Ecuador Day 4: Felicidades
special thanks to the Lauras (Alberg & Conard), John, and Mary Virginia for helping with tonight’s blog while Caitlyn wrote a surprise sermon for tomorrow!
House Visits - Becoming Familia
“Yesterday, we pitched in at Buen Pastor painting, holding a really successful VBS and medical clinic. Today, members of the congregation opened their hearts and homes to us to shop for, prepare, and enjoy a meal together. We are family.” — Laura Conard
Remember yesterday when we said food in meals are a love language in Ecuador? Well that was on full display again today as we joined families of Buen Pastor at their homes for small group lunches. We split up into five groups, shopped with the families, and then helped them prepare lunch in their homes.
The stories were varied, but ranged from epic rock-paper-scissors games, to learning new techniques for shucking and de-cobbing corn, to cutthroat games of Uno. But the one thing that was common was that our companions of love, joy, and celebration were still with us.
John described it like a big family gathering over the holidays - complete with loud games with heated debates over the rules and if cards were “accidentally” overlooked or not, plates filled with delicious food, and great conversation and laughter.
But as pilgrims we also recognize that this experience is also about sharing and journeying together with our Buen Pastor community. So we shared some of our treats from the South with our host families – Moon Pies, Cheerwine chocolate bars, benne wafers, and pecan logs. Try translating what these things are and why they are Southern treats in Spanish!?! Ultimately it came down to we brought some of our own sweet love language to share.
These things may seem small, but they are the base of relationship building. And as our devotional from the morning shared from the southern-grandmother-style list of say hello to your friend’s cousin’s friend (Romans 16), building relationship from church to church and region to region has been going on for ages. It has been and will continue to be a blessing for our group of pilgrims to carry on this “say hello to” tradition that Paul charged us all with.
In the Name of Love
by Mary Virginia
“Fun fact from our family visit: little Mariella, age 4, won first round of Uno fair and square. And she had a sweet little capybara. Their father works in Spain ( Bilbao) cutting down trees for a company and comes home annually for Christmas. All three of the children (ages 17, 14, and 4) are thinking of becoming police when they grow up. They see on the news how dangerous their neighborhood is and they want to make it better.” — Laura Alberg
I think today can best be summed up by a prayer from Dennis Yount: “ In the name of Love, we have come. In the name of Love, we are here. And, in the name of Love we will go. Knowing in our hearts and in our souls that what we have experienced is truly Divine.”
Our team experienced divine laughter, divine joy, divine food and a divine presence in the community of Buen Pastor today. Food brings people together and sharing a meal in a home brings families together. Buen Pastor opened up their homes and brought us together as a family with joy, laughter and games.
And then we were honored to be allowed to be witness to the first e=h graduation ceremony. The word impactful can not begin to describe this graduation. I do not normally cry, but I was moved to tears as we all sang blessing over the graduates alongside their families.
I was moved again when we heard Marvin, who had demurely translated with us all day, share his testimony. He shared about his first day at school after getting a microscholarship to be able to go, about what it means to be a graduate of this program, and about what allowing God’s love into his life meant. He spoke about knowing that even though he felt different, maybe looked different, he was not different in God’s eyes. He could learn and graduate and use that to change his life and now give back to his community.
Simply, what we have experienced is truly Divine.
A few of us went out on the roof after debrief just in time to catch some surprise fireworks at the bascilica!
