Tears of Joy

Little David ran away from home over 3 years ago and has been living on the streets ever since. He recently decided he was ready to return home so we drove him there yesterday. His house is in a very remote village about 2 hours from the city. We drove to the house that his family lived in when he left 3 years ago but no one was home. After speaking to a neighbor, we realized his family had moved to a new house. Thankfully, David knew where this new house was located.

Upon arriving at the correct house, David's aunt gave us chairs to sit in. One of his little cousins was quite scared of us because she had never seen white people in her village. She ran away when we first walked up but soon came back to see why we were there. Luis, my coworker, began introducing us to the aunt...."Sarah, Lauren, Luis." Lastly, he pointed to David and said "and this young man you already know." The aunt shook her head no and took a better look at David's face. About the time Luis said the name "David" you could see the look of recognition registering on the face of his aunt.

And then the tears of joy started falling.

David was crying. I was crying. Lauren was crying. The aunt was crying. And shouting. And jumping up and down. And running to call other family members.

It was beautiful.

Another prodigal son is home.

(David in the white jersey with his family)