Sonrisas y Sol

 “Kings build their castles and fools surround their thrones.  A thousand hillside mansions slowly fade.  We have built cathedrals wrought with  stained glass and with gold,  but inside them we feel cold and faraway. I’ve been searching high, searching high to find You,  but I have been so wrong. I should have known to  look among the lowly , the poor and weary. I see Your holy presence ever near. The last and least, Your touch means peace and hope. I should have known to look among the lowly.” (“Look Among the Lowly,” Naomi Jackson) Lowly Living I washed parasite medication down with “liquid IV” electrolyte drink and went back outside to join my other slightly-infirmed friend. Our kitchen area was smoky from the open fire on which Emilianne and I were cooking potato soup and cornbread. All of Sunday’s meals had a slightly campfirey vibe due to the propane shortage in Rurre. “I took my American stove and oven for granted till I got here; I took our propane stove and oven here for grant

 “Porque sí,” is one of the single most hilarious things my girls say. It’s a response that works for any questioning of their motives. “Because yes.” “Nicol, why are you running through the house yelling?” “¡Porque sí!” “Why are you wearing your dress like a turtle?” “Porque sí.” “Why did you put marker on your fingernails?”  “Porque sí.”  “Why are you wearing winter gloves and a t-shirt to class?” “Porque sí.” “Why would I take you to el arroyo in a thunderstorm?” “Porque sí.” “Why would I let you watch a nature video if your chores aren’t done?” “Porque sí.” “Maribel, you have my speaker in your shirt??” “Porque sí.” Por Que: For What Some things here are just because. Breakfasts have to be entirely sweet or entirely savory. We only have spoons to eat everything with (and four forks). Everyone has their own roll of toilet paper instead of sharing. It’s unimportant to question why the power and water go out. All laundry gets scrubbed to death by a brush, dirt or no dirt. School only

One beautiful thing about the Spanish language is that there are universal rules of pronunciation and conjunction. One word — “vivir,” for example, meaning “to live” — can be written in perfectly patterned past, present, and future tense: “viví”  (“I lived”), “vivo” (“I live”), and “viviré” (“I will live”). This pattern makes learning Spanish exponentially easier than learning English.  With all of that said, I can really only speak in the present tense. I do appreciate the patterns and understand when I hear others use them, but I have yet to be able to speak well about the past (and forget the future)! When I verbalized this observation, it made me think: so much of what I am doing on a daily basis here is for the present only. I hyper-focus on the beauty of here and now and “laugh without fear of the future” (Proverbs 31:25). Past “I am running from things that can destroy my soul: complacency, comfort, and ignorance. I am much more terrified of living a comfortable life in a self-s

“¡Guau!” I was enamored by the biggest butterfly  ever  in my house the first night at Familia Feliz. But immediately the girls hushed my reveling: “¡Es una mala mariposa!” (“It’s a bad butterfly!”) A  borro  is a type of massive butterfly or moth (no one can quite pinpoint it) that lives here and lays its eggs in clothing (or on people), which then burrow beneath human skin, leaving the larvae be squeezed out painfully. So now when I see a big moth/butterfly circling in my room, my first instinct to  ooh  and  ahh  is replaced by the urge to get away. It seems that some of the best, most beautiful things are tainted by sin. There is more than one side to every person and every situation. Indeed, there is a very real battle against the beauty God intended. Battle Teacher Melissa stood outside of her house while twenty-two people were inside getting ready for supper. She was holding the hand of a little boy (who she’d just rescued from begging off of the street) while on the phone with