by Gena Morgan

We are a dangerous bunch: seven members from Bethany Presbyterian, two from North Delta Evangelical (in BC), and one Agros staffer. We have close to 40 years of overseas experience between us.

Four of us speak near-perfect Spanish, one heavily accented with Italian. We have built schools, hauled dirt, dug ditches, taught VBS. We know worship songs in Chinese, Swahili, Creole, German, Italian and Spanish. We are intimately familiar with the revenges of Montezuma, Atahualpa, etc. What could God possibly teach us?

After hauling rocks all morning at one of the new adobe houses, I walk down the hill for my backpack, encountering Don Lupe and Don Emilio sitting quietly beside a stream. It is noon and they are eating lunch. I decide to join them in the shade. Instead of making conversation, I follow their cue and sit quietly eating my lunch, enjoying the shade, the sound of the stream, the lazy mid-day buzzing of insects.

One of Gloria’s daughters has followed me down the hill and now sits some ways away. Don Emilio, a quiet, serious man, calls the girl over. Although they are only neighbors, he offers her a corn tortilla filled with beans. She quietly accepts and disappears quickly behind some trees to eat.

Why does this image stand out so vividly in my mind?

Several weeks ago, Margie Van Duzer spoke of a passage in Luke 21 about the poor widow’s offering:

[Jesus] also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

In our culture, gifts are given easily, even carelessly. We celebrate birthdays, housewarmings, showers, and just about anything else we want. We give gifts out of plenty.

Our group’s inclination was to give beyond what Bethany is already giving financially to Agros Uno. Even a few small gifts like clothing or food could make a tremendous impact on their lives. But Agros has a strict gift giving policy: “Leave nothing behind that could…create dependency, no matter how needy individuals might seem. It is Agros’ hope that villagers reach a place where they can acquire the things they desire on their own.”

At Agros Uno, it is easy to see the poverty. The men do hard, manual labor by hand—not even one beast of burden to carry the load. Thin, nursing women smile warm but toothless grins. “A woman loses a tooth with every newborn baby,” the saying goes, due to calcium deficiency and undernourishment.

One of the goals of our trip is to build relationships between Bethany and Agros Uno. But how can we hope to build relationships of equality if we see them as poor, needy people and they come to see themselves the same way?

As a team we debate our predicament. Our conversations are filled with passion, compassion, and a desire to do what is “right.” But over the course of the week, we find that it is the families of Agros Uno who have something to give to us.

It starts out with shy greetings each morning that become warmer and linger into conversation. They teach us songs in Spanish and even share scripture and praise songs. Eventually they cook us squash and corn for lunch—in a village where crop production is still unstable, we know the significance of this gift.

So, what did God have to teach us? I think God wanted to remind us that we had already given much—our own personal time and our willingness to work alongside the villagers. Now what we really needed to do was to allow ourselves to receive from them, to allow them to step up as our hosts and care for our needs. By giving to us, God could establish in them a sense of pride and
dignity uncommon in the landless poor.

Why didn’t Jesus demand that the copper coins be returned to the poor widow who was so clearly in great need? Perhaps one reason was because Christ understood how much the widow gained by giving to others – gifts of love and sacrifice could create in her a sense that she indeed had something to offer after all.