I never did like the Staples Back to School commercial. I always thought of it as sophomoric and silly. I even found it to be irritating.

That is, until today.

Today my family and I got to distribute donated school supplies to students in the pueblos of Santiago Zamora and El Tizate.

The feigned joy in the Staples commercial was real for me today. I’m not happy because I’m sending my own kids off to school, I’m happy because God gave us the opportunity to minister to kids starting back to school this month. It was a pleasure to see faces light up because of pencils, pens and notebooks.

The school year in Guatemala begins in January and many of the children in this, the poorest country in Central America, will begin school ill-equipped. That story is different for some of our friends in two villages nearby our home. Many of you donated school supplies and monies needed to provide these precious children with what they need for school. Thanks for allowing us to not only give away school supplies but to pray for these young kids as they get ready to head back to school.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10