The Little Things

Something about being in a third world country makes one very thankful for the little things in life… And it seems like the little things are always that which makes me miss home the most; sure, I miss my friends and family, but it’s the things I didn’t expect to miss that really throw me off and make me wish I could teleport, just so I could hop to the States even for a day to eat cheddar cheese, take a warm shower, feel clean, and sit on a couch. Friday, I was having a day where all the little things that are different about Guatemala – how inefficient everything is, how unsafe I feel sometimes, how tired I am of seeing potato bugs crawling around my room, how annoying it is to have ‘no water days,’ the creepy looks from the men at the gym – all of these things were really getting to me and I was hoping that around the next corner I would find a teleporter just so I could end up in Forest Grove, Oregon, sitting on my parents’ couch, eating American foods. Luckily, God knows when we are having days like this, and He knows what we need. After saying goodbye to our host family for the weekend (they went to a nearby pueblo for the weekend to seek medical care for Sheny’s mom), and after being overwhelmed by the things I had to remember to do this weekend to keep the house safe, I went upstairs and laid down for a “I just need a moment so I won’t be grumpy anymore” nap. 10 minutes into my nap, though, I heard Brooks quietly walking into my room. At first annoyed, I realized the reason he had come into my room was for a worthy piece of news: Linda, a missionary from Texas currently living in Huehue, had invited us to her house that night for dinner. Brooks and I gladly accepted the invitation, and hurried out to the orphanage so we would have time to teach our English class and visit with the kids before going to Linda’s house.

At the orphanage, our English class was again a struggle, made up of both kids that already knew the words we were teaching, and kids that couldn’t even write and spell in Spanish. After class Brooks and I both found refuge in the baby room, where things are a bit calmer and less physically taxing. After changing some diapers and feeding some babies, I looked around and realized Brooks was gone. I went and found him sitting in the office, writing down ideas for his next blog, taking some time to slow down and reflect. I plopped down on the couch next to him, realizing it was just that kind of day. He told me that Linda was on her way to pick us up, and I was so excited for those 10 minutes of sitting down and doing nothing. Linda came and got us at the orphanage, and while we told the doorkeeper we would be back later that night the stay at the orphanage, we realized after our dinner and desert at Linda’s that that was not going to happen – it was too late and we were too tired.

Once we arrived at Linda’s house, Linda’s roommate and fellow missionary, LynnAnn, was busy making meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a salad. LynnAnn is from Tennessee, and as Brooks said, she’s knows how to use her butter. We got a quick tour of their simple home, which they had just moved into after choosing to move out of the large mission house, and Brooks and I couldn’t help but feel so comfortable there and so at home. It was a small slice of America right in the middle of Huehue. We enjoyed LynnAnn’s AMAZING dinner, which was accompanied by a glass of lemonade with ice. After dinner we walked to a nearby tienda to buy ice cream bars, and another small thing Brooks and I realized we missed was being able to walk outside at night. Linda and LynnAnn live in a safe, quiet neighborhood with a gate out front; without these securities, it’s not a good idea to walk at night in Guatemala – even Guatemalans don’t do it. We took our ice cream bars home, and sat around their living room, eating ice cream and chatting with Linda, LynnAnn, and LynnAnn’s daughter, Jessie. It was just such a blessing. It was great to talk to Linda and LynnAnn, who had recently made the decision to move out of the mission house and no longer work as hosts to short term mission teams, making this decision to give them more time to focus on their other ministries in town. And it was good to hear about their passion for living in Guatemala – they both said they want to live here for the rest of their lives – but to know that along with that passion, they still get homesick sometimes, and they still crave American things, and they still get fed up with the inefficiency of this country. All in all it was a very healing night; I needed this one night to be reminded why I am here, that my being here is good, and that it’s okay that it’s not always easy.

The next day Brooks and I made ourselves a delicious breakfast, and for Brooks it was one of the first times he finally had enough to eat here. Our host mom is a good cook, but she doesn’t understand the proportions of food Brooks likes to eat, and because of this he has spent many days here still hungry after meals. But our family was out of town this weekend, and Brooks and I were on our own to cook what we wanted and how much we wanted, taking the foods she had left us and spicing it up a bit. We had a wonderful day of relaxation and good food; I slept in until 8:30, had breakfast, went to the gym, devoted hours and hours to typing up my notes from my Spanish classes, made a delicious lunch, read a bit, made a delicious dinner, and watched a movie. It’s simple comforts like these, good food and an American movie, which Brooks and I have become so thankful for, and which have become such great treats down here.

Sunday I slept in until 8:30 again, made another great breakfast, mosh (oatmeal) and fried plátanos, read and finished typing my notes, made a great lunch, and relaxed some more. In the afternoon, Brooks and I attended a church closer to our house that was suggested to us by Linda, and it was another answer to prayer because I felt so much more comfortable at this church than I had at our previous church. The worship music had instruments behind it, the pastor spoke more slowly and stayed in one story of the Bible instead of jumping around, and at the end a man came up to us to greet us in English. To find someone who speaks English is Huehue is pretty rare, and it was so nice for him to go out of his way to speak to us in his second language to make us feel more comfortable and at home.

The weekends go by so quickly here, and it seems like Monday comes around instantly and it’s time again to be at the orphanage and back to our busy weeks. But it’s weekends like this that help me maintain my excitement and joy down here, and help me to realize we should always be thankful for the little things in life.