yesterday was one i will never forget. it started off like a normal sunday would..people eating breakfast, drinking coffee, pulling out their best clothes to wear to church. we walked downstairs to chairs that had been set up for the service and lucy practicing the keyboard for worship. hellos were said, hugs were given, and a very lively honduran church service began, with running around and hand motions included. after roger finished preaching a very excitable sermon (i wish i could tell you what it was about but the whole thing was in spanish), everyone lingered and sat around talking and hanging out, kids running around…normal stuff. but then they brought out the “crazy corn” (corn on the cob smothered in butter and cheese and leaving everyone looking real attractive), and we sat down and ate corn together and tried breaking through the language barrier and laughing at things that weren’t even that funny. grandma told us we were a special group and sang us a song..let me tell you, it was a treat.
rosie, our bold, tambourine-playing, coffee-making, friend, told us we were coming to her house for lunch…it was for sophia’s birthday. sophia is the cutest and sassiest three year old you don’t know, but trust me, she’s the queen. so we all loaded up the van, and when i say “all” i mean that 27 people piled into a 15 passenger van with all the food and pepsi you could ever want and started driving. we made it about 1.5 minutes. the van broke down.
so we sat and waited while roger tried to problem solve, and a herd of cows sauntered past our van while kids screamed about getting rammed by a bull..it was epic. but the van wasn’t having it. so we got out and started walking. walking with pepsi bottles and stacks of tortillas and a crockpot full of rice. down hills and up hills, up hills and down hills…but don’t worry, sophia got a backride the whole time. can i just say, “praise Jesus for moto-taxis”? we found one parked on the side of the road, and rosie told the driver where she lived and all the gringos and babies and pepsis piled in, and we made it to the party. the hammock was strung up and sophia let me swing with her, and we ate and ate and eventually decided to take a walk to the lagoon. there’s really nothing better to do at a lagoon than have a photo-shoot in the trees.
so after we reenacted high school senior pictures, we walked to a neighbors house and prayed for the family there and sang worship songs (they sang, we swayed). out back the fire was lit and the coffee was brewing, and everyone sat and ate cookies and drank coffee, and roger gave us all nicknames. you can call me “tina.” after a while, we made the slow walk back to rosie’s house, stopping to take pictures because the sun was glorious and made everything look like a postcard. the van was miraculously up and running again, so we all piled in. i got to sit next to lucy in the back, and she just kept saying things in spanish and laughing hysterically, which could make for a great friendship. roger dropped us off at the bottom of our hill, and we bought ice cream and chocolate milk and began the trek back home. we made it to the top to see the sun set and the stars start to come out.
it was one of those days that feels full. that feels the way life should feel. laughter, spontaneous celebration, good food, and worship. it’s not that everything in these people’s lives is going so well, and that’s how they can live this way. the rainstorms last week brought destruction to the school, and roger is trying to figure out how to fix what was broken, not to mention the van that brings the kids to school keeps falling apart. the neighbors house that we visited has a son with cancer, and that’s why we went to visit. one of the men with us asked us to pray that he could get a steady job because he hasn’t been able to find one.
so, no, not everything is working out for them all the time. but they know how to “rejoice in the Lord always.” they know how to let the peace of Christ rule in their hearts. they know how to let tomorrow worry for itself and live today. so, today we are going to celebrate the birthday of a three year old girl and trust that God is taking care of us because He is. today we are going to look for Him in the little and the big. today we are going to walk in His fullness because His love for us is lavish. today we are going to live full.
