Yesterday was an application challenge relating to the reflection I shared in a previous update about loving as Jesus did by touching the children. We went to two Roma (gypsy) settlements nearby to scope out the area we would be presenting an outreach at for two mornings this coming week. These settlements have high cases of tuburculosis. The children clamoured out of mud and straw shacks with patched-together roofs to see who the visitors were. They looked up at us with shy smiles at first and we gazed back on their VERY grimy faces, hands, feet and bodies. Some toddlers had two lines of dried snot over their upper lips....others were stark naked. Everyone's hair was matted and clumpy...last week's children seem clean in comparison. And then little hands started to reach for mine.I confess I had to coach my sterile Canadian fingers to close around theirs. "Jesus loves them and I will be His hands and feet...Jesus loves them and I will be His hands and feet..." And so as I held one hand...more hands reached for me. I played some sort of patty-cake with two little girls named Carmelitta and Rebecca (I think). Then I swung a couple kids around in circles in the air....which turned out to be a mistake because they kept asking for more turns. Two hours later I was still dizzy and nauseous from all the spinning. But, I still remember the children's laughing eyes....green flecked with brown and gold. Lord continue to teach me how to love them better.