Calle 5 #14-32
La Mesa, Colombia
aaronlaurak@gmail.com
Some Surprises
Dear family & friends,
I’m sitting here in our bedroom, listening to a neighbor set off firecrackers. Abigail is amazingly sleeping through it all. I’m also listening to some good tunes from a CD mix my sister Joanna made. (Thanks Jo!) It’s been a very good, very full week for us and we’ve had some surprises along the way.
1) Getting locked out. The one thing I usually ask Aaron as we prepare to leave is “Do you have the keys?” Once we shut the door, we cannot open it without the key. On Thursday we met some people at our gate, and I looked back and realized I had inadvertently shut the door. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I asked Aaron, “Do you have the keys?” They were setting on the kitchen table. We helplessly gazed at our home, with the windows barred and everything closed securely. Inwardly I started to rage at myself and the situation. Why did we only have one set of keys? Why did the doors have such silly latches instead of nice forgiving knobs? Why did everything need to be so walled in and locked away? I certainly wasn’t feeling the gracious, “Not worse, just different” attitude about Colombia at that moment. We had a tense and snappy walk down to Martín’s house to ask their advice. Martín and Aaron ended up riding his motorcycle up to the house to gauge the situation. To make a long story short, Aaron was able to reach a curved pipe through the nearby window and catch the door latch. We made some copies of our keys for about 50 cents each today. I’d say it was a worthy investment long overdue.
2) Visiting “invasion” communities. On Wednesday we had the opportunity to travel to Anapoima, a neighboring town a few miles away, to visit two neighborhoods of marginalized people. We rode the bus down the mountain with others from the church who also have interest in ministering to this community. The entrance to the first community is a dirt path veering off the nicely paved road onto the side of the steep mountain. The path winds across to teeny homes packed next each other, basically hanging off the mountainside. Some of the homes are made of block, some of corrugated metal and other random materials. Most have dirt floors. This land is not zoned and would not have regularly been built on. Some of the residents moved in from other areas of the country, displaced by the violence, and settled there. Some are originally from the area, simply poor and without anywhere else to go. We met and prayed with Angélica, a woman with 3 small children and one on the way, whose husband just left her for another woman. We tried to be an encouragement to her, and let her know that she is not alone. Then we visited a slightly larger community on the other side of town, built around a heavily polluted creek. The entrance to this community is a dirt path behind a beautiful, immaculate mansion, complete with a swimming pool. The contrast couldn’t have been more striking. We met and chatted with several children—one who had just had major leg surgery—and a few of their parents. As we enjoyed the beautiful bus ride back to La Mesa, my head was full of possible teaching opportunities, such as nutrition and sanitation. But first, I want to build relationships and discover what they would like to learn. (See our website for photos of these communities.)
3) Inviting people to church. Sometimes I (Aaron) think we make evangelism out to be something more complicated and difficult than it really is. Building relationships and inviting people to church really doesn’t have to be that hard, and we discovered that this week with some students from school. We got to know two tenth-grade girls during the celebration, and have continued talking with them when we see them at school or around town. As we got to know Sandra and Yuri better, we found that they were interested in serving in some kind of Mennonite voluntary service. So we promised to find out some information so they would know their options. They also took interest in Abby, and knowing her birthday was coming up, asked when they could come by with a small gift. That got us thinking about having a birthday party, and we ended up inviting them and several friends from church and school. (The party was a blast, and, once again, you can see pictures on our website.) After most people had left they seemed to linger, interested in talking more. So we talked about school and family and, eventually, their interest in Mennonite service. As I looked up the websites from MCC, Mission Network and others, one requirement kept coming up: being an active member of a church, preferably Mennonite. I asked them what their church involvement was, and they said they didn’t really go, because the Catholic church they grew up in just didn’t seem very relevant. They liked what they knew about Mennonites from their years at Colegio Americano Menno, but had never been to the Mennonite church right next door. I didn’t think I could have had a better segue. I asked them if they wanted to come to church with us, and they said yes! We decided to meet here at the house to go to the evening service this Sunday, together, so they don’t feel too out of place. This is obviously only the beginning of this story, and we invite your continued prayers for Sandra and Yuri, and for us as we continue to relate with people in the community, inviting them to “come and see” (John 1:46) what God’s doing in the Mennonite church here.
4) Feeling bored and alone and busy and claustrophobic all in one week. This past weekend was another “Puente,” a long weekend with a holiday on Monday. Because we had had pretty much all of our friends over on Saturday for Abby’s birthday, we didn’t want to “bother” them all again on Sunday and Monday (This was an erroneous assumption on our part, however. It would take quite a lot to be a bother to anyone here. You’re pretty much welcome to stop by anytime.) By Monday afternoon we started to feel pretty stir crazy and depressed at home, so we took a long walk. It was a good time of reflection about how these first two months have gone. We’ve been glad for the time to get adjusted and get to know people. We also realized how much we miss home sometimes, and talked about how likely or unlikely adding a third year to our assignment would be. In contrast to this reflective, somewhat boring start to the week, the rest of the week was a flurry of activity and relating with people. I was at school a lot, helping students make up English assignments. Then all the sudden I got three requests for slide shows using our computer and the church’s projector. I scrambled to get them done on time for Thursday’s fashion show, Friday morning’s goodbye ceremony for the seniors, and Elsy’s birthday party on Friday evening. In the midst of this, a girl from church wanted help with getting digital photos for a school project. There were about two days straight where I felt like I didn’t have a moment to myself, or much quality time with Laura and Abby. I realized that I definitely need to “train” some other folks to prepare slide shows and use the projector, and that I also need to say no sometimes, especially when people come with requests at the last minute. But it’s hard to turn people down because one way we justify having such nice high-tech stuff is by using it to help people out at church and school. Pray for wisdom as we discern appropriate and sustainable ways to utilize technology in our ministry.
5) Getting a kitten. Yes, we know we wrote a month or so ago that we were getting a dog soon, and that’s also true. Actually next week, we should have our long awaited golden retriever puppy. But while we were at the pet store today, we happened to ask about the availability of kittens. To our surprise, the storeowner knew of a kitten that needed a home. Even better, it was free! Once we saw little Rico (that’s what we’ve decided to call him), we knew we couldn’t turn him down. So we’re hoping that Rico and the puppy get along well. It’s a little strange to go from not having any pets to having two in the span of a week. But we love animals, and we’re excited that Abby will get to learn how to play with them and care for them.
We hope your coming week is full of surprises, and that God enables you to face the good ones and the bad ones with faith and grace.
With love,
Laura, Aaron & Abigail (and Rico)