Sunday Best

I noticed Jayson because he was different then the other children of the village. While most of the children come into our house and play he would stand at a distance and watch. He was shy and quiet while most of the children were loud and boisterous. He was obviously undernourished with his skinny arms and legs and large stomach. I wanted to know about him.

In the village it has taken some time for us to figure out which family is which. Women do not sit with men in church so we do not know whom is married to whom. Also many families have 5-8 children and it is difficult to figure out which kids belong to which family.  We sometimes feel like detectives, asking in broken Shawi where the kids live and watching them walk home from school. When I asked Jayson where he lived he would just point to a trail and say, “trupa,” which means, over there.

After some more digging, we found out he belongs to a family of five children. His mother died about 6 months ago leaving the children including a set of two-year-old twins. The dad has disappeared and some say he is living in Lima.  We have helped them when we can, giving them food and anti-parasite medicine. His brother, one of the twins, could not walk and his hair was falling out. We helped him get to Yurimaguas, where he stayed at the Hogar for a month with his grandma. He has recovered some and is now walking. The other twin is living in another village with his aunt as it was too much for the grandma to care for both of them.

Jayson always wears the same dirty shirt and shorts. I figured it was his only clothes. One day in church I noticed he had a large hole in the shoulder of the shirt. All through church he kept his hand on it to cover it up, obviously embarrassed by the hole. After church Jennifer found two of Henry’s old shirts. I asked Jayson if that was his only shirt and he said yes. So we had him try on Henry’s and seeing that they fit we gave them to him. The shirts were well used and stained but at least they did not have holes. He just shyly ran away shirts in hand and a smile on his face.

The next week or so we kept looking for Jayson to be wearing the shirts, but he did not. He kept wearing the old one with the hole. We speculated that maybe he was embarrassed of the charity, or the other boys would hassle him for wearing the gringo clothes. Finally, we asked him why he did not wear the shirts. He responded that he was saving them for the big, upcoming church anniversary. My heart broke. Henry’s throw away stained clothes was this kid’s Sunday best.

Well we instantly went digging into Henry’s clothes and we found a nice white dress shirt and black pants that we'd brought for Henry to wear to the anniversary to give him. I told Jayson to come to our house after school to try them on and see if they fit. But as Jayson walked away I saw Henry in the corner crying. He did not want to give the clothes away.

The clothes where given to him by his grandmother for pictures last January and he had rarely worn them since. Truth is, he did not like wearing them as they were a little stuffy and preferred going to church in his comfy, stained clothes. So I did not understand, at first, what was the problem. 

We talked about it while Jayson was at school and told Henry he did not have to give his clothes away.  We explained to him that God loves a cheerful giver.  He doesn't want you to give out of obligation but to give out of love.  Henry himself needed to decide in his own heart if he desired to give them to Jayson, and if he did, he needed to do so gladly.  If not, he was not obligated by us or God to give them.  After thinking it over awhile he decided he did want to give them to Jayson.  He said he was giving them gladly.  Then we talked about how when we give in love we too feel blessed and how seeing Jayson wear them with a smile on his face would bring him more joy than if Henry himself was wearing them. Henry and I both learned something that day. I learned it easy to give away someone else’s clothes, but when I put myself in his shoes I also like my clothes and am reluctant to give them away. In the end Henry had a change of heart and gave his clothes away. When I asked him how that made him feel, he responded that he was happy and giving away the clothes gave him joy in his heart.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

-2 Corinthians 9:7

Jayson with his new clothes