trip to the post office and I had some stickers with me that I had used to decorate an envelope on the way. As I was putting away some things in the kitchen, Green and Lot noticed the stickers, so I gave one to each of them. To be honest, I was in a bit of a selfish mood and didn't have a lot of stickers left, so I parted with them sort of begrudgingly. But on a whim I decided to try to give a sticker to Shampoo as well. She had already seen Lot and Green receive their beautiful pink and blue flower stickers, so when I knelt down next to her with the stickers in my hand she didn't run away and hide.
"Ow alie?" I asked, which means something along the lines of "What do you want?"
Shampoo picked out her pink flower, I stuck it to her shirt, and she happily showed her Mom how beautiful she was. I figured that was the end of it, and finished putting away the mail.
The next time I saw Shampoo, her family ate dinner with us at the Timothy House. I was sitting in the kitchen after we were finished eating watching some of the boys finish their soccer game. Shampoo came over to me and leaned on my lap, and I randomly tickled her face with one of my braids. She then spent the next 15 minutes playing with my hair, giggling and smiling at me. I wouldn't say that we have become best friends, but now I get smiles and laughter instead of fear. This is a good reminder to me that simple acts of kindness can change a relationship. It can be the first step to building trust and showing God's love.

In other news, we are just wrapping up a 10-day training/retreat here at the Timothy House, and we have a kids' camp coming up from the 27th-29th. Please pray that God will touch the hearts of everyone who has attended the training, and those who come to the kids' camp. Pray that we will be able to show out God's love to everyone and that He will provide everything we need for this camp!