Mission Group 1: Louisiana

This last week, as I noted in my last post, we've had a mission team from Louisiana here at the UBL. They range in age from 21 to grandparents - my best guess would be about 75. They are all members of a small church in a parish about the size (population-wise) of Grinnell-the-town. The group includes a kindergarten teacher, several retirees, a prision librarian, a hair dresser, and a university student. They spent the first few days they were here painting the chapel, the casa de miliones (de mujeres), a kitchen somewhere, and one of the apartments. They also did some roof repairs here at the apartments, for which I am very grateful!

The team has been very friendly. Though none of them really speak Spanish, they have been very interested in getting to know the students and the children here. I ate lunch with them everyday, and my "payment" was translating the questions and answers of the students Becky invited to eat with them. The people invited varied from professors from the US and Switzerland, to Costa Rican students, to Peruvian political-prisoners-turned-seminarians (which is pretty fitting, when you think about it). I am very grateful for the opportunity I've had while they were here (and will have again with the next group) to learn more about the students. I see most of them in the library, and know their names and where they're from, but I know very little about their lives. I knew J. was from Peru, but I didn't know that J. had been in jail for 9 years, accused of terrorism, though he never received a trial, and once he did, was immediately freed since he was found innocent. I knew that B. was nearly blind, but I didn't realize that B.'s family had supported her through school, despite a degenerative vision problem, and continue to support her dreams of becoming a teacher. It has been a humbling experience.

Speaking English has been a bit of a relief as well, to be honest. I am rapidly regaining language proficiency, but it is still difficult for me, and translating is hardest of all. I am past the point of needing to do a running translation in my head for all but the most difficult parts, but actually translating from Spanish to English is hard - I often have a really good grasp on the ideas being presented but no clue how to turn them into English phrases, and when I do, they come out ridiculously awkward and stilted. Sigh. Oh well. I like pretty much everyone (the guy who asked derisively what there was to do in Minnesota has earned my eternal enmity), and they're all very interesting, lovely people. Plus, in return for translating, I get to eat lunch with them, which is a whole week of not having to cook for myself, which, let me tell you, is awesome.