Friendships Go Both Ways

By Jeanne-Marie C., on mission in El Salvador

Many missionaries refer to mission with Con-solatio as a “Kindergarten of Love”, and for me, these first few months have definitely been like a kindergarten. I have had to learn about a new culture, a new language, new food, but most importantly I’ve had to learn how to be more like a kid. It seems a bit counterintuitive to say that I’ve had to learn to be more childlike when I thought that mission would be the place where I would grow, but in reality, multiple of our friends have shown me the importance of having the spirit of a child.

The first person that continually teaches me how to be a kid is Marvin. Marvin is twelve years old, but has a mental disability that makes him act younger than his actual age; in fact, when asked Marvin will tell you himself that he is 8 years old, and not any older. Marvin is a sort of apostolate for our mission house because we often pick him and his brother up from school when their mother is busy working in the colonia. Marvin has a talent of simply being himself (loud, funny, and with absolutely zero filter), and not caring at all what others think. But what’s even more impressive about Marvin is the way that he drags you into his world, into his state of freedom. Every time that I’m around him I find myself skipping in the street holding his hand, or singing loudly for the whole colonia to hear. It truly is freeing to act like a child, to forget about what others may think of you, to simply be yourself. Personally, I find it very hard to ignore what others think, and always feel like people are looking at me and my actions. Unfortunately, here I actually do stick out, because I am one of the only foreigners and I have yet to tan to the level of Salvadoran (although maybe one day). However, I find my friendship with Marvin to be super beautiful because he teaches me that it is so much more important to be myself and happy.

The best friendships go both ways, so at the same time it has been beautiful to see Marvin grow and to teach him many things too; how to pray, how to be patient, how to be more gentle. I know that this friendship will probably continue to grow during my time on mission, and I can’t wait to see what many more things Marvin will teach me, and what many more things I will teach him.