Meeting Neighbors
It never fails...when we go out, we meet people.
I took the kids to the park today on their day off of school for a picnic lunch and a game of soccer. As we came to the park, the sprinklers came on, and so we decided to go in around the back where there was no water cascading down on our heads.
As we set up our picnic lunch on our blanket and settled down to feast on peanut butter sandwiches and apples, suddenly a sprinkler popped up close by and started spraying our direction. We were giggling and ducking, squealing as the water was soaking Mateo’s back, when a lady from a house that borders the little park came running out with three buckets in her hand. She ran and dodged the water, only to toss the buckets over the sprinkler heads and saving our picnic!
She came over and we started to chat, and she ended up joining our little park party and even played soccer with the kids! Her name is Maru, and she is an English tutor. She has a dog named Coca-Cola and she brought us an entire box of Dulce de Leche sweets to welcome us to the neighborhood!
Maru has taken down my number and has asked if I would help her occasionally with her English grammar questions. She had a son who died of cancer 8 years ago when he was only 19, and she has two surviving children. When asked how she got through that time, she said “I don’t know what you believe or if you are a Catholic, but I just asked God and we got through it.”
I am delighted that God has placed her here in our lives. I don’t think she is necessarily a practicing believer, but already the topic of conversation has turned to God!
We also met our neighbors across the street. Naúm and her family have two children roughly Sydney and Mateo’s ages. It was a brief meeting, but they made the effort to come and introduce themselves.
There are no coincidences. These are great opportunities!
Ciudad Bugambilias
Friday, March 7, 2008
