The Story of Karen's Shoes

By Charles E. Nelson

This story took place on a mission trip by Asbury United Methodist Church of Maitland, Florida, to Jayaque, El Salvador, in May/June, 2003.

We arrived in El Salvador on May 31, 2003, and drove to the house in Jayaque where we would be staying for a week of work. I began unpacking my bags before supper and started getting my sleeping area straight for the upcoming week. As I unpacked, I came to the pair of tennis shoes, which Karen had sent with me to give to someone I might encounter on the trip. The shoes were fairly new, Nike's (I believe), and had been worn some by Karen, when she played in a local basketball league.

I decided to take the shoes to Gelmarie, our host for the week and a VIM professional, who was in charge of coordinating the volunteers who came on trips to El Salvador. I found her in the dining room area, and I asked her if she knew of anyone who could use a pair of lady's tennis shoes. I said that my daughter, Karen, had sent the shoes down, since she was unable to make the trip this year. A huge smile lit up Gelmarie's face, and she said that she knew of the perfect recipient for these shoes. She said that a young girl had been praying for several weeks for a pair of shoes just like these. Gelmarie asked me the size of the shoes, and I noted that they were 8 1/2. Her huge smile continued, as she said that these were the exact size that the girl wore. Gelmarie told me that I could deliver the shoes on Monday, when we went to our work job site.

On Monday, we drove to our job site, and I met the girl (her name sounded like Suma, but I am not sure of her exact name). Suma appeared to be in the 12-14 year old age range and lived right next door to the site where we were to build our first house. I presented the shoes to the girl and had my picture taken with her. Later on in the week, Suma visited Gelmarie and spent the night with her in our house. On the next morning, I noticed that she had the shoes on, so I went up to her and felt the shoes to see how well they fit. They seemed to be a perfect fit.

There was more to this story about the shoes, which I learned later during the week at one of our nightly devotional meetings. The person who had taken my picture was quite impressed by this story and used it as part of her devotional. She asked Gelmarie to tell the rest of the story. It seems that Suma had an older brother, who had also been praying for shoes. Someone in the previous mission group had told Gelmarie that he wanted to do something for a local person in the area. She suggested that he buy shoes for Suma's brother, which he did. Of course, Suma was quite disappointed that her brother's prayer had been answered but hers had not. Gelmarie told Suma to be patient and continue to pray for shoes. This is why Gelmarie was so delighted when I asked her if she knew of someone who needed a fairly new pair of lady's tennis shoes.

Upon our return to Florida, we attended Sunday services at Asbury Church. Our associate pastor, who had led our trip, told the story of Karen's shoes to a large group of children in the Children's Sermon. He mentioned the embarrassment of young people in El Salvador who have no shoes. Many times, their schoolmates will make fun of them, which makes going to school very unpleasant. He said that it was just possible that the primary reason that God had sent 18 people to Jayaque this year was to answer the prayers of a young girl.

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