When asked to think about what has been bringing me joy, I have to admit I had to sit and really think. With all of the hard events and circumstances we have found ourselves in from month to month, I haven’t reflected much on joy or maybe hadn’t even noticed it existed.

That’s what made the Latin American Retreat for Global Personnel this past week so special – it was designed around joy. We were given opportunities to play, to engage in heart-to-heart conversations, to worship God together, to experience God through creation, to listen to one another’s stories and journeys, to eat good food, to use our creativity through art. We don’t get to see our colleagues from around Latin America and the Caribbean often, so when we do there is so much to talk about and catch up on. Time went to fast, but it was great to share the experience as a family and for our boys to have other teens and children to hang out with. Grateful for Pia and Eugenio Restrepo who organized our time together.

I was grateful we didn’t have to travel far, just to Cartagena, given my broken foot. One of the things that made me the saddest when the doctor told me I couldn’t walk on my foot for a month was knowing I wouldn’t be able to go in the ocean or walk on the beach. I had so been looking forward to those things that restore my soul. No walking or swimming, but I got to see the water and we treated to friends and my family carrying me down to the water to put my toes in. That was a huge joy moment. Joy came in walking down the streets of the walled city of Cartagena (on my crutches) and going up to the wall to sit and watch the sunset, where Julio and I met many years ago. 

Joy has come in knowing that I am cared for and loved by my family, by God, and by so many friends around the world. It’s not easy for me to be the one receiving care and help – but it brought joy when it meant being pushed around in a wheelchair by my boys.

Joy came and mingled with my sadness on the anniversary of my parents’ deaths, while I sat with Julio and the boys in one of my favorite spots that looks out onto a lake and we shared favorite memories of my parents.

I was reminded on this retreat that joy is present and possible, even when it first appears absent and impossible. I want to be more attentive to the joy.