Slon: Elephant.  Lav: Lion.  Tigar: um...Tiger.  Four beautiful little Roma girls and I pointed and named our way through the Belgrade Zoo on one of the hottest afternoons of the summer.  It was the end of our summer English club at a Roma church in Zemun, and the start of a week of Vacation Bible School and outings hosted by a group of American college students.  My girls tromped happily through the zoo, imitating the monkeys, shrinking from the unidentified wild beasts with horns, and chasing the peacocks that roam freely around the grounds.

A. was one of the strongest students in the group, and she had only been learning English for about 4 months.  As we walked by an ice cream cart, she asked me, "What kind of ice cream do you like?"  Then she pulled a rumpled bill from her pocket and bought us both strawberry-chocolate ice cream bars.  I barely managed to say thank you, stunned and moved by the generosity of this precious little person.  Her pink sunglasses hid her expression.  She just shrugged, cast a sideways smile, said "you're welcome." 

God continues to erode my notions of what it means to serve Him.  Sometimes, just maybe, it could mean receiving a gift, open handed and grateful.