Humility

Humility – it is expressed in so many ways in my friends!  Every response to a question from “How are you?”  to “Will I see you tomorrow?” has some response affirming faith and accepting God´s will.  “Well, thank you, gracias a Dios.” “At 4 pm, se Dios lo quiere (if God wants it to be so).” 

This same humility is visible in friendships too.  My friends here are teaching me how to seek forgiveness, immediately.  They ask me to forgive them sometimes before I even know a wrong has been committed.

Doña Totsie is one such friend.  She is a frequent visitor to our house.  Her visits bring me great joy, not only for her presence, but also for the effort she takes to come to our house.  Her knees are so bad that she cannot climb the hill to go to church, but she climbs the much shorter flight of stairs to come to our doorstep.  I have never heard her complain, but I can see the pain in the change in her steps as she descends our stairs.

Totsie lives alone in a house out of which she runs a little convenience store and behind which she cooks her food over a wood fire in a metal barrel which in a previous life stored gasoline.  Her house is currently decorated for Christmas with a little Christmas tree in which she takes great pride.  But her true prized position is a statue of Jesus she bought three years ago.  Usually it is covered with a cloth to protect it from our dusty air, but at night she removes the cover, lights a candle and prays. 

Totsie has a rough touch and strong arms which often make me think of the pioneer women in the 1800s who survived the West … I think she would have fared well then as she does now living in a different sort of wild west. 

Doña Totsie and I during Christmas

Last week she came to our house Wednesday night.  We were all praying when she entered … I was in our kitchen in the back.  A little while later she came up to me and ask me to forgive her for not having come to greet me when she first arrived.  She hadn´t seen me.  Imagine!  Not only would I chosen not cross a room to greet someone for fear of attracting attention, I would have also probably decided it was inappropriate to do so and not thought of it again.  Not only did she make the effort to come kiss my cheek, but she also wanted me to pardon her (without a thought to the fact that I didn´t greet here either).