Updates from Language School

First of all, thank you for all your concerns and prayers for the people of Mexico during last week’s earthquake.   We are safe and did not feel the tremor at all while at language school in Guadalajara (about 300 miles from Mexico City).   Our hearts and prayers continue to go out to the people and the country that are so generously hosting us.

Language school is going great.   Maria and I both get two hours of class time each morning with no more than two other students.   We take turns getting an hour of private tutoring in the afternoon.   The boys are in a class with just themselves for two hours a day.   MJ and Naomi go to a Montessori school from 8:30 to 1:00.   We have been learning a lot and enjoyed exploring the area and culture.

Studying with Dad.

Washing the dishes.

 

Street performers based of off indigenous traditions.

View from the hike into a canyon near Guadalajara.

Reason for the hike... volcanic hot springs!

We also got to reunite with a little of Buffalo when we went to visit Chris and Ann Marie Duquin and their children in Ajijic over the weekend!   The town, and mountains, and lake felt like the Adirondacks with the occasional palm tree.  We eventually did figure out the timer on the camera. With the local dogs trying to sniff the shutter, this was the best we got!

The Duquin and Gehl Families

Exploring the Streets of Ajijic.

Colors of the market

More colors

Speaking of markets... Jesus is a horrible economist!  In this past weekend's gospel (Matthew 20:1-16) Jesus shares a parable about a boss who goes to the main square and hires workers in the morning, some more at noon, again some more in the afternoon, and finally another group an hour before the end of the workday.   He then pays them in the opposite order that he employed them, but paying them all the same amount, a full day’s wage.   The workers that worked the whole day, and therefore were paid last, were upset feeling that it was unjust that they were paid the same as those that worked only an hour.   

A critic of more progressive economic structures, perhaps like socialism, might suggest that the next day, people would show up later in the square, hoping to work only a half day or less and hoping to get the full day’s wage.   Eventually all potential workers would show up only at the last hour, hoping to get employed and get paid for a full day of work.   Of course then business would slow down and most likely reach a point where it was no longer sustainable to hire people only for an hour and pay them for a full day.

Having lived in Mexico for the past several months and after exploring various plazas and markets, my imagination creates new images of what this scene and what the people must have looked like.  The question comes to my mind, who were the people that did not get hired till the last hour?   When the boss asked them, “Why do you stand here idle all?” They simply responded, “Because no one has hired us.”   Why did they not get hired earlier in the day?   Maybe they had some kind of handicap that made them undesirable for hire.   Perhaps they were bound to a wheelchair or some other physical calamity, had an addiction, or struggled with a mental illness. Their usefulness was in question to the point where they were perceived as more of a hindrance to most potential employers.

Señor Juan

As we encounter these individuals, as we learn their names, their stories, and come to know them, and even consider them friends, I am forced to have a new perspective.   The morning we were leaving General Cepeda for Guadalajara, I was taking garbage to the corner when I heard Señor Juan call to me asking for help.   Of course Señor Juan, didn't know who I was.   Seriously, he didn't know I was a missionary.   He didn't know I was white or an American.  He didn't know if I was a man or a woman, if I was an adult or a child.   He couldn't...  Señor Juan is blind.   He needed to get to the Presidencia, the local town hall or municipal building, about 100 yards from the corner he was standing at.  I figured out that either a family member or friend had dropped him off and for some reason did not take him the rest of the way.   He was standing at the corner waiting for anyone to pass him so he could ask for help.  

It took me a while to figure out what exactly he wanted, but eventually I figured it out, I took him by the hand and walked him the rest of the way.   Of course this was September 16, the Mexican Independence Day, so everything was closed.   After another fifteen minutes of communicating, I figured out that he didn't need a ride back to his house.   Which is good, because I have no idea how a blind man would give me directions.   "Turn here" and "Go past the next green house" don't really work.  Fortunately he only needed a help to the Comedor.  (A "restaurant" that provides free meals for the sick and elderly.)   As we walked this time, I noticed his slow gate was partially due to his blindness, but also due to the poor condition of his shoes.   I asked him how were his feet, he said good, but that his shoes were a little old.  That was an understatement.   I judged the rough size of his feet and told him that I may have a pair that would fit him.  I was able to direct him to the short concrete wall to sit (see the above picture) while I went and grabbed the shoes.   Images of feet washing flashed through my mind I unlaced his old shoes and revealed his dry and cracked sockless feet.  Praise the Lord the shoes were a perfect fit.   Señor Juan was so excited and proud to feel his new shoes and try them out as we walked to the Comedor.

Would I be willing to sacrifice and work a whole day, just to do enough work so that both Señor Juan and I could get a full day's wage?   How could I say no?   From an economic perspective, is it fair or just... no.  Jesus' teachings on divine economics doesn't make sense from any business or economic stand point.   Their utility is questionable for both capitalism and socialism.   But for the Kingdom of God, for sake of the virtues of generosity, love of neighbor, and mercy, they are beyond reproach.  Governments, social structures, economic systems perhaps can lead to a just and fair society, but they cannot, in themselves, change the heart, nor make a person generous or virtuous.   This is the realm of conversion and morals.   When I encounter another person, am I open to hearing their story?  Am I willing to let the reality of that person change who I am, my outlook on life and the world, the decisions that I make, and increase my capacity to love?  

The Kingdom of God is neither fair nor just.   I don't deserve it.   I can't earn it.   In fact in my brokenness and weaknesses, I fall drastically short of God's love.   But that is exactly the point... the love of God is a gift.  His mercy... a gift.   I just have to acknowledge how much I need it and accept it.   And His love and mercy invites me to change my life so I can increase my capacity to receive more.   The wages given to the workers that only labored for one hour received a gift that they didn't earn either.   They only needed to accept it.

As Christians, we are called to be like Christ, we must then also ask the question, how can I be more generous and merciful?   How can I be more like Christ?   Who are the undesirables, the useless ones.  They are the ones that no one sought to hire, the unseen and forgotten.   Spiritually speaking, who are the ones bound to a wheelchair with some calamity... maybe an addiction, or a mental illness.  Maybe a former convict that has served his time and despite his desire and ability to now be a meaningful member of society, is scarred by an unjust reputation and stigma.  Maybe a person that was a religious, racial, or social outcast.   But I know this, Jesus would seek them out and hire them even for just the last hour of the day.   What if Jesus desires to seek them out and hire them through me?  Through you?