Let me tell you about the most incredible night I just had! Believe it or not it all started with laundry. There's a lady who lives down the road and she wanted to bless us by doing our laundry for only 100 pesos a piece which is about 2 dollars American money, so myself and two other members of the group took all the laundry to her house, we dropped it off and headed back to the house which seemed incredibly mundane and ordinary at the moment.
However, during the walk, as we were passing a house where members of the church we're serving in live, we see people in the garage, and wouldn't you know it; it was Geavani and Carlos, so we went inside and hung out for a few minutes, and played with Carla who is the the cutest little girl you've ever seen, and just as were about to leave they ask us if we want to stay for dinner. We politely explain that there are more people expecting us at the house, and we needed to get back, but they had a better idea. They told us to go get them and bring them over too. So we did.
We quickly ran back, grabbed the rest of the gang and returned to the house, and as we were walking up we see most of what I would expect to be the church staff and a few kids who frequent the church are there too. One young man whose name is Gabbi leads worship at the church sometimes and asked if we could go get my guitar, I said something along the lines of "heck yeah we can" and the rest of the night I got to listen to him play it and in the process learn a thing or two about him, and even though he was throwin Spanish at me and I looked a lot like a toddler trying to figure out why the square peg doesn't fit in the round hole, we connected on a level deeper than language, there was an understanding of each other that I've only ever experienced with a hand full of people.
This is where the night became special for me. As we were sitting there trying to talk to each other, listening to Gabbi play guitar I had a thought about how it was going to be impossible to not see my family for a year, and just how wrong I was, not because I don't love my family. I do, but I realized something much more bizarre; I realized that this is my family. These little dudes I'm arm wrestling against (and winning) are my little brothers, and these men and women who whipped up more spaghetti on the spot to feed me, they're my brothers and sisters too, and we're all beloved children of God.
As you can see, the whole night was perfect and no part of me wanted it to end, but you know what they say about good things; they have to end. I can say without a doubt though that these are my people, and if I don't see them again after I leave the Dominican I will definitely see them in heaven, and we'll probably eat some more and sing some more and laugh some more and simply enjoy each others presence some more. Don't worry; I'll introduce you.
