Who is The Little Boy from Teaching a Stone to Talk and what is their importance?

Annie encounters this boy on a walk in "On a Hill Far Away". He seems lonely and almost too old for his age to Annie. His family belongs to a Christian church that believes in witnessing to others and both he and his mother ask Annie if she knows God, although both seem nervous about doing so. Although the boy is cold, he tries to keep Annie there with him so he has someone to interact with. Annie says that seeing him made her glad that she had a sister and friends.