sharing abundance

[Amigas del Señor]

From Sister Confianza

A couple of weeks ago, Don Tino (who is rebuilding the monastery) and his wife Doña Elsa made a special trip down from La Fortuna to visit us.  They both have birthdays at the same time, and their adult daughter celebrated by butchering a pig.  Tino and Elsa decided to share the joy and brought us a couple of pounds of meat.  We had a nice visit together, and I sent them home with green beans, which we are now harvesting from the hugelkultur bed.  Then I set to preparing the pork.  Not only was there an abundance of meat to eat, there was also fat to render into lard and skin for making pork rinds!  You just cut up the skin and let it fry in the melting grease.  What a treat!  

We hadn't received a gift from a friend or eaten pork in a very long time. (I'd never eaten it in my life before coming to Honduras, much less cooked it.)  It reminded me of when we lived at the motherhouse, and there was regular sharing of abundance among friends and neighbors.  Here in town, there is much more of a money economy.  People regularly butcher pigs and cattle to sell the meat, whereas in the villages it is much more likely that large animals are butchered only on special occasions and then shared around.

The hugelkultur bed and trellis covered in cowpeas

Then yesterday, our neighbors gave us two freshly caught mackerel, sharing their haul of fish.  I was so appreciative for yet another gift of abundance.  (I have also shared green beans with them.)  I fried one of the large fish for Sister Alegria and me to share, and put the other in the freezer space they let us use at the orphanage.  (We like to have ice for those really hot days.)  

To top it all off, our hens have finally started laying eggs again after spending a month acting broody.  We'll get to have Easter eggs this year after all!

We are feeling particularly blessed right now.  

Bendiciones,

Sister Confianza

Amigas del Señor Monastery

Limón, Colón

Honduras

https://amigasdelsenor.weebly.com/
Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/amigashonduras2
Updates: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/amigashonduras