Looking around at the team as they slowly, one by one gathered out under the porch on the chairs and sofa and hammock this morning, praying, reading, quietly talking, I was in awe of the process that took us from being 12 relative strangers, who knew a bit about each other, but did not KNOW each other, to being this tightly woven community of friends who encourage and edify and deeply love each other and who have worked so well together, laughed so hard together, cried so often, smiled so much.
We´ve come to call the daily laughing fits our ab workout...although often started by Tim, these workouts have been actually started by every member of the team on one occasion or another. Sometimes it´s deliberate quick wittiness (courtesy of Tim, Adam, Les, Sheila, Andrew, Philip, Pam or Joe), but sometimes it´s a clueless thing (called pulling a Sonya), sometimes a powerful reaction to a surprise or practical joke (pulling an Elsa), sometimes a look(pulling a Julia), and sometimes it´s an I´ve-had-it-with-you-people shake of the head(you guessed it, THAT´S a Carito).
We´re already welling up with tears here and there as we get ready to say our goodbyes to the friends we´ll leave behind at oh-dark-thirty tomorrow morning. I´m still contemplating hiding Beto, our amazing young translator and Carito´s delightful younger brother in our suitcase, and I think Pam and Joe might actually already have a suitcase full of Konig, our unbelievably giving, devoted driver Delia´s sunbeam of a daughter who has been with us every day between her classes, and who has stolen our hearts. Jose Fernando, another translator, won´t leave and is still lying here on the grass with us. And Tatiana, our translator, driver and encourager, industrial engineer by trade, servant of the Lord and advocate for thousands of children by calling, WILL come to Nova Scotia if we have to pay for the trip ourselves!
Goodbye Ecuador.None of us will ever be the same.
At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality. -2 Corinthians 8:14
No comments:
Post a Comment