The Gomez Family

I have been living with the Gomez family during my time in San Juan. They are an incredible family and I greatly respect everything they have been through in their lives. Vinicio is the father, Olga the mother, Vinicio the older son, and Fabio the younger son. Vinicio Jr. is married and living in Dallas Texas. Vinicio finished high school and then completed three years of university. He has had a friend, Benjamin (the director of Appe, my language school) since he was 9 years old. He and Benjamin lived togther in Costa Rica for a time while Benjamin was in seminary. He never finished. Then they both started working for the Peace Corp teaching Spanish to the volunteers. During that time Vinicio told Benjamin they should open their own language school in Antigua, outside of San Juan where they grew up. A few years later Benjamin decided to leave the Peace Corp to open a language school and asked Vinicio to come with him. Vinicio was married with a child at that time and needed to stay with the Peace Corp because it was a steady income. Eventually he left the Peace Corp and now works at Appe. Olga is an amazingly strong woman. Currently she is battling osteoporosis and has to get a daily injection that costs 300 quetzales per injection. She has to get 30 total. 300 quetzales is large fortune. Earlier in her life she battled a brain tumor and cancer. Or her brain tumor was cancerous. I believe Vinicio was telling me about two different ailments, but I can't always trust my translations. Olga often gets sick, and is really sick right now. She has been in bed since Sunday morning and today is fairly chilly, which makes her bones ache more. I love seeing Vinico and Olga interact together. Vinico helps around the house a lot, which is unusual for a Guatemalan family. He washes dishes and helps clean. I don't think he cooks, and I have never seen him wash clothes, but he is more helpful than most Guatemalan padres. He has not gone to work this week because he has wanted to be home with Olga. In so many other situations Olga's husband would probably have left her by now. All of her illnesses and operations have been very expensive, which would cause many men to leave her because she is a drain on the household instead of an asset. I love to see the love and compassion Olga and Vinicio have for each other, and how progressive their relationship is.

Last night Vinicio was telling me how greatful he is to God and all the miracles he has blessed his family with. Olga has survived many illnesses, and even though everything has been so expensive, and her injections are still expensive, they have been able to make ends meet. They live in a house that is on the water line in San Juan, so it is very rare that they don't have water. Currently our shower is broken, but we still have water. When they bought their house they had no way of knowing it was on a water line. Slowly they have been able to expand on their house and make it pretty. Olga has a garden that rival's my own mother's, just smaller. God has blessed them and hopefully they will be able to realize their future dreams. Olga wants to open up a small store in the front room of their house someday, and build a new and bigger kitchen so she can teach the students who stay in their house how to cook and make tortillas. Vinicio hopes these things can happen, but only God knows the purpose and path in our lives.

This is something that I constantly need to reminded of. Obvioulsy we have control over the choices we make, which guide our lives, but I need to make sure I am listening to God's path for my life. If you had asked me two years ago if I would be a missionary for a year I would have told you no way. I hope that this year God will continue to bless my life and give me the guidance I need to make appropriate decisions for my future paths.