The poor will always be among us.........

There is so much poverty here where we live. We're actually "sheltered" from it a bit here in the town we live in---- compared to the villages. It is still very poor here, even in the town.

I just had a man at my door begging for money. It's so hard to know what to do in these situations. I'm not quite certain of the culture here yet and what to do/not do about that. He was a very poor man. He had an official government letter stating that his wife had just died and a bunch of other stuff. I did not read the whole thing. Honestly, I'm not sure if he needed money to bury her, or if it was for help in raising their son. The letter said that he was in extreme poverty.

In Brasil, we did not give out $ at our gate when people asked for a need. We would go buy the prescription or whatever it was that they needed, but tried to avoid giving money. Especially in language school. The missionary houses were literally marked out on the gate somewhere and there was a whole group who would go around from house to house.........

We kept rice and beans to give out and other things.

I gave him a little. I could have given more, but I didn't want to be targeted for constant beggers either. It's so hard........ He was so softspoken and humble. They are like that here. He was from a different indigenous group than the one we work with. I really felt sorry for him. That is a hardship with his wife gone and children. I'm sure she probably wasn't a believer either.........