When you dedicate your life to others, you open yourself up to the opportunity of being forever changed. Change and growth can occur when you least expect them. 

Today, Ed and I are excited to introduce you to another character in our upcoming book CALLED: Amalia de Ayala. 

Amalia, a dwarf thirty inches tall and almost equally wide, comes to live at John and Clara’s Km. 81 leprosy station in 1958, when she and her mother Josefina (both with advanced stages of leprosy) are cast out of their community.

In 1962, Amalia falls in love with and marries Nicasio Ayala, another leprosy patient at Km. 81. They move into their own hut, which Nicasio constructs on a small plot of land John and Clara purchased for them near the station.

Amalia organizes a bible school, and eventually hundreds of children from the surrounding villages gather in her yard under the trees. Her face and small body radiate such love that more and more people are drawn to be in her presence. Soon Amalia becomes a phenomenon. Visitors travel from all over Paraguay – and some from the U.S. – to see the little one.

All who come are touched by Amalia’s loving presence. Anastasia Brighton is one of those visitors. Their meeting in 1962 will change Ana’s life forever. 

But how? 

Stay tuned for exciting announcements leading up to the release of CALLED!