May & June Recap

Emmet Chavez

Jul 24

3 min read

Señor, me has mirado a los ojos,

sonriendo has dicho mi nombre

O Lord, with your eyes set upon me,

gently smiling, you have spoken my name

Lately, I've been finding prayer through music particularly fruitful. Above is a snippet of one of my favorite songs to pray with. Here are a couple reasons why.

We celebrated 30 years of the Finca in May, and a number of former residents joined us for the festivities. Among those were sisters A and N, who left the Finca last year. We are blessed to have visited A in January of this year, and during that visit we met K, another of A's younger sisters. K is a no more than 6 year old bundle of energy with the biggest smile you've ever seen. It was an incredible gift to see that smile again when all 3 sisters came for the anniversary party in May.

Various ex-missionaries, board members, former residents and their families

By the time Saturday evening rolled around after the anniversary party, I was exhausted. After a long week of hosting, entertaining, preparing and celebrating, I was ready for a break from the action. For that reason, I wasn't putting my best foot forward being present to the person in front of me - and that's when K put herself squarely in front of me.

Standing in our house in the midst of about 30 people who were eating with us, I saw K coming towards me out of the corner of my eye. The next thing I know she had wrapped herself around my legs in an unsolicited bear hug. I looked down to see her trademark smile and big brown eyes staring up and directly into my soul. The exhaustion quickly evaporated into nothing but gratitude for the Finca's mission and the privilege of being someone K is comfortable ambushing with a hug.

Just about every time I sing the first line above, I see K staring up at me.

Chael is a girl that lives in a somewhat isolated mountain town about an hour away from the Finca (if the rain hasn't washed out the road). I first met Chael in February of this year while translating for a medical brigade that visited her town. She had a decidedly wide-eyed look to her, which is pretty understandable coming from a 16-17 year old girl that is 7 months pregnant. But she also had a calmness about her. She radiated a quiet joy in welcoming her first child that I could not help but be swept up by as she shared with me about her situation. Something about her clear answer to the call of motherhood touched me.

Fast-forward four months, and I am back in that same mountain town, serving with a different medical brigade. Working in the donations room handing out clothes, I turned around to see one of the Franciscan Sisters holding a baby. Before I could go over and convince the Sister to hand over the baby to me, I saw a young girl perusing the clothing options on the other side of the room. There was something familiar about the girl, and as I stood there looking back and forth between the baby and the girl, it dawned on me - Not only had I seen this girl (Chael) before, but she was no longer pregnant!

Chael welcomed baby Emerson into the world two months ago, and praise God they are both healthy. Holding her baby boy, she had that same calmness about her that stood out to me in our first meeting. Gently smiling at Emerson in a way only a mother can look at her child, for the second time Chael showed me so clearly the pure joy and love that Christ has for each one of us.

When I hear the line “Sonriendo / Gently smiling”, I cannot help but think of Chael and Emerson.