Mauricio is seven years old and loves to talk about Jesus to anyone who will listen in Spain.

The other day, Mother took Mauricio to the barber for a haircut. The barber directed the boy to a tall barber’s chair beside a white-brick wall. Once Mauricio had climbed up and sat down, the barber wrapped a long black-and-white cloth around his neck to keep hair off his clothes. Mauricio gazed into the mirror in front of him as the barber began snipping with his scissors.

Snip. Snip. Snip. 

Clip. Clip. Clip.

Mauricio didn’t sit silently for long. As clumps of brown hair fluttered to the floor, he started a conversation with the barber, a young man with short black hair. It was a hot Friday afternoon, and the barber wore shorts and a black T-shirt.

Mauricio asked about the barber’s plans for the next day, which happened to be a Saturday.

“I’m going to be open tomorrow,” the barber said.

Mauricio didn’t think that that was right.

“You shouldn’t do that,” he said. “You need to go to church instead of opening
the barbershop.”

The barber was surprised, but he replied very politely.

“Why?” he said. “Why should I go to church?”

“Because there you will learn about Jesus,” Mauricio said. “You have to come to church every Sabbath and bring your Bible.”

“But I don’t have a Bible,” the barber said. “Can I still go?”

“Yes, you may come,” the boy said. “You are allowed to come without a Bible.”

But he thought the barber really should own a Bible.

“You should read your Bible every day, and you need to pray,” he said.

“Do you read your Bible?” the barber asked. 

“Of course!” the boy said.

Snip. Clip. Snip. Clip. 

Drrrrrrrrr. 

The barber ran an electric razor over the boy’s neck.

Mauricio noticed the music playing in the barber’s shop. He had been taught that some music was fine for weekdays but not for the Sabbath.

“On Sabbath, you are not supposed to listen to the music you’re playing here,” he said. “On Sabbath, you should listen to music about God.”

Drrrrrrrrr.

The barber continued with the
electric razor.

Mauricio invited the barber to come to church. He promised that the church was a happy place.

“You should come because I’m happy at church,” he said.

The barber finished the haircut and removed the long black-and-white cloth from around Mauricio’s neck. Then, he showed Mauricio his new haircut in the mirror and said with a big smile, “OK, we’ll see you at church.”

The barber didn’t attend church the next day, but Mauricio wasn’t worried. He planned to invite him again. The barber didn’t know the church’s address, and Mauricio intended to give it to him at his next haircut.

“Yes, I’ll invite him again,” he said enthusiastically. “I also want to give him my little sister’s Bible, or maybe I’ll give him my small Bible. But I can’t give him my big Bible. I love it too much, and what would I have to read if I gave it away?” ⎭

Mauricio attends school on a campus that received part of a previous Thirteenth Sabbath Offering, also known as the Quarterly Mission Project Offering. The campus includes a Seventh-day Adventist elementary school, high school, and college in Sagunto, Spain. This quarter’s offering will help more people know about Jesus in Spain and other countries in the Inter-European Division. Thank you for planning a generous offering.