bilingual brotherhood

I’m sitting here in our newly-created sala (living room), on furniture provided by our extremely generous pastors, chatting with my companeros (housemates) David, Mica, and Jorge about all sorts of things: the Gospel, our housecleaning schedule, getting wireless Internet in our house, giving Mica hard time about his girlfriend, and how our newly-purchased bottle of “purified” water smells a little suspicious. We’re laughing, talking seriously, reading, working on our computers, and just having a good time relaxing on a Saturday night. Most of the time, our conversation is in Spanish with blips of English thrown in between. This makes it much more interesting for me, to not only practice my Spanish, but to also coach Jorge along as he learns my language with stuttering ease: "Hey, man, I need to go myself to the bathroom, man."

Let me just give you a picture of the caliber of the guys to whom I wake up to every morning.

Jorge: When I told people in the U.S. that I was going to Mexico, they told me, “Oh, those Mexicans are going to have to look up to you.” Not so with my friend Jorge Franco. He has at least 3 inches on my precious 5 feet and 11 inches, and outweighs my slender frame by a good 75 pounds. The only true Parral native of the house, he’s about 26 years old, and although he went to university to be an engineer, he’s now the youth pastor at our church and the manager of our church’s coffeehouse. Needless to say, he has an abundance of energy (despite his size), and keeps much busier than me most of the time.

However, around the house, he’s a goofball. He makes a good youth pastor, because he loves to have fun like a little kid and yet is very concerned that los chavos (the young people) at the church come to know Jesus truly and personally. And his nickname around the house? “The Cereal Monster”, because his appetite for cereal is nothing less than voracious. Our poor boxes of “Honey Bunches of Oats” quickly disappear when Jorge is on the rampage.

Mica: Originally from Puebla, Mexico, this amiable and genuine Mexican is the rebuttal for any argument that might try to stereotype Mexicans as ignorant and non-intellectual. He actually puts me to shame on most things intellectual. Practically tri-lingual, Mica has studied in North Carolina and Germany, as well as in more than one university in Mexico. That, and he actually understands economics, which I think is really cool. We’ve definitely had more than one conversation about how economics and history are such cool things to study. He teaches economics at the local university here in Parral, which (I say) is the cause of his partially balding head, even though he’s still a mere 28 years old.

He’s also a big gamer, and we’ve had plenty of fun moments playing HALO together. Having lived on his own for quite a while before moving in with us, he’s quite a cook, and we’ve cooked some pretty good meals together for our other housemates, who don’t enjoy cooking quite as much as we do. He’s a solid guy in the Lord, and is constantly encouraging me (directly and indirectly) to know Jesus, our strength.

David: My longtime JBU friend, fellow J-Alviner, and nearly-constant companion David has been a huge source of strength and refreshment to me during my three months here in Parral. I have been so blessed to have him right next door the past three months. Not only does he speak English as a native language, but he is a guy who REALLY wants to know Jesus, and pushes me (through his example) to know Him as well.

He is a fellow teacher at the school, and he heads up the English Program there. We’re pretty much together a lot of the time. We go to school together, we teach together, we go home together, we eat lunch together, we talk a bunch in the evening, and wish each other good-night every evening. Okay, not the last part, but you get the picture. There are moments when we’ve gotten a little sick of each other, but God has been gracious to give us a chance to share life together and build each other up when times have been difficult.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how different my experience would have been without these guys in my life. A friend from JBU who is studying Spanish in Chihuahua (about two hours away) came to visit us this weekend, and she told me that she has really struggled with loneliness the past couple months. It wasn’t so much the lack of family or JBU friends, but the absence of anyone with whom she could personally relate and share life. And then it dawned on me: “I’ve been totally spoiled! I’m surrounded by people like that!”

It’s interesting how my transition was between my college life and this new life here in Parral. In many ways, they’re incredibly similar. At JBU, I had a community: solid, intimate friends with whom I worked, played, talked, and did crazy things. Although I work a lot more here (something about having a real job…), I still have a community, made up of good friends with whom I work, play, talk, and do semi-crazy things (the crazy things were a little more crazy in college, as it should be).

Human beings have an inherent and healthy need for community. To feel that one belongs. To feel at home in someplace and with someone. To know that your absence would affect the outcome of a joint venture. To be depended on and dependent upon. What a beautiful thing it is to belong, most especially and most profoundly in the Body of Jesus Christ, his Church. May we never be found without the bond of fellowship in the Lord pulling us tightly together.