Meet the neighbors: The Lara Family

Meet Angel and Edna Lara! 

Angel is an older Puerto Rican gentleman that is well known in our apartment community. On most given days you can see him outside walking the sidewalks and chatting with neighbors. Enoch gets particularly excited to see him, and Angel is always kind enough to come and play with him for a few minutes. Edna primarily stays inside most of the day and we have very little interaction with her, but what have seen of her she is very nice. During the Christmas holidays their porch is always one of the best decorated and is rather attractive. He is a Vietnam veteran and enjoys sharing stories of his days in the military. 

Over our time of knowing him, we have had several opportunities to minister to him. He knows I am a pastor (as do many in the community). One day he mentioned that he would having heart surgery in Charleston, and I offered to pray for him the day before he left to go down there. He of course accepted and I was able to go over to his apartment and pray for him and Edna. After the successful surgery, he was not allowed to drive and his wife had very limited mobility, so he asked me to take him to the grocery store, which I was more than happy to do! He grew up Catholic, but when they got married she brought him into the Pentecostal movement--which he enjoyed. However, in recent years, they have not been connected to any local church (even though we have invited him several times). 

Several days ago we were on the porch having family time and Angel walked by, so of course Enoch got excited to see him and started talking to him, which prompted him to walk over to us and have a longer discussion. He shared with us that last month he had about $1k stolen from his bank account. He also shared that Edna will be going out of country to celebrate her mother's birthday (it was either 100 or 101 years old!) and he would stay home for several weeks as a bachelor. We invited him to have Thanksgiving meal with us, and he agreed! We also hope to have a few other families from the community in our home for Thanksgiving. 

As the cold begins to set in, we are being mindful of the fact that many in our community do not have family close by and we are going to be doing our best to incorporate these folks into various holiday activities. So now let me turn the encouragement towards you: who in your community needs a kind touch this season? An invitation to a holiday meal, a kind card, an afternoon visit? Matthew 25 says that whatever acts of kindness done in the name of Jesus to the "least of these" in our communities and beyond, we are doing them unto Christ himself. 

Would you please join with us in prayer for Angel and Edna? They are among many who have a personal relationship with Jesus yet have also experienced "church hurt." We will be extra intentional to invite this kind couple to church during the holiday season and to Beulah's special events. 

We would love to hear from you and pray for you! Who are you planning to reach out to this Christmas season? Let us know!

In Christ, 

Daniel Maggard