"Hi, Hallie!" she heard as she approached her house.
Hallie turned. "Hi, Megan," she said with a little disappointment. Megan was a little younger than Hallie and followed her around whenever possible. Hallie thought Megan was nice, but having her around constantly quickly became annoying.
"Can you play?" Megan asked excitedly.
Mentally, Hallie searched for a good excuse. Relieved, she thought of one. "I really need to go help my mom get lunch ready," she explained.
"Oh," said Megan, sadly.
"Maybe I can play later," Hallie offered, now that she felt a little sorry for Megan.
~~~
After lunch that day, Mrs. Stevens went into Hallie's room. "Hallie," she began. "Do you remember when we talked about Megan Howell's parents' mission trip?"
"Yeah," said Hallie as she remembered. "They're going to Russia for three weeks, right?"
"That's right," Mrs. Stevens answered. "Mr. and Mrs. Howell have given a lot of money and spent a lot of time and effort helping a church there get started. They want to spend a couple of weeks in Russia to meet the people and see how things are going."
"Sounds great," Hallie said.
"Well, the Howells need a place for Megan to stay while they're in Russia, and your dad and I talked it over and told them she could stay here."
"What?!" Hallie responded quickly. "For three weeks?! Three weeks with Megan here? Mom, she's going to follow me around everywhere and look through everything in my room and talk constantly..."
"I know, honey, I know, but your dad and I talked about it and this is a way we can bless the Howells. As Christians, they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus told His disciples, '"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another'" (John 13:35). Just like the believers in the early Church helped each other (see Acts 4:32), this is our opportunity to do the same for the Howells. I know it won't be easy, honey, but this is our opportunity to glorify God by loving His children."
"Okay, Mom," Hallie sighed, still disappointed. "I guess I'll see what I have that Megan would enjoy doing."
"Great idea," Mrs. Stevens smiled.
~~~
Hallie cleaned her room as she thought about what she and Megan could do for three weeks. We could play with my old dolls and watch that movie I LOVED when I was her age, she thought. After that, the ideas just kept coming. We could play that board game, uh, what was it? Oh! "Honey House!" Maybe she would like that bowling game that's been in our storage room for forever... Hallie remembered the verse her mom had talked about: "'By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another'" (John 13:35). Lord, please help me to be able to show Your love to Megan while she is here, she prayed.
~~~
One week later, Mrs. Stevens went upstairs to Hallie's room where Hallie and Megan were giggling uncontrollably. "What's so funny?" she asked.
"Megan thinks my baby pictures are hilarious," Hallie explained. "And come to mention it, I did look kinda funny," she smiled. Megan burst out laughing again.
"Well, I'm glad you girls are having fun!" Mrs. Stevens smiled. "Megan, I just got a call from your mom and she said that everything is going great. Only two more weeks and they'll be home!"
Hallie smiled at Megan and then looked at her mom. "It'll fly by," she said.
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