Down the river and across the sea...

Monday evening we returned from a six day trip to the community of Platanares. As I have shared in the past, Platanares is a small Wounaan fishing community along the Pacific coast.

As I pondered what to write about our days there, I am struck with the dilemma I often face: there is so much to share. Should I write about the trip there, about how we had to get to the dock at 2 AM in order to catch the high tide, and the ensuing trip downriver as the girls slept on the deck? Should I talk about all the teaching that we did, the people that we talked to, the things we learned?

When you invest 6 days of your life on a trip like this, the impressions and moments can seem overwhelming to share. So I will share just one.

The second morning we were there our hostess, Eleida, asked us to visit her two sisters in law who lived up the hill from her. The first visit was long and she was eager for us to stay. Finally we pulled away and went to visit the other sister in law, whose name is Sidra. She was very quiet, and there was little conversation, but we were able to pray for her baby who wasn't feeling well.

 

As we walked back to the house Eleida told us that Sidra had pulled her aside and asked us to come back another day by ourselves (we had been followed by a whole tribe of children).

Two days later, we returned. We chatted for awhile, and then I asked Sidra again if we could pray for her. She said yes, and began to open up. She poured out her struggles as a mother of six young children, with her husband away fishing for days at a time. The fishing has been poor this year, and she was soon in tears as she shared her heart. We prayed for her and gave her the encouragement we could. One thing I told her was that she shouldn't feel alone - many other mothers around the world have felt the way she does.

And I thought about that. Sometimes we don't need all our problems to go away. Sometimes we just need to know that we aren't alone in them. Here was a woman who loved her children, and desired to do what was right, but who was feeling crushed under the pressure. She didn't so much need something in her situation to change, but something in herself. Perhaps just the belief that God would help her in her motherhood. Perhaps trusting that God would provide for her family despite the poor fishing season. And maybe she just needed to believe that God really cared about her, and all those daily struggles.

Although we did other "important" things, like preaching and teaching, I think that for Sidra, the most important thing was just our presence. Just having a listening ear, and someone who is willing to say, "Let's bring this to the Father together." The beauty of that is that you don't have to have any special talent or ability, just the willingness to give of yourself.