Two pairs of shoes

TiRoro is the grandpa in our community. He is a seventy something year old conga player and dance teacher. I find it very easy to love him, partially because all of my grandparents have passed away and i feel like God gave me this gift of having an extra grandpa.

TiRoro asked me a little while ago for sandals - flip flops like mine. I figured I would just get some for him when I went home but I mostly just forgot about it. Today he asked me again. Since we have some donations, I went into the donation room and looked. We had one pair of pink flip flops that were heavy and made lots of noise when he walked. He didn't like them because theywere so heavy and he just wanted them for showering.

A few days ago, Fr. Louis gave this homily about sharing and how in community nothing he has is really his, especially when others have less than him. It was killer and made me feel like such a hoarding white American girl. Anyways, I was wearing my flip flops when I went to offer TiRoro these other ones, so I also had him try on my flip flops. He liked them, so I gave them to him because I have two pairs anyway. He showed me the other pair he had been wearing in the shower. They were girl sandals that were at least three or four sizes too small for him and they were broken too.

I couldn't help but feel sad as I walked back across our rocky pathway in my bare feet. (I also noticed that my feet are becoming more Haitian because the pathway used to hurt my feet and now it doesn't anymore.)

Here are a couplethings I have been thinking about.

1. I don't need two pairs of shoes that are exactly the same but two different colors. Especially when other people in my community are wearing shoes that don't fit them at all.
2. I don't need all of the clothes I have either. (And the task of washing my clothes by hand would seem much less daunting if I had less of them to wash.)
3. I know it would be easy for me here to think that moving to another country to be a missionary means that I have given enough. I think what it really means though, is that I get the opportunity to see how much more I really have to give. And I have the opportunity every single day to give that and to help others give as well. I don't want to leave here and think that I haven't given enough, whether that is materials, prayers, my heart, or my whole life. I also don't want to hold on to what I have out of fear of what will happen if I give something away. If I share my soap and my toothpaste, will I run out? Maybe. But if our whole community shares our soap and our toothpaste then we will all run out together and that is a much more beautiful witness. I am in a unique place where I can give and not hold back. Why not enter into that fully?

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