American girl's 'Happy Meal' gift blesses 7-year-old Russian patient

by Brad Senter                                                                                                  Vol. XI, No. 5, May 1998

[EDITORS' NOTE: The following story, by Brad Senter, a former journeyman in Russia with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, relays an encounter during a U.S. medical volunteer team's trip to Bryansk, Russia, last September. Senter's journeyman term was cut short when he had to return to the States for a medical problem with one of his fingers. He now is a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina.]

There is an unnamed young Christian in the United States, under the age of 10, whose grandmother was faithful in taking her to church and, as a result, this young girl is a faithful Christian. So faithful, in fact, that for one year she saved every toy that came with her "Happy Meals" from McDonald's to donate them to underprivileged children.

And she did just that! She sent 63 toys, still in their packaging, with her grandmother, a nurse, on a volunteer medical missions trip to Bryansk, Russia! All of these toys were in a footlocker "...to be given away as needed," the grandmother instructed. So, we took that literally. And one by one the toys began to disappear.

But, late on Monday afternoon, the doors opened, and there stood a young mother and her daughter. They entered and took a seat in line. The nurse called them forward. They were there to see the doctor because of an injury to the little girl, Masha. Masha was 7 years old and just three months before had watched her father die from an electric shock. In the hysteria of the moment she ran over and grabbed the wire to get it off of her dad. Six-thousand volts of electricity entered her left hand and exited through the base of her spine. She couldn't walk for three weeks, and at present she was still severely traumatized. When the nurses tried to take her blood pressure, she began to cry and try to get closer to her mother. I saw this from across the room.

So, immediately I thought of that footlocker. I went over and began to dig through. Then, I found it! One pretty pink bracelet with small charms on it. I said, "Masha? May I give you this? I know that you are scared, and you may not even like doctors, but I had to go see the doctor, too."

Then I showed her my finger. "Now, it only hurts a little bit. But, if you wear this bracelet, then the doctor is sure to be really careful and really nice to you!"

With that, she timidly stretched out her burned hand, and I tearfully clasped the bracelet around her tiny wrist. I walked back to my place across the room, and from there I watched the nurses do their jobs, unhindered. After their visit with the doctor, I spoke with Masha's mother. I shared Jesus with her, and she repented! I placed a Bible in her hands and made her promise to return to one of the services later in the week. She promised.

I did not see her again.

Sunday morning, our last Sunday in Bryansk, I was singing from the platform. I looked to my right, and there sat my new sister in Christ, Masha's mother. After the service, they approached me. She came over and said, "I simply cannot thank you enough! You see, ever since I left here the other day, I felt a comfort and a peace in my life, something I had never felt before. And Masha is not as scared either! As a matter of fact, she asked if she could come and stand by you for a minute."

Before I could speak, I felt a tiny hand slip into mine. I looked down and saw this beautiful little girl smiling back up at me, her burned hand in mine, bracelet still around her wrist.

Masha didn't just reach up and take my hand that morning she reached right up and took me by the heart. Not just Masha, but also that little girl in America who sacrificed such a "magical" bracelet. Call it a widow's mite or a sack lunch broken to feed many, but on that morning I saw Jesus take such a small offering, one given with a pure heart, and multiply the blessings a hundred times over!