After arriving in Ecuador over a week ago, I have felt more and more at home with each passing day.
On our very first day of ministry we were asked to weed the pathways at Covi, a Christian before and after school care program for street kids and at risk youth.
Sitting on the ground digging out weeds with a butter knife I felt like I was a kid again spending summer days at my grandparents house across town. Playing in the garden, feeding the birds and squirrels and playing in the sprinkler with my brother.
As my pile of weeds grew beside me, I recalled a time when we were in Bolivia when I made my grandmother’s potato salad for my team. It made us all feel at home for just a moment.
In Peru it was important to me to have a big Easter meal. My grandmother makes holiday gatherings a priority. She opens her home to family and friends, setting up an extra table in the living room and breaking out the tray tables to accommodate everyone.
We decided to have an Easter pot luck inviting several families in Tambo de Mora to the church in which we were living. After attending a catholic mass, We went home and began preparing for the pot luck. I spent just about the entire day in the kitchen and loving every minute of it. Even though I was thousands of miles away, it was comforting knowing that as I was working in the kitchen in a dusty shore town in Peru, my Nana was doing the same in a small town in the middle of New Jersey just as she’s done for dozens of years.
Here in Ecuador, I swing on the swing set outside of my room almost daily. Praying and dreaming over looking Quito and marveling at the beauty of the flowers and mountains that surround me. With a big smile on my face, just as I did at my grandparents house years ago on a little swing hung from a cherry tree.
Thank you Nana for teaching me how to serve people as they are. For teaching me the importance of keeping those we love close to us and loving them well. Thank you for the memories that I carry with me around the world and back.
Happy Mother’s Day.
