Today I was asked (in Spanish) “I could cook”. I said yes.
Then I was asked, “Are you ready for marriage?”
Now, I was still shaking my head yes from the previous question, so my answer was mistaken for another yes. It was really funny until the questions kept coming. Who is he? You have a man? In El Salvador when a woman can cook it means she is then ready for marriage.
Let me change my answer. “No I am not ready for marriage!”
This evening team Soul Spark was able to honor and love our hosts well by cooking an American dinner. World Race edition. We made homemade macaroni and cheese, garlic bread, chicken with mushrooms and onions and vegetables. Then for dessert we made no bake cookies because we don’t have an oven. We wanted to treat the family to an American dinner because they have been so gracious as to share the Salvadorian culture with us.
When we sat down to plan a meal we had to think about what was ‘American food’. The kids at the school we are ministering at, think American food is McDonalds, not totally wrong but also not what I am most proud of. We had to plan around our limited kitchen (lack of oven, fridge to store items and stove burners that we can turn on) as well as limited familiar items in the store. We tried to find coca powder for the cookies, they didn’t have any. So thinking on the fly we combined two different cookie recipes to create one grand dessert, which we now have to pass on the recipe. Regardless of the differences from America dinner was delicious! It is definitely a night we will never forget.
After we finished eating we sat around the table talking as one big family. If you have ever shared a meal with a 4 year old then you know at some point all attention needs to be on them. Our 4 year old is named Santiago (Santi), he is a silly, rambunctious little boy that never stops talking. He loves to scream and make people laugh. Tonight however all the attention was on Jessica as she made faces at Santi to make him laugh. Boy did Santi laugh! He laughed so much we all started to laugh at him. But the high light of the evening was when Santi started calling Jessica “Gato feo!” (Ugly cat!) According to Santi the face she was making looked like a cat, then to make it even better she added her hands and a walk to complete the whole look.
This evening was a blessing. It was a night we all needed so much without even realizing it. Earlier in the day a woman prayed for our whole team, specifically she prayed for my health in my head and heart. Through translation I understood she felt that my head was very cluttered and I wasn’t getting the right kind of rest to clear it. My heart needed healing too; this evening was all the medicine that I needed. God knew we needed to be loved in a familiar family setting. At feedback time before bed, we all agreed that we felt a new form of life in us. We were chipper, and our stomachs ached from laughing so much.
Family is family, no matter where you are from or what you look like.
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
