Love from Pedregal

From Brian-

Today, we returned to Pedregal to do more work in the community. We cleaned up the community center and watched a dusty, disorganized space transform into a place of gathering our Mexican brethren could be proud of. We visited the pastor of a small church whose prayer was for the safe upbringing of the community’s children in God’s love. We had an excellent lunch, yet again, with the community and played a game of intense futbol with the kids.

As much as I can go on about everything we did (and have been doing), I feel like I should share a little bit about just how much these people appreciate us being here. Before we left, our hosts thanked us for everything that we did for them. They brought out little boxes and bags for us – things that we were helping the children make earlier – festooned with glitter and the first letter of each of our names. They even made sure to use the first initial of my English name, which impressed me because here I go by Alejandro. These gifts may not appear like much to you, our friends back home, but to these people, who live on so little, it was a significant effort.

Perhaps the most touching moment of my day, however, was this: before lunch, as I was walking out of the house from washing my hands, I was stopped by a little boy I had not met or talked to. This boy reached out to me, a complete stranger, and gave me a hug – and then motioned for me to pick him up. I did so, and in that moment I realized just how much the people of Pedregal love and trust us.

alejandro