Familiar

What is familiar? It is amazing how quickly we can adapt...

In El Salvador... I became accustomed to traveling in the back of a huge truck, living in the Hope House where we had to be escorted if we ever left the building, the sight of the postitutes and drug house across the street, sleeping in rooms and using bathrooms that had sheets hanging instead of doors, the sight of poverty and suffering. I came to feel at home with Donya Trini and her family and to love the children of Hope House.

In La Esmerelda... my eyes and body became used to the dirt roads, the wood houses with thatched roofs of palms, showering in a bucket, using an outhouse (I did miss having a toilet seat), having neither running water nor electricity, going to bed at 8:30 or 9 because it was so dark and the roosters and dogs would wake you up by 6am if not earlier, watching women cook our ample meals over a wood fire as they continuously made tortillas. Worshipping in a cinderblock church on rough wood benches supported by tree stumps, afternoon rain, trying to hand wash my clothes and being frustrated when they never quite dried before it rained. I got used to the mud, the baby chickens in the house with us, the bugs... sort of. I could see past the dirt, bugs and what not and see the abundance in other ways.

In Guatemala City, I have become used to riding in a jeep with no seatbelt, the heavy traffic and amazing way more accidents don´t happen, reading signs in Spanish, being worried about being robbed, the sight of squatter homes, having church in someone´s garage. These last days the families in the hospital waiting room have become very familiar as we all wait to visit loved ones at 12pm and again at 5pm for an hour... in between we usually wait together by the entrance (Padre Horacio is doing very well!)

As Guatemala becomes more familiar to my eyes, as I adjust, I wonder how long it will take to adjust to being back in Minnesota. I feel like now, after nearly a month, I can begin to see Guatemala instead of just look at the people, sights, etc... I look forward to truly seeing.