In my writings, I typically try to bring a message that can be applied to all of our lives. In Ecuador, this has usually meant sifting through the many facets of cross-cultural relations and the complicated self-interpretation of cultural adaption to weave together a reflection. However, this week the message has jumped out at me from many different sources and even completely different continents. It is as simple message, and one that cannot wait for tomorrow to be heard. I hope you’re having a great day, and welcome to another week of Ecuadorian madness!
On Friday, I found myself on the Internet for the first time in over a week-and-a-half. Now, I don’t want to sound like an Internet-dependent when I say that was a long time for me, but it was my longest ‘drought’ in at least 5 years. It’s amazing the emotions that 2 work weeks of information can bring at one time. And while many messages from friends come as pleasant surprises and can leave one longing for home, it’s the unfortunate messages of bad news that not only leave you shocked and depressed, but can leave you longing even more for home, wanting to comfort those affected by the tragedy. From a close friend back in Minnesota, I was informed that one of her good high school friends had died tragically in a car accident. Although I had only met this person a few times before in my life, I felt the need and urge to be there for a close friend. Another close friend currently studying in India who was included in the email reminded us all that life is all too short and unpredictable to not take every chance to tell our friends and family that we love and care for them.
Later that afternoon, I was on my way to visit a friend at a different internship site in a town called Congahua. For the entire weekend, I was welcomed in by her family, who, despite their humble living situation, made every arrangement to ensure my comfort and enjoyment of my time with them. And while I was more than grateful for the meals they fed me and the bed they gave me, I was also feeling somewhat guilty at the same time- what right did I have to accept all these acts of kindness from people probably much less well-off than myself?
Jumping ahead to Sunday, I was fortunate to wrap up my time with the family by attending church service at their community Evangelical congregation. This was especially exciting in a predominately Catholic country and as I had only attended Catholic services up to this point. Surprisingly, the message with most impact came during the first 3 minutes of the service. The guitar player and lead singer read a beautiful passage with a similar message to that of my friend halfway around the globe. It read “mañana ya es muy tarde para…” (tomorrow already is very late to…) tell the people in our life that we love them, to give thanks for all that we have, and to do many of the other important things that matter in life. This touched me greatly, especially in light of events back home and reflection from a completely different part of the world. Through the power of God and the Holy Spirit, 3 separate worlds had been united under one simple reminder… why wait until tomorrow to do the important things that matter today? Live in the moment.
Back on the Yunguilla front, nothing new has really developed, as is to be expected in the simple life. Especially in light of the projects that many of my other friends are working on in their internships, it has been a bit of a disappointment how simple and non-academic the work here has been. Still, I keep reminding myself to live in the moment and learn as much as a can from this dynamically simple place.
I’ll leave you with some pictures of the weekend, which consisted in a double birthday party and more exploring of the beautiful, yet rainy, Ecuadorian countryside. See you in another week.
An Ecuadorian tradition at birthday parties
Another tradition- stuffing your face in the cake
No comments:
Post a Comment