October 1, 2016

A Day in A Life- Part I

I remember in the 1990s there was a series of books that came out- A Day in a Life. I always enjoyed those books because it gave me a glimpse into the life of other cultures and experiences. These past few days I feel like I have been living some of those “A Day in a Life” experiences. They are ordinary but at the same time there is a bit of awe to be a part of these events.

Let me tell you about yesterday.

To set the scene, for about the past month, we have had a little girl come visit our house most afternoons around 3 p.m. She is 8 years old but is about the size of a small five year old. She walks from a community about 20 minutes away. She comes selling tortillas that her mom makes which are still warm when they arrive at our door. She always comes with clothes that are dirty and are either adult size or torn. Her hair is always unkept and usually matted. This is one side of this young girl.

The other side is that her name is Estella. She has six siblings and she goes to school every morning. She likes math, and she had a lot of homework most days. When we first met her, she was very timid and did not smile much, but now when we see her she smiles and laughs and will occasionally come back to our house after she had made her rounds around town with the hopes that we will buy her last tortillas before she heads home. She is always meticulous about wrapping and unwrapping the tortillas, and she had even taught Stephen how to do it.

Stephen spoils her with candy occasionally and sometimes gives her a little extra for the stack of tortillas.

So yesterday when Stephen was working out in the garage he had her come through the house. She came around the corner where I was working on my computer with a big smile, kind of amazed with what was around her. We talked some, Stephen bought 10 tortillas (he has had more tortillas in the last several weeks than in his whole life I think), and she started to head out the door, when a man who has been drinking came to door asking for food.

Generally we give food to whomever asks but not money, so Stephen prepped a tortilla with cheese and I handed it off to the man. He talked to me some and then was on his way. Meanwhile, Estella slipped out the door to sell the rest of her tortillas.

A few minutes later after I had settled back on the couch to work on my Spanish homework, the neighbor guy came over to ask for help with his English homework. He had written a paragraph in English about a superhero, and he had made the opposite mistakes that I make in Spanish. We laughed about our mistakes!

What strikes me in these interchanges is ME (I am sure there is some narcissism there). These episodes have become very normal to me, yet my marveling yesterday was that it is such an honor to be able to serve and interact with these people. These faces have names now.

Honestly, there have been times in this journey where help has been more from obligation and less from a joy to serve. I am sure that there will be times in the future where it feels like an obligation, but for now I will be happy with the glimpse of my changed heart!