Before we arrived in Nicaragua, several people recommended Henri Nouwen's ¡Gracias! A Latin American Journal. It documents Nouwen's thoughts and reflections from the 6 months he spent in Latin America back in the 80s. We've been following his entries day by day since we arrived, and it's been a rich blessing. Nouwen articulates many of the thoughts and feelings that we've had, but with more wisdom and experience. He's served as our mentor during these first 4 months.
He writes frequently about being a 'presence' with people, making time for conversations and relationships. This is over and against the temptation to spend lots of time 'working' to make a difference in a place like Nicaragua. He suggests that when we simply be present with people, we create space for the Holy Spirit to speak to both us and 'them,' the people with whom we're present. We're working at it.
If you get a chance, we highly recommend you read it. We might be posting more reflections from this book here as well.
--Alan
3 comments:
Hey Guys! Glad everything is going good so far. Keep blogging because we love reading about what's going on with you both!
Good stuff!
A-lAn!!! Hi Beth...
I KnoW u ALl Try To Get SpiRitual WiTh Nouwen ANd All BuT ThoUGHT U WouLD liKE To Read An EmAil SEnT TO oNE oF ouR COuNSelors:
you're the tops! i had a great time...but check this out...i realized as i was driving home that i totally stood up that guy from the theology, worship, arts place--and i feel like a royal punk! please if at all possible pass on my sincere apologies to him. see, i met this girl at chapel...haha, that sounds absurd, or maybe even creepy, but it's kind of true:) i got lunch with her and totally spaced out about my 12:30. i feel awful. like a real creep. i'm so sorry about that...
but thank you again for your time. i might be emailing you questions in the future. until then i'm gonna pull together my application and see what's crackin. thanks for all your insight and advice!
and wish me luck with the young lady! she's so cute! and she loves the Lord! HOORAY!
So, AppARenTly ChapEl IS ThE pLACE TO be... HAhHAhAHhAH... hAve pUT ThiS onE On ouR QuoTe BooK... WEll, knoW that We Miss U AND bEth ANd ThAT We ARe prayIn' WiTh U... w (^_^)
How have i missed all this? Thanks for sending the e-mail note about your newsletter... and so i found your blog.
Nouwen is magnificent. You've identified one of his themes... being a "presence" with people. It's taken me a long time to learn this.
And in case you're interested, you can see a bit of what i've been up to by going to my web page, jgambini.com, and in the upper left corner clicking on "Listen To My Music" and/or "Read My Web Log"
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