Every day is full of activities at Ministries of Faith New Life. The children and teenagers of both the Home and the feeding program are full of energy. Daily we ask ourselves, what does God want us to do for these children and teenagers? With this question in mind, I started thinking about a reading program.

Most of the children that live in rural Honduras do not have access to children’s books or fiction books. Story time is not something readily available to them and even at home story time is non-existent. There is no local library where imagination is encouraged. I took a small number of books from our small library and introduced them to the children. I asked how many of them would like to start reading some books, the reply was an overwhelming YES by every single child. We formed groups based on their reading level. Their eyes were shining with excitement. They were thrilled to read a book that was not a text book or a homework assignment.

They read books like, “I Love my Shadow, Daniel’s Pet, Too Many Tamales, The True Story of the Three Little Piggies, My Grandma is Awesome, Jesus and His Friends, Pedro the Courageous, The Chest Vendor and a few other books. I can honestly say that I have never seen them so captured by an activity. Their hunger for reading was astonishing. To read a book is such a small thing but it has the power to make these children happy. I thought about when Jesus would sit and children would flock to sit by Him. What kind of stories did He have to tell?

Working with young minds reminds us that we can have an impact on the future of this country, even if it is something as small as getting them to read. We want to encourage you, whenever you travel, to take an extra book or two with you and leave it behind to someone who has none. Even better, read a child a book and experience the happiness and excitement they feel.

God be the Glory