El Jefe de Jefes!

My host dad's name is Gerardo, but we like to call him Jefe, or "boss." (Thanks Nathan and Laura!) He is really amazing! He is a middle school teacher here, and he has such a gentle and playful spirit. Since the first day I met him, I have seen nothing except quiet service to his family and hard work outside.

In order to teach me how to turn on the hot water for my shower, he took me outside, up to the roof. Where I had previously only seen piles of rusted junk, he revealed to me his treasures in his "taller," or workshop. Hundreds of car parts, old locks, candelabras, springs and bolts and metal house decorations. While some of these pieces are just laying around, he has turned many into wonderful creations--little caballeros on horses, horseshoe coat hangers, candelabras with beautiful springs to hold the candles. Hand-crafted crosses, painted plates and wired bowls fill the house, and they are absolutely beautiful! As we went along, flashlight in hand, he was more and more excited with every piece of his workshop. "Mira!" "Look!" he said, explaining the uses and the times at which the pieces had been used for other things--1800s, 1910, el revolucion de Mexico, etc. I asked him where he found all of these things, and he simply said, "Shhh! Secreto!" with a grin.

There is something about people who work with their hands. They are close to the earth somehow, closer to what man was made to be. Not that everyone is supposed to be a carpenter, but I feel like there is something special about them. I would not have picked any other job for Jesus of Nazareth to have had. It is a humble job, but a job of creation and patience and transformation and discovery.

Jefe is el Jefe de Jefes!

(Then I stepped in a lot of dog poop)