San Miguel. San Alejo. La Union. Conchagua.
These are the places we have had the opportunity to travel to and join in what the Lord is doing over the past several days. Jesus has been ever faithful in the details from providing Carmens and Sandras for us to stay with and connecting us with Pastor Job and Pastor Obed who are doing significant work in their communities.
The best words I can come up with to describe this past week are “surprise hugs.” Now, if you were around me for any significant amount of time the last month before I left for the World Race, you’ve most likely cracked a smile by this point because you were the recipient of one of these infamous “surprise hugs.” However, for those unfortunate ones of you who have never had the opportunity to receive such a gift, let me define our terms. Surprise hug: a strong embrace given at a most unusual place and time with the intention of assuring the recipient of his/her belovedness and value to the giver. I generously exercised the surprise hug strategy before leaving for the World Race to assure my friends and family of how much I loved and valued them.
It’s funny because I thought I was leaving the surprise hug in the United States, but God had other ideas. Let me tell you about my buddy, Fernando. Fernando has these deep chocolate colored eyes with the kind of eyelashes most girls dream of having after the help of some mascara. He rides a cobalt blue bike with half inflated tires and can most likely be found playing a game with his friend, Emily, or taking care of his 5 year old brother, Brian. I met Fernando last Sunday afternoon when we went with a group from la iglesia in La Union to evangelize and share with an impoverished community in the area. Fernando was one of the last kids to come through the line to get his toy. “Como te llamas?” I asked him. “Fernando,” he whispered back. I squatted down so I could see his beautiful brown eyes and asked if he wanted to play with his new truck. Those big brown eyes just started back at me and no sound escaped his lips. Gregarious friend Emily saved the day by approaching me and asking me my name. We did the whole “Cuantos anos tienes?” thing followed by an exchange of favorite colors. A pretty simple surface interaction if you ask me. We went on with our ministry and packed up the truck to head back to the church. I swung open the car door and was about to jump in when I felt two little arms wrap around my knees. I looked down to see Fernando’s missing tooth smile and chocolate eyes staring up at me. Talk about a surprise hug! My day was made right then and there.
Jesus gave me surprise hugs in funny and unique little ways these past couple days. They came in the form of fresh coconuts and hearing Samuel’s and David’s testimonies on a bumpy bus ride. They came in bilingual bus ride sing-a-longs and home visits to Rosa and Rachel, in watching the sunrise with Carmen and eating dinner at the mayor’s beautiful home. They came through dramas done by new friends and getting to meet an old friend’s family. One last surprise hug came Monday night when sister Elizabeth, Carmen, and Reina took us up to a volcano to eat pupusas de lorroco, frijoles, y queso. Lorroco is a small green flower that gives the already delicious cheese and bean pocket of goodness a little extra flavor. We were laughing at Spanish speaking Reina’s witty charades when I saw two chocolate brown eyes dart around the corner. “FERNANDO!” I barely had time to shout before his little arms wrapped around my waist. My shy little friend from the day before somehow transformed into this joyful outgoing little nugget who ran up to hug me in the pupuseria 10 miles up the volcano in a completely different town. Thanks for the surprise hug, Jesus.
God has been surprise hugging my team nonstop these past several days. It’s a sweet place to be, the surprise hug zone. In order to receive a surprise hug though, one must have a certain amount of humility. Surprise hugs are not ever planned or expected. They interrupt days, disrupt plans, and sometimes they are given by dirty hands that squeeze tighter than you would like, but I would argue that it’s worth it to receive a surprise hug, every single time. We serve a God of surprise hugs, my friends. Are you willing to receive them?
