Today our friend Antonio, his wife Candida and their 1 month old baby boy came for a visit. Antonio worked with us at Teen Missions back in 2007 and was Marc's right hand man. He has truly become a friend. He is a gentle, sincere, God loving man. It is neat to watch him love his wife and express it which isn't the cultural norm here and to watch him develop as a new father. He is full of questions and soaks in any little bit of advice I give him from the importance of the baby nursing, his wife needing to rest and eat and drink enough, etc.
I thought you might enjoy some photos of this beautiful family. The baby was a darling. He has the cutest little fat cheeks and soft, curly hair. It was so good to see him thriving. When he was first born he was struggling to nurse and I really encouraged Antonio to help his wife keep trying and not give up. Surely if they had not been persistent and continued on this would be a very different story as there is no way they can afford to buy the cans of infant formula that the baby would have needed. So many little ones suffer from malnutrition and eventually death when they are unable to receive their mother's milk and the poverty stricken family's can not possibly provide the needed nutrition.
Our prayer is that God continues to bless this little family as they faithfully serve Him. He currently lives in a VERY simple 2 room place that is part of a building at the mission he works for but he has been building a house. He makes a tiny salary so although he has been faithful to put whatever he can afford into the house it is taking a while and seems as though it will take quite a bit longer. He began building this house before he even was officially engaged over 3 years ago. That is perseverance! Only wish we had the finances to help him finish it more quickly.
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