A Connection

Some of you may remember the elderly lady, Teresa that lives immediately adjacent to our apartment (the one who brought Caleb the sugary treats for “el dia del niño”). This past weekend our family received an unexpected invitation from some of her visiting family members. Gabby (her niece), her husband and their four-year old son knocked on our door with a request to join them for afternoon refreshments. As Caleb was napping when they dropped by we struggled with our fledgling Spanish to tell them that we would love to visit within the next 30 minutes.

Immediately after accepting the invitation Amy and I were filled with an odd mixture of excitement (at the prospect of meeting some new folks) and fear (at the likelihood that our visit may involve a lot of staring and very little talking). After Caleb awoke we prayed that this would be more than a chance to embarrass ourselves and we walked next door.

What followed was an extremely enjoyable afternoon. Soon after arriving, “Eduardo” (how’s that for a name that’s easy to remember?) and I took our two sons outside where they played something that slightly resembled soccer. After quickly tiring of this they turned a couple of sticks into swords and enjoyed being pirates for the next hour. While the two kids eliminated the language barrier in a matter of minutes Eduardo had a lot of questions for me. He was very curious as to why a young family from the states would want to sell a house, quit a good job in the pharmaceutical industry and move to Mexico City. I attempted to explain how I felt that God wanted us to be here. He continued to listen as I explained that our first priority was to learn Spanish which would better enable us to later work with some of the local churches in helping the children of the city realize how much God loves them. (It really surprised me how much of this “I” was able to effectively communicate ;o) After my introduction, Eduardo told me that he and his wife had just celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary. He also told me that Gabby had endured some fairly severe complications with her pregnancy and that having another child was strongly discouraged by their physicians. This was initially a saddening revelation for both Eduardo and Gabby but as soon as he said this he then commented gratefully at how much joy his healthy four-year old has brought to his life.

I can’t adequately express how encouraging it was to have a conversation with someone that surpassed the initial pleasantries of “hi” and “how are you?”. After the kids were close to exhaustion we went back upstairs where I learned that Amy and Gabby had enjoyed an equally pleasant evening. Amy and I went home that night genuinely thankful that we had the opportunity to MEET someone in this city of 20 million, (a task that’s proving more difficult that I would have thought). Furthermore, we were given a unique occasion to share the genuine reason we are living here.

Since Amy, Caleb and I began this journey back in 2006 we have repeatedly been told that learning Spanish IS our active ministry for this first phase of living in Mexico. Still, even while knowing this it’s often hard to feel like we are fulfilling our purpose simply by attending classes and completing homework assignments. We are praying that our initial meeting with the family that periodically visits apartment #11 will, perhaps provide the basis for further interactions. We also are hopeful that similar relationships will be built the longer that we are granted the opportunity to live in Mexico.