If you would have asked me a year ago, “What do orphans need?” I probably would have said, “A loving family.” That hasn’t changed, but what if you can’t give them a loving family? At least not right a way?

How about friends from another country who travel a long way to throw them a party? I think this is something orphans need. Crazy people to think of them, bring them gifts, and spend time with them, showing them love.

Today we bought 25 large pizzas and delivered them to the boys at Eliza Martinez in Guatemala City. There was much anticipation to this shindig, but I really wasn’t expecting it to mean all that much to them. I should know better, these are some kids who really know how to enjoy a moment.

Each kid got three pieces of pizza, provided by their Foreign eXchange “Amigos” in Indiana. You know it’s a big deal to them when they have one bite of pizza left and they wrap it up in a napkin, stuff it into an already full pocket, and think of enjoying it later.

Several of the boys came up to us afterward to express their gratitude, some speaking in broken English. Others grabbed a translator to communicate, “Thank you for thinking of us. Not many people do.”

At eXchange, Scot sometimes talks about “thin places”–those times when God feels especially close. We had one of those moments today during the pizza party. Jody started refilling the boy’s drink classes, and we decided to  join her. It was such a pleasure, a privilege really, to be able to serve drinks to those boys. It was what Jesus would have done.