the language of love

As I was deciding whether or not to pursue Lumos I stumbled across a book about a young girl’s story serving with Mother Teresa as a college student. This book become my rock throughout my lumos experience and was a major wink from God to pursue Lumos. These quotes are a few of my favorites from the book.

 “When we speak the language of God’s love the barriers drop and everyone understands” 

“Let us meet each other with a smile for a smile is the beginning of love” 

“Joy is half the gift we bring” 

Before leaving when people would ask me what I was most nervous for I would say loneliness and the language barrier. I would be lying if I said I never experienced loneliness especially at the start but now in a way my heart belongs to the people I serve and I feel at home with them. My motivation to learn spanish does not come from a place of loneliness but rather a desire to deepen relationships to help others more. I can honestly say that learning spanish is the most challenging part of my experience. I naively thought oh with time I’ll pick up things, I have some Spanish knowledge it will be okay. But the reality is majority of the time I cannot understand the conversations I am surrounded by. The most disheartening part is when someone is trying so hard to tell you something but you simply cannot understand. I experience this daily and it is in these moments that propel me to learn. Learning another language is overwhelming and daunting. Often I feel like I am just flailing drowning in random vocab, but I have to remind myself that the effort to learn matters in the now and in the future. The temptation to give up and not continue to learn to just live in the silence is so strong some days, but I feel the Lord saying this was not meant to be easy keep going. 

Since I have limited spanish, I have learned the importance of joy and a smile to the extreme. I learned how to build a relationship with someone without true conversation. Hugging, dancing, singing, laughing, and smiling matter most. Choosing to believe in the good of the other and choosing to live in the discomfort of not knowing is life changing. When I reflect on this week, I think of laughing passing a ball with a young boy in PT, giggling eating mangos in the pool with Josue and Deisy, bouncing a baby in my arms, singing along to worship music with a patient, smiling learning how to cook something by watching a friend, and looking at a book with a young boy in my lap. 

Así, salud por vivir con alegría!