In all the preparations for this year's Peru trip...and the getting sick before-hand...and the being really, really sick when I got home...I got away from posting these pieces about my 2006 Ecuador trip. And I don't think anyone really cares...but I'm picking up where I left off. :)
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I have found that with every missions trip, there is one person the Lord has for me to meet. There is always one person who comes home with me as part of my heart and yet keeps a part of me with them. I met that person at lunch after the church service and, even now, it is difficult for me to write about Jenni without crying. Her tenderness broke my heart with our first conversation.
After the service at their own church in Montalvo, Pastor Hernan, his wife Jenni and their children Sarita, Carlos and Alejandro, met us at Primera Bautista for lunch and an afternoon sightseeing excursion. We were already seated for lunch when they arrived and because Dan knew I spoke Spanish, he intentionally had Jenni sit in the empty seat next to me. I was excited when she sat down simply for the chance to speak Spanish and to help her communicate with my friends.
We, of course, did the initial introductions among the people sitting in our area and moved from there into explaining who was related to whom on our trip and who was related to people who had come before us on previous trips. Ava and Lana were seated across from Jenni and I, and it soon became apparent that there was a relationship between the three of us. That, in conjunction with Ava and I having the same hair color at the time, led Jenni to ask if Ava was my mom. Jenni had already proven herself patient with my poor Spanish so I opted to give the full explanation rather than a simple “no.” I told her that Ava has been my mentor for two years and that she was like my mom because my mom doesn’t know Jesus. Jenni looked at me, with tears in her eyes and said, “She is your spiritual mom.” When I nodded and agreed to such a very appropriate title for Ava, Jenni began to cry. She told me, then, of the struggles she and her husband had faced in their church and community over the past year. At the end of her story, she said that her heart longs for a mentor, for someone to disciple her and for a godly woman-friend she could confide in and pray with; that she loves her husband but that it isn’t the same as having a close female friend. My heart broke for her then and I realized how very much I take Ava for granted. I also realized how blessed I am to have, not only Ava, but also several other godly women in my life who advise me and pray with and for me. Yet I was sitting next to a tender and faithful woman who wanted to live for the Lord in her community and had to do it alone.
That conversation was only the beginning of the relationship between Jenni and I. The more time I spent talking with her, watching her minister to us, and praying for her, the more the Lord burdened my heart for her. I consider it one of the best blessings of the trip to have been able to get to know her as I did
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