Alejandro & Berlindo
Friends for an unknown number of years (they tried telling us and we seriously have no idea what they said). Both men are in their late 90’s.
We met Alejandro our third week in Panama while distributing Bibles in Dolega. We asked if we could give him a Bible and he said he already had one, but his eyesight is so bad he can’t read the small print anymore. Feeling awkward and unsure what to do with that information, we talked with him for a few more minutes and then prayed with him and left.
Walking away from the house, we couldn’t stop thinking about Alejandro. The way he immediately greeted and welcomed us. The way his face lit up when four strangers showed up on his porch and started a conversation with him. The way he talked about the Lord with such weight. We wanted to help him. We wanted to do something for for him.
The next week we went back to Dolega to continue with the Bible distribution. We handed out all the Bibles we had and realized we still had about 45 minutes until we had to meet back up with our group. Without hesitation we decided to go back to Alejandro’s house.
As we were walking there we were trying to figure out how we could best love him. We weren’t able to find a large print Bible the past week, so we decided we would ask him if he wanted us to read him passages from the Bible he could no longer read.
As we walked up to Alejandro’s house, he was sitting on the porch just like last time, but this time he had a friend sitting there with him. As soon as he saw us, with those eyes that are 97 years old and unable to read the Bible, he recognized us and his face lit up. He was so happy to see us and immediately ushered us onto his porch and pulled chairs out of his house for us to sit on.
We sat down and began talking to him and his friend, Berlindo. After Berlindo introduced himself, he didn’t say much else. He didn’t need to though, Alejandro talked enough for the both of them. I didn’t understand most of the conversation, but Alejandro didn’t seem to mind because he spoke directly to me, without stopping, for almost the entire 45 minute visit we had with him.
These two men were precious friends. Alejandro would talk and talk, and Berlindo would just sit there and listen, occasionally laughing and joking around with Alejandro, and then let him continue talking.
As we continued talking with these two men, we were trying to figure out how to work asking if we could read the Bible out loud to them into the conversation. Alejandro showed no sign of slowing down, so one of my teammates, who is almost fluent in Spanish, just went for it.
She asked if he would like us to read a passage from his Bible to him, since he mentioned during our last visit that his eyes are too bad for him to read it. Alejandro didn’t seem to understand, so she tried asking him in a different way. Still not understanding, Alejandro began to explain that the reason he has spots under his eyes is because he cried a lot. His wife died several years ago, and he spent many years crying over her.
In the time it took for us to figure out what he said, Alejandro decided to keep telling us about his wife and how she loved to sing. She sang beautifully, and strangers and neighbors alike would come by the house when they heard her. Alejandro also explained that he likes to sing worship songs as a way to remember her and thank the Lord for the years they had together. As if we were not moved enough by his story, this sweet old man invited us further into his heart and sang a few songs for us.
After he finished singing, we asked Alejandro if we could see a picture of him and his wife. He welcomed us into his home and showed us a picture from when they were first married (shown in a picture below). It was incredible to see that the love and adoration and joy this gentle man had for his wife so many years ago has continued to grow even though she is no longer here on this earth.
As the four of us walked away from that conversation, we began began to reflect on this emotional and heart-warming interaction. We realized we went into the conversation expecting to show this man Jesus in a way we thought he needed, and instead this man showered us with his beautiful voice and ended up being the one that showed us such a clear picture of Jesus. Isn’t it funny how the Lord likes to do that? We go into situations expecting God to use us to bless people, and instead he uses those same people to unexpectedly bless us even more.
I am so grateful for the time we got to spend with these two men. I wish I could go sit on Alejandro’s porch everyday and listen to him sing and share stories about his beautiful wife. I also wish I could learn more about his favorite recipe, which he started sharing with us 10 minutes after we told him we were late and had to go. I bet it would’ve tasted really, really good.
-jb
