Today's task was all about the mezcla y cemento! My favorite. ...no, but really. I remeber being in the Dominican Republic and surprising all the machismo muchachos with my enthusiasm with mixing cement by hand, having no problem getting up in that business, and just feeling completely free to get down and dirty. Yesterday some of us spent time digging holes for the garden (my parents will be surprised I'm not allergic to gardening...I do not ever touch their beautiful garden when I visit), and we finished up another part of El Faro. Then it was to the mezcla, and I was muy excited for that! Now, I haven't really working out, so when I went all out today, I could feel it in the parts of my body that I forgot existed. I fell asleep sitting up after lunch. Some of us went to go work with the children, but opted to go back out into the world of sweat and cement. Not sure how tomorrow morning will go . . .
As for the food, this country is all about el pan (bread). There are different kinds, but some are fluffy, which I love, and some are super dense, which I try to stay away from just because ...well let's just say my fiber pills haven't kicked in yet. Then there's this stuff called majar -- aka, heaven in your mouth. It's kind of like nutella, but kind of carmel-ier. Yesterday we had pollo con arroz, the best rice that I've ever had, which probably had something to do with all the digging we were doing out in the sun all morning. But I'm pretty sure it is amazing in any case. Today we had prok chops, the best pork chops I have ever had. Chileans also have this thing called "once" -- Spanish for "eleven". Pretty much means they have some kind of snack/meal/food type dealio around 11pm. Last night, we had once about 11:40pm. This is typical. And to no surprise, as Chile is quite European. Their main and biggest meal is lunch, and they typically an early once in the early evening, and then again late at night. I don't think I'll have a problem reaching my 10-pounds-gained in Chile in the next few days.
Today we met Luis. He works at the church, mostly during the night, putting the computer lab together for los ninos. He works for Entel, one of the largest phone ccompanies in Chile, and he was responsible for getting all the computers donated for the kids of Casa de Esperanza. And right before lunch, he called us into the computer lab he had just spent all night trying to put together, and asked us to pray. He has no degree, only, what he says, what God gave him, and the passion of his heart. He told his story of how he came to El Faro, and in that he said that Sometimes God gives us periods of suffering so we can go at life full force. He said the life of a missionary is hard, and when God alls us to places, often we lose ourselves.
When he said that, initially I thought of losing oneself as a bad thing -- we can go to a mission field and forget why we're there, forget who we are even, and even lost our passion for the things we had loved. But later on, when I revisited his words, it occured to me -- that is the point. Jesus calls us to lose ourselves to find ourselves. We often think of this as a bad thing. But surely when we are called to do God's work, we are certainly going to face trials of sundry kinds. Luis says his journey was hard, but God makes a nobody like him (his words) into somebody. He never received a degree, but he works with engineers from all over. We all saw the joy and excitement in his face as he talked about the children, and how he cares for them, and he does them for them for God's sake. And I walked away thinking how alive we become if only we do not live for ourselves.
Today's note was from sweet Melody. She cited one of my favorite verses: "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by his love; He will exult over you with loud singing." Zep 3:17. I believe this of God for all his children. But I see the people of El Faro, and the work our missionaries do here, and certainly He is rejoicing with song over these faithful and good servants.
