"Pastor, We have a special bag, just for you."

I hear a lot of winter angst from my Stateside friends, so experiences like this put a smile on my face and help me feel good about being on the mission field.

A church member approached me outside the church and said, "Pastor, We have a special bag, just for you."

I saw Miguel Nieves ("Mike Snow" in English) pull two big bags out of the back of his big pickup truck.

He said, "The smaller one is for you, they are the best ones."

I looked inside and they were full of huge grapefruits.

I slipped the "special offering" into the hatch back of our Honda Fit and then helped carry the larger bag into the church. It was so heavy that it took both of us to haul it in.

Mike announced to everyone that he had finished his late December grapefruit harvest and wanted to share it with everyone in the church.

Sometimes we talk about contributing to the church in the form of "spiritual fruit," but Miguel showed us that sometimes just plain fruit can be a real blessing too.

Especially after eating all of those Christmas cookies.