Hermanos en Cristo

I've done a lot of walking in this community

My last visit to Carabuela happened this past week.  There were things to take care of, and I was the only one around from the office that was available to go.  This time though, it was different.  Before I was basically hoping to survive while finishing the tasks at hand.  This time I felt God asking more of me than just serving through my physical and mental labor.  He wanted me to speak, to encourage and share about His faithfulness.

Now as you probably are well aware, I am not exactly gifted when it comes to words coming out of my mouth.  Producing a perfectly logical argument, I explained to God why this was not a good idea: I'm no preacher, not to mention my Spanish is still pretty rough.  As far as I was concerned, I was better off keeping my mouth shut and sticking to working hard and being a servant.  The irony is that during this dialogue with God I had started reading through Exodus and the beginning of Moses' story, where he chickened out when God asked him to speak.  Interesting timing...  Anyway it didn't take long to figure that God thought it was a good idea after all.  Even so I had no idea what He wanted me to say, or who to say it to.

As I sat on the bus traveling by the winding mountain roads toward Carabuela, I asked God to give me some ideas for what to say.  Nothing came to me.  I flipped through my Spanish dictionary until I decided that He would work something out, probably at the last minute of course.

The chanchitos kept me company

When I arrived in the community I went about my work, doing the usual walk around with Luis and Alberto to check on things.  I needed to get an estimate for daily water usage, which meant I had to take measurements in a reservoir for 24 hours.  Basically I had to sit outside at this reservoir as long as people were awake and using water.  Staying up late with a dying flashlight at my side, getting a little sleep, and then waking up at four in the morning to start again made for some tedious work.  At least it gave me plenty of time to read some books.

When it came time for me to leave, to my dismay it seemed that I had missed any opportunities to say whatever I was supposed to say to whoever I was supposed to say it to.  As I headed for the bus station I felt like a failure.  Then Luis asked if I would eat lunch with him before I left.  Here was another chance.  He took me to the nearby city and we sat down in a little restaurant.  Still no inspirational words came to mind.  So I just started talking.  I let him know that I enjoyed working with him, and I appreciated his strong work ethic.  The most important thing though was that we shared our faith in Jesus.  He patiently listened to my broken Spanish as I talked about our differences in culture, background, language, skin color, and lifestyle.  But with all the differences we are still of equal value to God, and part of the same family.  We are ''hermanos en Cristo'' (brothers in Christ).  Luis' eyes lit up as he smiled and nodded.  He told me the next time I come to Ecuador I am welcome to come visit and stay in his house again.  I said if God takes me back again I would gladly do that.

After we finished our lunch Luis shook my hand, and then gave me a hug.  Even though it was just a short conversation, I felt that it was just as important as all the work we did on the water system.  God continues to teach me through experiences that are uncomfortable, exciting, boring, painful, rewarding, and sometimes awkward.  Through all of it I am reassured of His faithfulness to guide my steps and my words, even if it's at the last minute.