Neighborhood Friends

Miguel, Dani, Jose, and Ronaldo are guards at the housing development where we live. I often talk with them in the morning when I go for my 5K walk/run or in the evening when I go to the pulperia (little neighborhood store) to buy eggs or recharge my phone.

Marvin, a welder, lives just down the street.  One day when I was working in the yard, he stopped by and introduced himself.  For the next hour he told me what life was like  for him as an adolescent during the Sandinista Revolution.  He said that men were killed and probably buried in the area where our house is located.  Those were difficult years for the Nicaraguan people. Here Marvin is repairing a horse drawn wagon that serves as a taxi.

I buy propane from Jose.  He brings a full tank and exchanges it for my empty one. Today, Jose invited me to go with him to the panaderia (the bakery) on our bikes to buy bread.  Even though I already know the location of  several bakeries, going with him will give me the opportunity to get to know him better.

     I came to know Fermin, another neighbor, when I saw him constructing a cement block and wire fence around the front of his small yard.  He told me he was building the fence in response to a conflict he was having with neighbors.  They were putting their bags of garbage in front of his property on trash pickup days.  The dogs would tear up the trash and scatter it into his yard.
  
     And then there is Bismark, a tailor, who custom makes clothing.  He has his sewing machine and cutting table set up on his front porch.  
     I love getting to know the people in our neighborhood.  I pray that these friendships will provide opportunities for me to share truth ... that they would prove to be redemptive relationships.