Photos.

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So, I had to type something up for the Mission Partner's Breakfast this morning. I thought I would cheat, and use it as a blog post - because really, I have exactly zero time to type any other one.

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I couldn’t choose one item, so I’ve decided to choose all of the millions of photos I take on a minute-by-minute basis.

Each of the photos tells a story - some are stupid, like the day I walked in to find the girls in Casa de Amor had used hundreds of bobbles to make their hair stand on end, or the day the boys in my class decided to give the teddy bears a bath in the water tray because they were dirty (they have yet to fully recover).

Some are sad - photos of families who have come to visit nieces, granddaughters, only to be refused permission for the children’s welfare - photos taken because maybe it is all they’ll know of their relatives. Photos of goodbye parties as children come and go with their missionary families, and children learn to say goodbye much earlier than anticipated.

Last photos - snapped just before children meet their parents, and then again just before they leave for good. Smiley, happy faces in front of the camera, with bittersweet memories being replayed behind the lense.

Photos of nature - of the surroundings God has placed me in, of the beautiful sunsets and the rain that finally falls. Or of the cows we bumped into on the way home from church.

Milestones - photos that should have been taken by parents, or by relatives at least. Photos of first steps, first foods, first words. Photos of Mother’s Day, Father’s Day events - where half of my world has them there with them, and the other half looks for substitutes.

Fun photos - from when we go out and learn about water right at the source. From when we dance our little hearts out in admiration and worship of the one who has placed us where we are. When we go out and enjoy a normal life, if only for a little while, while we just act like kids and play and run and shout.

Photos filled with love - caring for them while they’re sick, holding them while they cry, kissing their bruised knees. Becoming friends after fighting. Learning to work together, and enjoy it.

Sometimes the work I do here seems exhausting and never-ending. But then I look at the photos, and I see it for what it truly is - holy work. Sometimes, it just seems to holy and divine as I do every mundane thing asked of me that I want to fall to my knees. I spend each and every day thanking God for every hug, for every kiss, for every moment I get with them.


And as I look at the photos, I see His face in each of theirs. And on the hard days, that’s enough for me to get up and try again.

Comments

  1. Emily Booher17 May 2016 at 21:38

    Wow. So Touching. Great job putting all that into words.

    ReplyDelete

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