Kindness--Pass it on

The past week was a good week…

I was able to skype with my sister-in-law, which last week when we attempted we had some unfortunate technical difficulties. It was so good to actually get to see and talk to her this time. Really the whole idea of talking to someone "face to face" on another continent is just amazing! I'm thankful that we have an internet connection where we live. I learned that my little niece is now crawling, which makes me incredibly happy, but at the same time it's hard knowing I can't be there to experience it with her. I love her so much; she has done wonders in bringing out the best in our family. I was also able to skype with a dear friend, Liz. I've also missed her greatly. She has been a sweet, loving friend ever since we met working together at Starbucks. She was the friend that helped walk me through beginning a relationship with Christ. Back home we served together at church, The Summit, with the adorable two-year old's. She emailed me a few pictures of them displaying "we miss you Lauren" signs. Of course it touched my heart and made me miss them all even more. Plus, I just recently received a birthday card from my brother and sister-in-law, with a picture of Addie to boot! Between the card sent from my small group, the pictures from Liz and card from my family, I've never felt so loved, so far away!

On our volunteer excursion for the week, we went to the coast, but further down to a small beach town, south of Lima. Since it's the off season (summer being December-March), there was NO ONE on the beach. It was amazing. The day was overcast, without an ounce of sunshine to be found. But the empty beach was beautiful and peaceful. The only noise was the sound of the waves, and the occasional seagull flying overhead. A few of us went swimming, but after dipping my feet in, I knew there was no way I was going into that freezing water. I'm sure if I was more accustomed to it, but I got used to warm ocean water in the middle of July when I lived on the NC coast. I just enjoyed walking along the coastline, letting my feet sink into the wet sand. One of the small beach "restaurants" (more like food huts), lent us some of their chairs for free. So we all sat back and relaxed, reading our books or taking short naps. For a while I just sat there taking it all in. It felt as if God was right there with his arms wrapped around me, proud to show it off and content that it made me feel at peace. I watched the others enjoying it all, happy to know that they were there in the same moment, taking in the beauty of God's creation. Whether we share the same thoughts on how things came to be, and although we sat there in silence, it was still remarkable to take it all in together.

At the end of the week, we decided to go out for fruit salad's after realizing it'd been a while since we'd last gone. We ventured out, but found that because it was a busy Saturday night, getting a table would be difficult. We went to our usual spot, where we have become friends with one of the waitresses, Alicia. But after seeing that it was slam-packed, we decided elsewhere. We've come across that problem before, but generally do not mind waiting. However, there have been times when she's asked someone who was finishing to clear the table. It may not seem like a big deal, but we don't the idea of showing up just to make others leave. Instead we walked back to another juice/fruit salad location down the street. On the way, we stopped by a little shop that sells yarn. I'm pretty certain I've become their #1 customer in knitting purchases, lol. I've gone to them for my own purchases, which I won't lie, have been quite a few. (I've decided to knit hats for everyone in the house.) I've also brought them more business by recruiting others in the house to join in the knitting festivities. So we stopped by to pick up needles and yarn for one of our new knitters. The owner ended up giving me a book about a traveler's outdoor adventure in Peru that took place in the 80's. At first I didn't understand what he meant. I saw that the book was in English, but I wasn't sure if he wanted me to help him read it or wanted me to have it. I heard him say he couldn't understand it, but I didn't catch the part where he told me I could have it. I didn't want to assume he was just giving it to me! But he did, I guess because I do frequent his shop at least once or twice a week. It was a really nice gesture and I think the next time, I'll stop to chat a bit more with him and his wife. It was an evening of nice gestures, because when we got to the next juice bar, all the tables were taken except a small one with two seats. However, there were 5 of us, so that table wasn't going to work. Suddenly, a couple got up and offered us their table in order to join it with the smaller table. It was very generous because in that moment they didn't have a spot to sit. Just a minute later though, another couple got up from a nearby table and then offered to the nice couple. It was a really nice thing they did, we were very grateful. Most of the time we receive wary and confused stares from the other customers. Oh yeah--and then a generous act that someone did earlier that afternoon for another volunteer and I, was on the way back down from a class in Zone Z. A passenger on the combi paid for both of our fares. He was nice but he mistook us for tourists and said he'd like to pay for our ride back down. It was strange again, because we usually just face curious stares when we get on the bus. But we were appreciative and chatted on the ride back. So it turned out to be a day full of random, generous acts! A good finish to the week.