The Necklace

"Me gusta este, I like this," I said pointing to the heart shaped pendant hanging around a girl's neck on our first day in Santa Cruz, Guatemala. I didn't know what to say, but I wanted to say something. It was important to me to try my best to speak Spanish, even if I had no idea what to say or how to say it. These three simple words opened the door to much more conversation with a girl who I would come to find out was named Alba Elizabeth.

My middle-school helpers. Alba Elizabeth is the one to my left.

Alba was one of the three middle-school aged girls that helped in my fourth grade class during VBS. They were each extremely helpful but Alba was clearly the leader of their group. She took charge in the classroom, passing out Play-Doh, beads, crayons, markers, and paper. When the children got restless she started a math game. She made sure the class was quiet when I needed to speak. I quickly realized that not only was Alba an awesome helper, but also a thoughtful friend. During that week, she saved Play-Doh for me each day so I could join the children in sculpting countless beautiful creations. While all the children were drawing pictures, she drew me one, complete with a sweet note. She even taught me some Spanish and proudly put the little English she knew to use. Outside of the classroom, Alba introduced me to many of her friends. She and I would sit arm-in-arm watching some of the other kids play sports. We chatted about everything from school to dreams to boys and she brought me to see her favorite place in Santa Cruz. It took just a few short days for us to become close friends.

Watching some of the guys play volleyball. Alba is to my right.

On the day that we left Santa Cruz, I brought an armful of my clothes to give to "my girls" as I called Alba's group of friends. I passed out t-shirts and sweatshirts and hugged each of these sweet girls about a thousand times. Then, right before it was time to leave, Alba came up to me and placed her heart shaped necklace in my hand. "No, no, no," I said with tears in my eyes trying to refuse her gift. But she closed my hand around it and insisted that I take it. I couldn't believe her generosity. I didn't deserve this gift. This was likely one of her most prized possessions and she wanted me to have it.

"My girls" on our last day in Santa Cruz. 

As I write this now, holding the necklace in my hand, almost 6 weeks since that day, I am still in absolute shock of Alba's great generosity and display of love. I've thought about this gift a lot since that day and to me, her gift is a perfect picture of God's great love. Just like Alba gave her necklace, her prized possession to me, God gave Jesus to us. God loves us so much, despite our flaws and shortcomings, that he sacrificed his beloved son. Alba's gift was surely a sacrifice; yet she wanted me to have it because she loved me. And that's the same way God feels about sending Jesus. WOW.

Saying my last (teary-eyed) goodbye to Alba. 

Sharing this little story with you all has been on my heart for almost a week now. This single gift impacted me more than almost anything else on the entire trip. It left me speechless and in tears; I felt so loved in that moment. In this moment, as I write, I'm in tears and feeling loved all over again. So imagine with me if we reacted like that every time we thought about God's gift of salvation. If you haven't truly thought about it in awhile, let yourself be in awe. Let it bring you to tears. Let yourself be speechless.

Sincerely,
Erin

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It's All About the People

"I could see you doing this for the rest of your life," my professor, Dr. Starr, said to me as I sat on the ground comforting two crying Indian children. At the time, I assumed that he meant he could see me being a missionary. I took that statement to heart. It stuck with me and caused me to seriously contemplate what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Was I supposed to be a missionary? Was God calling me to another country? What was my purpose? I spent almost a whole semester of college struggling with these questions.

And slowly, I began to realize that no, I probably wasn't going to be a missionary. I probably wouldn't be packing up and moving to another country when I graduated from college. So, that was that. I didn't think much about what Dr. Starr had said to me again until this summer.

This summer as I awaited my trip to Guatemala, I began reading a book called Jesus Is _____. The more I read, the more Jesus revealed His character to me. For so long I thought of Jesus as God, but I never thought much about the fact that He was human too, that He interacted with people, that he walked around. I don't know; I read about it, but never truly grasped its reality. Until this summer that is. The thing that struck me most and convicted me most was that Jesus loved everybody. He loved the unloved. He saw the invisible people. He took time to notice and care for the outcasts.

In Guatemala, Dr. Starr's words in India came to mind once again. "I could see you doing this for the rest of your life." I still don't know exactly what he meant, but suddenly the ambiguous "this" didn't mean being a missionary. Instead, "this" simply meant loving people.

There are people everywhere that need to be loved and that need to know Jesus' love. And I can do that! No matter where I am, I can love people. Whether I am at school, working in a cubicle, or traveling the world, God has called me to love because He first loved me.

Coming home from Guatemala I didn't experience the kind of discontent that I experienced after India. I think it's because I learned this: it's all about the people. It's all about taking the time to form real friendships. It's all about seeing the invisible people. It's all about listening to untold stories. It doesn't matter where I am, I can love people just as much at my college and in my city as I can in India or Guatemala or anywhere else in the world.

I don't know where I read this, but I keep this little nugget of wisdom in the back of my mind:

You cannot love your brother across the world if you cannot love your neighbor across the street.

So I challenge you friends: where ever you are, whether you are living in the place you've always lived or across the world, show genuine love to the people that you encounter. I could see you doing this for the rest of your life.

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