Just Open the Umbrella

Hey Team,

I'm going to continue on with my Campo miniseries (it actually probably will be less than a miniseries it will more likely be a micro-series, is that a thing?)

Anyway, Apparently my white Norwegian skin can't handle the Dominican sun (no surprise there, my Norwegian skin doesn't like the Iowa sun). By the end of the first work day I was hurting bad folks. I eventually got smart and switched to SPF 100 (no joke) and wore a baseball cap everyday. However, as a consequence for my extreme sun burns I ended up with sun poisoning. That was fun.

The  point it I was burned and it was apparent. Everyone noticed. This leads me to the umbrella. My compatriot Blair's mom was quite concerned about my sunburn. To the point where she gave me an umbrella to use to keep the sun off of my skin. I'm not gonna lie, I was slightly mortified thinking about walking around Jagua Clara with an umbrella over my head. Can you say "high-maintenance?"

At first I just walked around with it by my side to hopefully appease Blair's mom, however, it soon became clear that she felt it was necessary that I use the umbrella. So I did it. I sucked up my pride and I opened the umbrella. It was a little embarrassing; however, I'm still alive and Blair's mom was happy.In hindsight I'm really ashamed that I walked around with the umbrella by my side for as long as I did.

This taught me a valuable lesson of accepting generosity. Many times I am inclined to turn down anything that anyone offers me. I feel like I don't need it or that they need what they are attempting to give to me more than I do.  I even sometimes let my vanity get in the way of accepting another person's generosity.

In some way's it's a condescension. "I don't need help, I'm just fine."In some way it implies that there is nothing which that person can offer you. I believe that somewhere in our minds we have ingrained that if we accept help it makes us lower or weak. However, that is what makes it beautiful to accept the generosity of others. It is an act of humility. It states "Hey, I'm no better or worse than you are, we are the same, we are both human-together."When you accept generosity you acknowledge the fact that you have needs and you're not perfect all while acknowledging that that person can help you, that you are not above what they have to offer.

So open the umbrella, accept a meal, and be grateful.

In essence get over yourself.

Peace, Love, Iowa,

Corbin

My umbrella and I

Let It Be

Hey Team,

Sorry it's been so long since I've last updated but I've been uber busy over the last couple weeks. Anywho let's get started.

We went to Jagua Clara in late early February and stayed for ten days. It was definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my life for all sorts of various reasons. I stayed with a host family-my family-for all ten days. They are the Henriquez Almontes family. I have a mom and a dad, my dad is a farmer and my mom worked at home. I also had a younger brother, Eddy, who is 18 and a younger sister, Sarah, who is 15. They're the best. I WILL fight about that fact. On top of those living in the home, I also have ten (yup I said ten) other brothers and sisters living in other places.

Every night my brother, sister, and I would play cards for a couple of hours before going to bed (which was at around 9 o'clock every night. It. Was. Awesome.) We would talk, using the term talk incredibly lightly as my Spanish still leaves much to be desired or watch a telenovela (my brother and sister seemed to enjoy the one entitled "Perro Amor" the best-I was just confused about what was going on) if there was luz (electricity) which was not an incredibly common occurrence.

They were the definition of generosity of kindness to me. My mom made me coffee every morning and every evening. She seemed to always love the opportunity to give me something. Sometimes I would look over at her and she was always smiling at me. This is something I really had a hard time understanding. Here I was, an American, who spoke very terrible Spanish and could rarely communicate anything had barged into the lives of my family members for ten days. I took up space and a bed. However, I really had nothing to offer them. I couldn't say anything intelligent insightful. I couldn't even really crack a joke. I could barely communicate the simplest of ideas. I really just seemed to add extra chores (extra laundry to wash, extra coffee to make, extra time spent explaining the simplest of tasks) However, they seemed to genuinely enjoy my presence. In fact my mom in the campo told one of my leaders that she really liked me. This baffled me. How? What did I do? What did I say? How could they possibly know whether they liked me or not?

After a while I began to realize just how profound this is. Often times (especially in the United States) we define ourselves by what we have to offer. I'm good at basketball, I'm a great accountant, I'm smart, I'm funny...etc to the point where if someone doesn't "have something to offer" they are next to useless. We forget that people are people and therefore important, simply because they are. I think Max Lucado said it best when in one of his books he wrote, "You are valuable because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are."

It is clear to see how the mentality of needing to "offer something" to feel of use has wreaked havoc throughout the globe. I see it far to often in my own life. I get depressed and discouraged when I feel that I do not measure up. I wonder what the world would look like we allowed ourselves to just be comfortable with "being." Also, if we allowed others to do the same, we valued them simply for the fact that they "are."

I was important to my family in the DR because I was there...and that is it. Talk about humbling.

Mi Familia (Left to Right Mom, Dad, Sarah, Me, Eddy)