Relationships Across Generations

The kids have started climbing trees, even ones that don't
have branches low enough to grab!

We are often surprised by the way God is continuing to develop relationships between us and our neighbors. I continue to be the wound nurse in the neighborhood. Pretty much because I have supplies no one else has. No special skills needed. One of our neighbors had a motorcycle accident where the kick stand went into the side of his foot by his big toe. It took out a big chunk of skin and he had stitches put in. So I became the person to give him some Neosporin and change the bandages. It often seems like very inconvenient timing (as I don’t deal with these things quickly and I am not a nurse!), but I figure if it were my son I would want someone to help out. Before I help each person I pray in my head it will somehow show them they are a child of God and loved by God.
El Padre does an excellent job playing with children in a way that is not often seen in this culture. He is a great Dad in playing with our children, but also a role model for the children of the neighborhood. In fact, the guard’s son who is turning 4 years old this month now refers to El Padre as Daddy (mostly because he hears it squealed so much from our kids).

A family pic from Halloween pumpkin carving.

Passing information on to the next generation is something that often seems to fall to the wayside here because everyone segregates by age-groups so much. Interestingly, a missionary who will be moving to the Sahel in the future commented to us how he would like to learn the secret of how they retain so many youth in the church here. It’s true that the church is growing fastest through births and it doesn’t seem like they are losing lots of members at any age. My best guess comes down to the fact that there aren’t many other options of activities for children here, so the church continues to be appealing as a place of fellowship. One can go to Sunday school or the next best option might be to sit under a tree. Church doesn’t have much competition. But still more intentional investment in the next generation is an area that we would like to see the church grow down the road. Change often comes slowly.

-- La Maestra