Earlier this month, the community of La Joya, TX, lived up to its name by blessing families in the outlying Pueblo de Palmas colonia with a Books for the Border and Beyond family reading fair. Children and puppies were eager participants. One mother of eight (children, not puppies) said her kids had talked of nothing else since waking up that morning.  

The ministry project was a collaboration of four far-flung churches--Austin Heights Baptist, Nacogdoches; First Baptist, Lufkin; Calder Baptist, Beaumont; and Primera Iglesia Bautista, La Joya--along with the Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association. The group gave away more than 800 books, including story books, health literacy, and Bibles. They gave bookcases, built by members of First Baptist Church, Georgetown, to 34 families.

The day before the event, volunteers sorted the books, prepared the site, and passed out invitations door to door. The local families were already familiar with Pastor Vasquez and Primera Iglesia Bautista, thanks to the church's ongoing Bible study and mobile food bank ministries in the colonia.

A total of 110 children attended the family reading fair. They came from homes containing zero to few books, with most of those borrowed from schools. Two of the children searched high and low for copies of Charlotte's Web, and both were rewarded! A five year-old boy amazed the adult volunteers with his ability to sound out the Spanish version of Green Eggs and Ham. That day he took home his very own beginning library with books to read now--and more to grow into.