Get out of the kitchen? If “the kitchen” is Matamoros, there’s some truth in that. It’s still 80 or 85 in early November and I long for home. Why the heck am I here?
I was questioning that last night before it was my turn to give my prepared testimony. A whole hour of the Jill Show. Yikes.
Anyway, I paraphrased a lot and let the rest of the hour be time for people to say something. I even left out why I’m here and the fact that I was baptized on June 3rd…(woops!).
But again, why am I here? I’ve asked myself that more than a few times, I’ll admit. I’ve not been building houses or anything like that (with the exception of our construction crew and all the FYM team helping this week). I’ve not been helping people in Peru do earthquake rehab like Rubie has (among many other things). What have I been up to?
Sometimes it’s frustrating not to be able to rattle off a dozen ways in which I have helped the community in the current week. Sometimes the best I can come up with is that I prayed for a family whose son and daughter-in-law are splitting up, and there’s alcoholism and illness to boot. Sometimes the best you can claim is that you befriended a local tamale vendor was bored, lonely, and tired of working 12 hours a day through the whole week to make half her ends meet.
Sometimes the little things are what count. You feel like you did nothing, but helping out your brother/sister or showing compassion is important in God’s eyes. Matthew 25:45 says, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” Jesus is referring, I believe, to the extent that if we do not honor the needs of men and women who need our love, compassion, and help, we deny Christ the same. By the same note, I believe that everyone who does even the smallest thing to further God’s kingdom is demonstrating his love.
I felt that very demonstration last night when my team members prayed for me and offered their input on my testimony as well as encouragement. And while I feel sometimes like I would rather be trekking through some jungle and distributing construction goods or food, I feel like I have a purpose here.
Without tooting my own horn, I know I am needed, in the prison, on the field, in the lives of the strangers I meet…whether they need to take down a fence or whether they’re just wanting encouragement or prayer for something that pegs them down. I know for certain I’ve served my purpose translating for folks when my teammates couldn’t…I’ve started replacing filler words in English with Spanish ones since I’m so used to switching back and forth!
Well, off to finish today’s work finding projects to do with the construction team. I might be volunteering myself for housework when I get home if I admit this, but I am grateful once in a while to be breaking a sweat and unleashing the tomboy in me. I actually helped dig a trench for the electrical piping this afternoon, pulled up weeds from around the water tank, and will soon be helping to shovel some dirt or put water sealant on the roof.
This weekend we will hopefully be going to the dump about a mile from here and distributing food, water and talking with the locals who come to scavenge things there. The dump is part of my colonia I visit, so hopefully I will see some people I know.
Until next time, Dios le bendiga!
