Mr. Sunshine update

For those of you who have been following us for awhile, you will remember our neighbor - "Mr. Sunshine".  If you have no idea who Sunshine is, see the original story by clicking here.  Well, we have news on the Sunshine front...

HE SPEAKS!  Yes, he speaks.  We went on a walk with the dogs one evening and we passed his place.  He happened to be outside working in the yard very close to the road.  We waved and said hello, like always.  Much to our surprise, Sunshine said, "Good afternoon.  You going for a walk?"  

I almost passed out!  He spoke!  You know that moment when something amazing happens and you are shocked, but you try to not let it register on your face because you are trying to maintain your composure?  At that moment, my entire being was jumping up and down and having a party, while my exterior was just smiling and carrying on polite coversation in the street.

It was a short 'conversation'...like, it consisted of about three or four sentences of either side.  It was obvious that he was struggling to just get that much out, so we didn't push it. We just chatted for a few moments, said our goodbyes, and continued on our walk.  I wish I had a video of our faces as we walked away, because we were both completely astounded by what had just occured and trying to remain calm until we got around the corner and out of sight.  It took a full YEAR to hear this man finally speak to us.  Sometimes fruit takes a long time...

But wait!  That's not all!

Sarah and a friend were walking the other day and they passed by Sunshine's place.  He and his wife ('Mrs. Sunshine', equally as quiet and standoffish as the Mr.) were in the garden harvesting summer vegetables.  Sunshine calls out, "Hey, do you like watermelon?"

"Yes, sir!", answered the two kids.

"Go get some bags", he says to his wife.  "We'll send vegetables home with the kids."

Sarah and her friend returned to the house with two huge bags of peppers and cucumbers, zucchini and eggplant and tomatoes, and one giant watermelon! Sarah was so excited she was almost in tears.  "You will NEVER believe where this came from!", she squealed.  "SUNSHINE! Sunshine just picked all of this and sent it home with us!"  We stood on the front steps in amazement as we watched Sarah and Dylan carry the bags and the melon up the walk. We all said a little thank you prayer for the change we are seeing in Sunshine's heart.

A little later in the day, we drove by and Sunshine was out in the yard. We stopped to say thank you for the veggies.  He smiled real big and waved us off with, "it's nothing", then he turned his back and kept working in the yard, obviously uncomfortable with our show of gratitude and how to respond.  

Sunshine's story is not over.  It has taken a year to get to this point.  It might take another year to build enough trust and confidence that he will share his real name with us.  

I'm reminded that it took 2.5 years for people on the mountain in Peru to trust us enough to let us live in their village.  It took Paulina many encounters before she admitted that she had given me a false name originally because she didn't know if she should trust me.   So, it might take Sunshine a while.  That's okay.

Poco a poco (little by little)... relationship is a stroll, not a sprint.  

More food for thought:
Trusting in the Fruits - from Henri Nouwen's Bread for the Journey

We belong to a generation that wants to see the results of our work.  We want to be productive and see with our own eyes what we have made.  But that is not the way of God's Kingdom.  Often our witness for God does not lead to tangible results.  Jesus himself died as a failure on a cross.  There was no success there to be proud of.  Still, the fruitfulness of Jesus' life is beyond any human measure.  As faithful witnesses of Jesus we have to trust that our lives too will be fruitful, even though we cannot see their fruit.  The fruit of our lives may be visible only to those who live after us.

What is important is how well we love.  God will make our love fruitful, whether we see that fruitfulness or not.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." - Galatians 6: 9 (NIV)